It was something of a disappointing finish for the oldest competitor at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. On the other hand, St. Thomas' Bruce Meredith is competing in his fourth Olympic games, and that's nothing to be disappointed about.
Last week, Meredith, 63, told Olympics News Service, "I am not worried about winning and I'm not that worried about losing because it is just good to be competing."
Meredith shot it out with the best in the world last week in the 50 meter prone rifle event.
"I've worked out the average age of the competitors is 33.1 years, so it is not a sport dominated by young people," said Meredith, who made his international debut at the 1967 Pan American Games.
One of two shooters from the Virgin Islands along with Chris Rice, Meredith told ONS earlier this month that he was hoping for a mid-field finish.
"If I finish in the top 50 per cent I will be very happy, if it's the top 10 per cent, I will be elated," he said. "During training I have been shooting around 591 each round, but I think the eight finals places will be decided on scores over 596."
He was right about the top finishers, though he wasn't among them. Medaling Thursday were Jonas Edman of Sweden, scoring 599 for the gold; Sergei Martynov of Belarus taking silver with 598; and Vaclav Becvar of the Czech Republic winning the bronze with 597.
Meredith finished far back in the pack with 584 points, ranking him 46th out of 54 competitors. But he'll be back. After 48 years of competition, he is not ready to leave the sport just yet, even though he said the sport of prone shooting was one of discipline, and it was not something work, not fun.
"When you are standing there (on the range) for two hours with all that armor on, in the heat, trying to shoot a target-that's not fun, it's hard work," he told ONS.
"Playing basketball, a round of golf or gardening," he said, "is what I would consider fun."
Olympics News Service contributed to this report.
