Shooting for the stars: eye for accuracy bags gold
Print Edition
BEFORE the last two shots, a dragonfly alighted on top of his gun. Hu Binyuan paused, waited until it flew off, took a deep breath to steady himself and then raised the gun again. Ready. Aim. Fire!
And thus did Hu, a double-trap shooter from Minhang, win a gold medal at the Incheon Asian Games in South Korea recently. The prize was 16 years in the making.
“This gold medal is another peak in my career,” he said. “But I’m still a step away from standing on the top of the world in my sport.”
The 37-year-old has been in training for two decades, with the ultimate goal of an Olympic gold medal.
His fascination with guns began as a child. He remembers always asking his parents to buy him toy guns.
When he was in junior high school, a trap shooting team was formed in Shanghai. Hu, who had been practicing using air guns for years, applied for a position on the team.
“More than 5,000 people took part in the selection process, as I remember, and fewer than 20 were left when I heard my name called,” he said.
Bao Jianguo, Hu’s first coach, said he is gifted.
“He had never been to a sports school, but he did better than most students there,” Bao said.
First gold medal
In 1997, at age 20, Hu became part of the national shooting team. A year later, he obtained his first gold medal at the Bangkok Asian Games, an important first step toward realizing his dream of Olympic gold.
“I was still very young back then,” said Hu. “I was reckless. I didn’t think enough during the Bangkok competition. Everything was done on a rush of blood to the head.”
It was time to steady himself and pursue his goal more deliberately.
Hard work eventually turned Hu into a backbone of the Chinese trap-shooting team. Although he consistently took gold in national games, his sights were squarely set on international competition. That was a tough challenge because trap shooting is a traditional strong point in Western countries.
Through sheer persistence, Hu managed to break his own records time and time again. At the Athens Olympics 2004, he achieved fourth place — the highest ranking for any Chinese competitor in the sport in Olympic competition.
Four years later at the Beijing Games, he won a bronze medal. He also won numerous silver medals in World Cup competitions and other international games.
The Hu of today is a far cry from the young man who first entered the sport. He is no longer reckless. He has learned patience and adopted a more steady attitude toward the sport.
He failed to make the cut for the London 2012 Olympics because of a shoulder injury, but he refused to give up.
Shooting is not a high-profile sport in China. Hu and his teammates win accolades for Team China far from the applause and glare of publicity heaped upon Chinese swimmers, gymnasts and volleyball players. In South Korea, Hu was interviewed by only three Chinese media after his gold medal triumph.
He takes it all in stride.
“I know it’s really difficult, but I regard shooting as a lifetime career for me,” he said. “I want to see how far I can go in the sport.”
Hu said there are many professional shooters still competing past the age of 50. In 1920, Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn won a bronze medal when he was 72. Latvian player Afanasijs Kuzmins, who has participated in nine Olympic Games, was 65 when he competed in the London Games. In Incheon, Hu’s rival in the double-trap final was 48-year-old Fehaid Al-Deehani from Kuwait.
“Compared with them, I’m still very young and I’m still very confident,” said Hu.
Care for family
The recent Asian Games required Hu to be away from his wife and son for several months. He was careful to buy nice gifts for them in South Korea to show they weren’t forgotten.
Hu said his wife is part of his secret for success. When he failed to win a medal in Athens, he fell into depression. His then girlfriend provided great comfort and agreed to marry him.
“I’m always away from family, even after our son was born in 2008,” he said. “My wife has really invested a lot in the family. I try to be with them as much as possible.”
When not aiming a gun, Hu finds relaxation in playing the guitar. He learned the instrument from his older brother, who is a professional guitarist and owns a musical instruments store in Shanghai. Hu said he often goes to the shop to practice in his spare time.
“The guitar helps me relax, which is a great relief after all the intense pressure of competitions,” he said.
He prefers acoustic to electric guitars, he said, because they are simple and quiet, yet still intense and beautiful.
“I think the key to playing guitar is the same as shooting,” said Hu.
“Both need concentration and a relaxed state of mind.”
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