The Team GB sharpshooter taking aim at Tokyo

Olympic shooting can be "absolutely mental". 

At least that’s what Seonaid McIntosh has been told. The 24-year-old, already Great Britain’s most successful female rifle shooter of all time, was one of four announced on Wednesday as part of Team GB’ squad for the rearranged Tokyo Games.

While everything in 2021 is still up in the air, as it stands McIntosh will make follow in the footsteps of older sister Jen who made her Olympic bow at London 2012.

The reigning world champion and world record holder admits the pressure weighs on her at times, as she seeks to become Britain’s first-ever female Olympic medallist in shooting.

And in some ways, the year delay has helped alleviate some expectation.

“I found at the end of 2019 that I’d done quite a lot of stuff. It had been a successful year for me,” explains McIntosh, funded by The National Lottery on UK Sport’s World Class Programme.

“When last January rolled around, it was the Olympic year, I was getting quite nervous with the prospect of having been shooting really great and it being Olympic year.

“So in some ways this has helped me. That nervousness has dissipated, and I feel a lot better. I guess it will probably build up again in the next few months.

“I definitely could medal, assuming I put in a good performance on the day. But there are 30 other women on the line, who if they put in a good performance, are equally capable of winning medals.

“I wouldn’t say it’s definite but it’s definitely a possibility. I’d be over the moon with a medal, and I’d be absolutely ecstatic if I won gold for example but honestly, given all the extra pressure, if I put in a good performance, I’ll be really happy.

“I’ve never been in an Olympics but I’ve been told, and I watched Olympic finals before, the Olympics for shooting is very different. You will get complete wild cards, people who have never had a major medal before, just shooting out of their skin on the day.

“The Olympics for shooting can be absolutely mental, you can’t ever say this person is going to win. With the Olympics, because it’s so big and once every four years, all that added stuff makes it a bit crazy.”

McIntosh has always done things a little differently. She comes from a shooting family – her mother Shirley, her father and coach Donald, and older sister Jen were all international shooters – but was not initially attracted to the sport.

Add to that, she has to take medication to cope with rheumatoid arthritis, a disease she was diagnosed with aged 17 which left her stuck on her couch during Rio 2016.

While she is not on the government’s shielding list, she was called by her doctor explaining she could suffer more severe symptoms if she were to contract Covid-19.

That has meant extra precautions and a rather sanguine approach to the Games’ uncertainty.

She added: “That question is still there about will it or won’t it happen. But I guess I have to trust in the IOC and the BOA to make it happen if it is safe. If it’s not safe, I’d rather not go anyway.  

“I have to trust in them that they are going to put on a safe Games for us and they are not going to let us go if it’s not safe.

“Knowing that, it’s quite easy knowing it’s not my decision and I put it in a different box and then get on with what I have to do which is training as if the Games are going to happen.

“I’m super-excited about it, and if it doesn’t happen, that would be a bit of a bummer, but for the safety of people, it’s way more important for the sport.”

McIntosh is one of more than 1,100 elite athletes on UK Sport’s World Class Programme which is powered by National Lottery funding, allowing her to train full-time and have access to the world’s best facilities.

The impact of National Lottery funding is certainly no secret, with Great Britain and Northern Ireland athletes winning 864 inspirational Olympic and Paralympic medals since its introduction in 1997.

Medals are one thing but McIntosh’s Tokyo journey will already be remarkable enough following the physical agony of Rio, hopeful her story will inspire others with chronic illnesses to pursue their sporting dreams.

She added: “I would hope that my story is inspirational to some other people, especially kids.

“Hopefully it’s something inspiring for them, to see the Olympics and sport in general is not something that they have to not do because they have got arthritis.

“You can still live with it and be perfectly normal and perfectly healthy.”

McIntosh is a striking pioneer for women’s shooting. Firstly because of her achievements as the first female British shooter to be ranked number one in the world, in addition to her world title and world record.

Then you have her vivid blue hair – initially Scottish blue when competing at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, but now set to be British blue in Tokyo.

With a number of piercings, she certainly has a rebellious look to her, although McIntosh insists she is quite the goody-two-shoes, not to mention a self-confessed sci-fi nerd.

Now the question is whether she can channel the nerves and produce her best. McIntosh is certainly hopeful.  

She concludes: “I’ve got lots of breathing techniques and relaxation things. I like to think I’m good at dealing with pressure but I won’t know until I’m there really how I’ll handle that kind of pressure. I’m quietly confident.”

No one does more to support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes than National Lottery players, who raise around £30 million each week for good causes. Discover the positive impact playing the National Lottery has on sport at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk and get involved by using the hashtags: #TNLAthletes #TracktoTokyo