Margaret Thompson Murdock (born August 25, 1942) is a nurse and former United States Army officer most widely known for her success in international shooting competitions, including a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
My first year at K-State, I couldn't shoot on the team because I was a female. I could practice with the K-State team but I couldn't be on the team. They got a new coach and he thought it would be a good idea for me to be on the team since I was shooting better than everyone else.
Margaret L. Thompson was born August 25, 1942, in Topeka, Kansas.[3] While growing up during the 1950s, she learned how to shoot by following her father to the rifle range.[2]
Murdock was the 1966 World Champion in Women's Standard Rifle.[5] In 1967 she won two gold medals in small-bore rifle at the Pan American Games and set a world record, for men or women, in the kneeling rifle shooting.[1]
Murdock narrowly missed qualifying for the 1968 games in Mexico City.[2] She became the first woman ever on the U.S. Olympic shooting team (in 1976) and the first woman to win a medal in shooting at the Olympic Games.[4] At the final, her score was tied with Lanny Bassham, the U.S. team captain,[4] but she was bumped down to silver because of a tie-break rule weighting the last 10 shots.[6] Olympic rules forbade a shoot-off, which Bassham had requested.[4] During the national anthem, Bassham pulled Murdock up to stand with him on the gold medal spot at the podium.[4] In 1992 she was named to the U.S. International Shooting Hall of Fame.[4]
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