The (changing) time of her life
Robert van Royen
With trap shooting one of the first scheduled events in Rio, Rooney stayed on board for the rest of the Games, spending most of her time supporting fellow Kiwi athletes.
In the Olympic village, Rooney was ‘‘just another athlete’’, and it wasn’t until she returned home after the games that she started to notice life might not be what it was before she blasted her way to a silver medal.
‘‘When you came home it was just so much bigger, it’s kind of crazy. You didn’t really know what was going on,’’ she said. ‘‘A lot of people get in contact with you wanting to do stuff.’’
Among other public appearances since Rooney returned home, she has visited multiple schools, got ‘‘grunged’’ on children’s television show What Now, and was on hand at the national secondary schools clay target championships in Christchurch last weekend.
She was also the halftime attraction alongside Timaru shot putter and Rio bronze medallist Tom Walsh at the All Blacks-South Africa test match in Christchurch this month.
Being recognised in public has become more common for Rooney, something she described as a ‘‘little bit overwhelming’’.
‘‘Most of the time people just stare at you or double-take, I get that a lot. Especially with the kids, they get really shy with you. It’s a weird situation.
‘‘I’m still Natalie Rooney, but I just have a silver medal at home. Zealand last December, Rooney has received very little funding between taking up the sport 14 years ago and winning silver in Rio, and credits her father and late mother Adrienne, Italian-based coach Andrea Miotto, and sponsor Beretta for her success. celebrated at a public celebration in the new Waimate Event Centre.
Her father now lives in Studholme, a small settlement 7km east of Waimate, and has a trap range on the property for Rooney to hone her craft on.
With no South Island facilities boasting automatic traps, training at the family home provides the best preparation for the Olympic trap discipline, although there is talk Christchurch will upgrade to automatic traps in the future.
An upgrade would possibly result in Rooney moving to the Garden City, although that wouldn’t please her father, she said.
‘‘He likes having his children around him. He likes seeing me turn up and train, sometimes he even joins me with my shooting.’’
Auckland and Hamilton have ideal facilities and Rooney is considering her options as she casts an eye towards the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but any decision will be influenced by funding and sponsorship.
She hopes to inspire others to shoot, and the club she started at Craighead when she took up the sport is still going strong today.
‘‘I’ve had good feedback from people wanting to try it. I even had a friend that coaches in Ireland say people over there had been inspired by me to try it.’’
In the meantime, Rooney left for Rome on Monday to prepare for next month’s final World Cup event in the Italian capital, her last international event of the year.