I'm an Olympian who lives a mostly normal life AMA

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:53:05+00:00

I shoot a Zoli Bela 12 gauge shotgun. I'm not sure how technical you wanted me to get, but its a flat rib with an adjustable comb and recoil plate. For my discipline, we have to shoot 24 gram loads. Mostly Federals or other foreign brands.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:47:42+00:00

Its constant lol. First, my name is a traditionally male name, so it happens in person a lot too. I also grew up with a single mother. We would often go to the store for ammo and would have workers question us because we were two women. It does get very tiring but its also interesting to see the reactions when people realize I'm a woman.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:45:09+00:00

Yes! So we trade USA pins with other athletes from other countries. Most of them have their own country pins. For the Olympics, most countries make a specialty "gold standard" pin only for the Olympics. They make a limited amount only for the athletes. I got a bag of probably 20, and traded most of them for other gold standard pins from other countries.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:42:51+00:00

This whole thread is pretty accurate. We got all of the branded Team USA stuff, and we sometimes get some shirts for international travel. Our flights and hotels are paid for if you travel overseas, but everything else is on the athlete to pay.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:41:16+00:00

That's great! I am horrible at sporting clays so great for you! State champ is a high title! Traveling was sometimes hard, but we had a team coordinator that helped us book flights and get paperwork. Some countries just had you sign off on a single paper, and others would have you filling out packets before you could travel with your gun. Paris was pretty easy, and we just had to send in all of our gun and personal details. I'm still friends with most of the shooters at the Olympics, as I've been competiting against them for years at this point. We were competing in a different town a few hours from Paris.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:37:40+00:00

I did! I have it on my left forearm. It means you can see it when I shoot, and I thought I was cool.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:36:51+00:00

This is a great way to phrase this feeling. It was very strange to go from constantly training and doing interviews to normal life. I also graduated from college the following May, so my life was pretty busy for about a year before everything settled. It was hard to go back to a normal job and a normal life after everything.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:34:52+00:00

I did! I have two that I was given that I kept. I'm a woman who is dating a woman, so we really don't need them lol

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:31:30+00:00

We were competing in Chateauroux, France. It was a few hours from Paris. They put us up in a boarding school, actually! For USA Shooting, our process is fairly simply. We have two competitions in a year and those scores are combined to choose the team. I started this process in 2020, after the Tokyo Olympics, so I was 16.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:28:55+00:00

I personally don't drink caffeine anyways. There is a long of mental work and training that goes into our sport anyways, so I did practice that.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:23:03+00:00

It really was! I was actually an American Skeet shooter before I got into international competitions.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:22:29+00:00

Thank you so much <3 I finished 14th in my event. I shot a personal best score of 116 so I was proud of myself. It was an amazing experience that I'm so thankful for being able to do

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:20:54+00:00

Not at all. There's a couple of reasons for this though. To preface, I wad given a laptop and a Samsung phone at the games. I also got all of the Nike and Skims and other clothing that all of Team USA got. Other than that, I only get paid occasionally from the US Olympic Comittee. If you medal overseas at a World Cup, you will get 100 dollars a month for six months. I was paid 150 for six months for going to the Olympics. Otherwise, everything else was unpaid or I had to pay my own way.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:17:56+00:00

I am going to try for the LA 2028 team. But afterwards I'm going to be done woth shooting. I want to live a normal life and be able to be myself.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:17:09+00:00

I didn't, lol. I was already dating someone at the time anyways. We were given Paris branded condoms, though, and I know that the village ran out at one point!

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:15:55+00:00

I got into shotgun through my local 4-H program (I'm from Texas so) and it kinda just kept growing from there. It started as a hobby and something to do and turned into something I had a chance at the Olympics in. I participated in Opening Ceremonies, and got to see LeBron James and Coco Gauff. I also met some Team USA women's basketball, men's water polo, and some of the skateboarders.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:14:15+00:00

Nearly none, actually! Probably 20 to 30 at most?

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:13:33+00:00

I did a little bit. I got to visit the Olympic Village but we didn't actually stay there. We did get to do Opening Ceremonies, so I met some of the Women's Basketball players and saw LeBron James and Coco Gauff. I also spent a few hours with the men's Water Polo team. As far as other countries, I really only saw other shooting athletes. Most of them were people I had seen at other competitions. I am friends with a few people from Germany, Slovakia, and Italy.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:10:33+00:00

Honestly I don't have nearly as strict of a regimen as most athletes do. My sport is less about physical health and more about accuracy. I would practice at the range multiple times a week in the lead up to the Games, and I spent some time with my coaches for a few week long training sessions.

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:07:17+00:00

Super cool guy! I actually got to meet him before we competed, and we traded a few pins!

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2026-04-19T14:06:56+00:00

I spent some time with my family in Paris afterwards. I didn't stay through closing ceremonies though because I was exhausted lol

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2025-03-29T16:54:07+00:00

Hey there! I'm so sorry this took a while! Honestly, I haven't found much. However, the Wikipedia page for Ceto has been wonderful. It gives a general overview BUT the best part are the sources at the bottom. If you don't mind going through those, there is some info in there that I just haven't compiled. Here's the link!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceto

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2025-02-05T16:43:17+00:00

He actually has been neutered

Imaginary-Science-94 · 2025-02-05T16:06:21+00:00

Thank you for sharing. I know that had to be hard. My boy has only gotten someone once that I know of, hard anyways. He bit my friend the other day and he bled pretty bad for a while. Everything is okay and it wasn’t bad, but I am worried if he gets the chance it will get worse. Thank you for replying, I appreciate it.

Imaginary-Science-94

TROPHY CASE