Brenda Shinn
Age: 46
Hometown: Riverside, CA
Event: air pistol

Brenda learned to shoot in the Orange County (CA) Sheriff’s Police Explorer program in 1979, and a year later she won the program’s national championship and was invited to the Olympic Training Center. It was there that she took up air pistol, although she dropped the discipline after the 1982 nationals and joined the Orange County Sheriff’s Department pistol team; she’s currently a lieutenant with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. She dropped out of competitive shooting for several years when he son was born, but when he went to college in 2006, she came back--with a vengeance. During 2006-07, Brenda medaled in a number of air pistol and sport pistol events, including an air-pistol bronze at the 2007 national championships. She earned a spot on the Olympic team with a second-place finish in air pistol at this year’s trials.

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