Lucas Kozeniesky, a shooter on team USA, recently reflected on his performance at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil. On August 5, he participated in the opening ceremony which he described as being an overwhelming and empowering experience.

“Marching into the stadium to the chants of 75,000 people screaming USA and standing amongst the thousands of athletes as the torch was lit filled the atmosphere with excitement as everyone in the stadium was likely to be thinking, “I am an Olympian.” It was a very emotional event and was the best way to kick off the Games.”

Three days later, he competed in the men’s 10m Air Rifle Competition where he finished 21st among the 50 competitors. During the match, Kozeniesky used all of his training to help guide him through the distractions from the clicks of media cameras to the music playing in the range.

“I feel fulfilled. It was a summer of hard work, persistence, and dedication that lead up to a good experience and performance at the games. I gained memories and life lessons that will impact me for the rest of my life.”

The distractions weren’t the only thing Kozeniesky had to work through. As one would imagine, there is a lot of pressure when competing in the Olympics.

“The level of pressure that is the Olympic Games hit me as the match started and I let my training kick in to help me push through the distractions to have a very good performance even though the score wasn’t there. The result may not have been what I wanted but I am not disappointed by the way I performed.”

It was a lot of hard work and Kozeniesky relied a lot on his support network.

“My girlfriend, Blair Gruendl, my parents and my NC State head coach, Keith Miller who were there watching me. My teammates, extended family and the athletic staff at NC State," said Kozeniesky, “having them all [parents, girlfriend and head coach] there at a pinnacle moment in my career was refreshing and exciting. I’m glad that they had just as good, if not better, experience as I did.”

The US team, as a whole, performed excellent. Ginny Thraser, another shooter on Team USA, won the first gold medal of the Games and the first for America. The USA placed fifth overall in shooting. Kim Rhode won bronze for the U.S. in skeet shooting and Corey Cogdell also brought home the bronze in women’s trap shooting.

Kozeniesky was the first shooter from NC State to ever compete in the Olympics.

“It’s a pretty cool experience because it is another barrier that was broken in a historic year for the team. It’s cool thing being the first and a great thing knowing I'm not the last.”

When asked if he saw the 2020 Games in his future, Kozeniesky replied, “There is a lot of work to be done between done between now and then, but I did a lot in the last year. I look forward to seeing what I can do in the next four.”