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Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID |
2013.55.135 B |
Object Name |
Video Recording |
Title |
Susan Nattrass Interview |
Scope & Content |
Susan Nattrass interview, 26 February 2009. Digitized MP4 from Sony 40 Advanced ME DVCAM. Two videos with a total viewing time of 01:17:20. 1 of 2; 00:46Childhood: father Floyd was a trapshooter; family outings were to the gun club and competitions, her father's goal was the 1960 Olympic Games but he did not make it, she was about 12 - 13 when she learned to shoot from her dad, preferred doing other sports, liked being out of doors and active, played volleyball in Junior High, when she was 13 her father went to the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo; won her first competition at age 15 while on a family holiday in the USA 04:51On her father as a coach: taught excellent basics, he was hard, talks about the practise sessions and doing it over and over, it is a sport with a lot of time spent on practise rounds, "if you are going to do this, you are going to do it well" 06:01Her goal was to make the national volleyball team, that was what she wanted to do, won the Canadian championships in Grade 12, played volleyball and basketball in university; had one good year shooting and that started her career 07:26The moment you decided to pursue shooting: at age 18, first competition in 1969 in Reno and won the women's event, beat the men in a shoot-off; decided to go to the Canadian nationals for the international team trials, won the right to go to the Worlds, has won the Canadian nationals, Alberta provincials, the North Americans and the Worlds 09:54First World Championships were in 1974 in Switzerland 10:35When did you really start to love it: won a few World Championships before she decided she really liked the sport 11:14Why were you doing it: was good at it, loved to compete, loved the challenge of the sport because it's you with the clay target, doesn't matter what anyone else does, it's you doing your best, a perfectionist thing; got to really love the sport but initially it was the people, the competitions and the places she went to 12:06Fell in love with the international flavour of the championships 12:35First victory: won the Silver in 1971, did not make the 1972 Olympic team, in 1974 set a world record at a competition, later that year had an emergency operation shortly before the World Championships, tells story of regaining her health and getting to Switzerland for the Championships, established a new world record and won the Gold medal, she was so far ahead in the competition that she went for the world record 17:10Impact on her: was the Worlds, international competition, biggest win 17:39Won the Women's World Championships in 1975 and John Primrose won the Men's, first time for Canada to do this; very exciting; attended 1976 Olympics in Montreal; in 1975 and 1977 set new world records; in 1978 won the Women's again and set a world record in Seoul at the Worlds that has never been broken to this day, her score matched the Bronze score in the men's competition 19:31The world championships in Seoul had 200 targets over 3 days, women shot at 200 in the Worlds until 1992, then it was changed to 125 targets, then for women in the Olympics it was changed to 75 20:48Went to a pre-Olympic competition in 1979, there were 85 men competing and her, came in 6th or 7th, she was geared to the 1980 Olympics and the boycott happened, a huge disappointment 21:38Peaking at this point, decided not to attend medical school because she was geared to the Olympics, was shooting well, in good physical shape, a huge blow to every athlete in every sport and did nothing politically 24:12On the competition in Argentina: beat her nearest opponent by 16 targets, she doesn't remember the injury she had, remembers the heat but she like heat, remembers people singing the Canadian anthem because they could not find the music, that was the first year the Chinese came, a Chinese coach talked with her and other shooters in order to analyse their abilities 26:09On the physical pounding on a shooter's body: have to hold the shotgun the right way and have a good stance, most people get hurt because the gun does not fit them properly; had to make adjustments when she lost weight, talks about how she did this 27:11The win in Argentina was her 6th in a row, an amazing experience, an amazing accomplishment, very important to her 29:37Talks about John Primrose: eccentric but a good shooter; she was not around when George Genereux was shooting; John is still the best shooter that Canada has produced since George; continues to talk about George and how phenomenal he was 32:20On winning the Lou Marsh trophy in 1981: astounded; the year before she had won the Velma Springstead Trophy as the top female athlete; never thought she would win the Lou Marsh 33:58One of the most important awards you can win because it's all athletes - men, women, professional, amateur; when she found out she was chosen she was absolutely astounded, was up against Steve Podborski, Wayne Gretzky; one of the crowning parts of her career 34:56Reiterates above statement; it impresses people that she won, a woman and a shooter 38:42On the Order of Canada: was made an Officer of the Order in 1982, an amazing experience and a huge honour 2 of 2; 01:09On being inducted in the CSHoF: astounded when she got the call, it was after her second World Championship; really motivated her to be better and continue in the sport 02:51Talks about donating the gun she won the 6 World Championships with to the Hall; talks about the different guns she has used to shoot with 04:39On lobbying: in 1976 the rule at the time was that the 2 best people in the country qualified, she and John Primrose were the best, she was among the first women trapshooters at the Olympics; in 1980 there was the boycott, 1984 she did not make the team; in 1988 at the World Championships the shooters had a score to reach, there was a quota system, she was one of 6 women competing against 48 men, was the top woman and given a special Gold medal by the Federation; in 1992 before the Olympic Games the International Shooting Sports Federation decided to close trap and skeet shooting to men only and created double trap for women, it was not a popular decision, she started lobbying to make the change back, lobbied the IOC who told her it was a Federation decision, started 5 years of lobbying, would not give up; in 1997 the IOC decided to have trap and skeet shooting for women at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, still only shoot 75 targets in one day, they are geared to shoot to a higher number of targets and over 2 days, has lobbied to change the event but so far no success 12:09In 2009 has represented Canada for 40 years, a milestone; she got there one year at a time 13:42On her PhD thesis: on the relationship between television and sport 14:26Was the Director of Athletics at St. Mary's for 5 years and in charge of intramural sports at University of Alberta for the previous 5 years 15:03How did your dissertation affect you: was doing some TV work at the time; TV doesn't look at the past, only the present and the future, was a sport historian and cared about telling the whole story; talks about the things she learned doing the research for her dissertation 18:04On her current research on osteoporosis ; in 1996 was offered a position in Seattle to study masters level female athletes, doing medical research on women's health 19:40How would you like to be remembered: as one of the best shooters in the world, for the contribution of keeping women's trap and skeet as a viable sport and getting them into the Olympics; for trying to motivate younger women and men to get into the sport; known as a builder and a motivator for trying to get people into the sport and helping it to grow; to be remembered as someone who has made a difference 20:59On her Mother: her father taught her how to shoot, they did not get along, he went to the first 2 World Championships, not a good coach for her, was ready to quit at 19, then started paying her own way to competitions, her mother was the buffer between them and a calming influence, she has never shot but she knows the sport and can tell Susan what she is doing wrong, they have a special friendship, she has been with her all the time 27:25On being the flag bearer at the Pan American Games: it was the only major event where she was the flag bearer 30:22On the Olympic Games: each Games has been different; in 1976 it was her own country and she was the only woman competing for Canada; 1988 was Korea's coming out to the world; 1992 was her least favourite because of the battles over lobbying; 2000 was exciting because it was the start of separate women's events in trap and skeet; 2004 because Athens was the home of the Olympics; 2008 China was incredible, a magnificent experience; each games adds a new experience 32:20Single most impressive achievement: winning her first world championships and winning the last one and all the one in between; can't pick one; talks about what impresses other people; talks about the ones that her Mom would remember 34:38My career has been a lot of hard work, a lot of effort, a lot of fun and just an amazing experience 35:40Introduction to Hall |
Date |
2009/02/26 |
People |
Natrass, Susan Primrose, John Genereux, George |
Search Terms |
women in sport Susan Natrass Trap shooting Shooting Interview World Championships 1976 Olympic Games Montreal 1988 Olympic Games Seoul 1992 Olympic Games Barcelona 2000 Olympic Games Sydney 2004 Olympic Games Athens 2008 Olympic Games Beijing 1995 Pan American Games 2003 Pan American Games 2007 Pan American Games 2002 Commonwealth Games 2006 Commonwealth Games |