‘The gipsy’ bags the skeet gold

Press, 9 October 1982, Page 1

‘The gipsy’ bags the skeet gold

From

RAY CAIRNS

in Brisbane

The man with the golden gun, the gypsy with a gun, call him what you like, but John Woolley is a peerless competitor in the difficult art of shotgun skeet shooting. With his closest opponents still to shoot their final rounds of 25, Woolley strode from the Belmont range yesterday, the stands rising in applause at his performance, in defending his Commonwealth title.

“Hey, hey,” barked an official, "there are shooters still competing,” but the words fell on deaf ears as the tall, ginger-haired gingerbearded Woolley acknowledged the plaudits of the crowd for another near-peer-less exhibition. Woolley — Christchurchregistered, English-born, and Australian-resident — was the joint leader overnight with his 99, dropping a shot only in the second batch. Yesterday he shot 25, 25, 24, 24, and he was able to return to his team hut, change, sip a beer and go back to watch his old Australian rival, lan Hale, and the Englishman, Wally Sykes, battling for the silver medal. Hale shot a perfect 100 to win that medal; Sykes had 24s all the way. But what a fruitless task for both, Hale in particular. He had that glorious round, and in one sense, it was all for nothing. Woolley aged 32, has dedicated himself to the business of winning gold medals.

He was determined to defend the title he won for New Zealand at Edmonton, and how well he did it. He equalled the Australian title he shares with John Sum-

mers, broke the Games record, and later headed for "Mackay or somewhere, just

to relax and unwind — and I’m leaving the gun behind.” Since leaving Christchurch, where he worked as a bar-man-wine steward at the White Heron Lodge, Woolley has lived mainly in Melbourne, though he retains his affiliation to the Christchurch Gun Club and is thus New Zealand’s most successful international shooter.

He cannot get the competition in New' Zealand, he says, but virtually the entire Australian team is chosen from Victoria and he gets most of his competition from there. More lately, he has been a gun salesman but now he is nothing — apart from the important business of being a Commonwealth champion. He arrived in Brisbance 10 days before the rest of the New Zealand team in order to acclimatise to difficult conditions.

Apart from the swirling winds, Woolley said, the glare could be a problem, "but it came right at the right time,” for him to shoot his best score in competition shooting. He broke off the interview to watch the minor drama unfolding between Sykes and Hale. Australian after Australian came up to congratulate him, which is a little strange, but then perhaps they think he is really one of theirs. An Englishman added his good wishes, and noted, “You should have been shooting for us.” “The competition's too tough,” grinned Woolley. Then a cigar saved for the occasion, was shoved in his mouth and further conversation was out of the question.

More Games news, pages 17 to 19