Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms and bows/crossbows.
Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing able-bodied sports, while others have been specifically created for persons with a disability and do not have an able-bodied equivalent. Disability exists in four categories: physical, mental, permanent and temporary. At a competitive level, disability sport classifications are applied to allow people of varying abilities to face similar opposition.
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, are held almost immediately following the respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The International Paralympic Committee is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nine sports. Founded on 22 September 1989 in Düsseldorf, West Germany, its mission is to "enable Paralympic athletes to achieve sporting excellence and inspire and excite the world". Furthermore, the IPC wants to promote the Paralympic values and to create sport opportunities for all persons with a disability, from beginner to elite level.
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The USOPC is one of only four NOCs in the world that also serve as the National Paralympic Committee for their country. The USOPC is responsible for supporting, entering and overseeing U.S. teams for the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Youth Olympic Games, Pan American Games, and Parapan American Games and serves as the steward of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements in the United States.
The United States Fencing Association (USFA) is the national governing body for the sport of fencing in the United States. The USFA was founded in 1891 as the Amateur Fencers League of America (AFLA) by a group of New York fencers seeking independence from the Amateur Athletic Union. The AFLA changed its name to the United States Fencing Association in 1981, and is also known as USA Fencing.
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Centers (OPTCs) are two campuses created by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as training facilities for its Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They are located in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Lake Placid, New York. Formerly, the USOPC also had a third OPTC in Chula Vista, California, which is now the city-owned Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center. There is a U.S. Olympic Education Center in Marquette, Michigan, and other official U.S. Olympic/Paralympic training sites are located in Oklahoma City and Edmond, Oklahoma; Carson, California; Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama; Charlotte, North Carolina; the Pettit National Ice Center in West Allis, Wisconsin; a USRowing training center in Oakland, California ; Huntsville, Texas and the SPIRE Institute and Academy near Geneva, Ohio.
United States of America Gymnastics is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics selects and trains the men's and women's national teams for the Olympic Games and World Championships. USAG sets the rules and policies that govern the sport of gymnastics, promotes the sport at all levels, and serves as a resource center for members, clubs, fans and gymnasts.
U.S. Ski & Snowboard (USSS), formerly known as the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, is the national governing body for Olympic skiing and snowboarding. Founded in 1905, the organization provides leadership and direction for skiers and snowboarders from over 400 member clubs. The association is headquartered in Park City, Utah.
Vincent Charles Hancock is an American shooter and Olympian who won the gold medal in men's skeet at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He is the first skeet shooter to repeat as the Olympic champion.
Keith Sanderson is an American sport shooter who holds the Olympic record for the qualification round of 25 meter rapid fire pistol. After winning the qualification round, he fell back during the final and finished fifth, the same position he had reached in the 2006 World Championships. He has four medals from ISSF World Cups: a bronze from Munich 2007, a gold from Beijing 2009, where he defeated Vijay Kumar by 0.1 point in the final, another bronze from Munich 2009, and the gold from Fort Benning, Georgia where he won by 7 shots.
The U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) is a military unit whose primary mission is to support nationally and internationally ranked soldiers in participating on the U.S. Olympic team. The program is headquartered at Fort Carson, Colorado.
Danielle Fong is an American rifle shooter who represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. She is a holder of two USA Shooting national records and four NRA national records.
Nickolaus Mowrer is an American sport shooter. He is a three-time NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Champion in the free pistol (FP), a 2011 U.S. pistol shooting champion, and also, a resident athlete of the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, under his personal coach Sergey Luzov. At the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, Mowrer missed out on a bronze medal by 5.5 points, finishing in 4th behind Júlio Almeida of Brazil in the men's free pistol, with a total score of 634.4.
United States women's national goalball team is the women's national team of the United States. Goalball is a team sport designed specifically for athletes with a vision impairment. The team takes part in international competitions.
Robert Griswold is an American swimmer. He was a member of the 2016 and 2020 U.S. Paralympic Swimming Teams. He holds multiple American and world paralympic swimming records in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, and individual medleys. He competes in the Paralympic classes S8/SB7/SM8, and has cerebral palsy that affects coordination and strength. The United States Center for SafeSport temporarily suspended Griswold in 2020, reinstated him prior to the 2021 Paralympic Games, and then temporarily suspended him again in 2022, after he was accused of raping a fellow member of the US Paralympic Team at the 2021 Paralympic Games and thereafter; Griswold was later removed as a member of the US National Team.
Amber English is an American sport shooter who won the gold medal in the women's skeet at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, setting a new Olympic record of 56. Amber English is currently serving as a First lieutenant in the United States Army.
The Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017, also known as the Safe Sport Authorization Act, is an American law that establishes protection for young athletes. Among its provisions, it established the United States Center for SafeSport as an independent entity to investigate reports of abuse and to protect athletes from abuse in the United States Olympic movement.
The U.S. Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created in 2017 to reduce the sexual abuse of athletes, particularly minors, in Olympic sports programs in the United States.
