PATTONSBURG, Mo. — Rachel Tozier’s Olympic experience at the Paris Games came with Olympic-sized nerves, but she learned a lot of great lessons that she hopes to put to use in future Olympic Games.
“It’s the biggest stage that anyone ever competes on,” Staff Sgt. Rachel Tozier with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s International Shotgun Team said Tuesday at her family’s home in Pattonsburg, Missouri.
She doesn’t usually get overcome with nerves for matches, but the Olympics proved to be very different.
“Knowing that this has been the goal for so long — since I graduated high school, I have wanted to go to the Olympics — knowing that I made that team and feeling confident going in then getting out there and just shaking uncontrollably,” Tozier said of her experience.
She had tried to trick herself into thinking the Olympics wouldn’t be pressure-packed.
“I trained for the Olympics like I trained for any other match, like it was just another match,” she said. “I was going to shoot against all the same people that I saw everywhere. And that was the wrong move. There is no way to simulate the kind of pressure that I felt at the (Olympic) Games and there’s no way to really train it besides going into the next one knowing how I’m going to feel and being able to accept those nerves and being able to manage them a little better than I was able to in Paris.”
Tozier said she plans to incorporate breathing techniques, visualization and positive reinforcement into her training to give her more tools for managing her nerves after trying to compete amid an unforgettable spectacle and unprecedented competition.
“The crowds were amazing at the range, which we didn’t expect and we hadn’t trained for,” Tozier said. “We didn’t expect people to be back there clapping and yelling and booing and screaming the whole time we were shooting.”
Tozier finished 18th in Paris, but she has no regrets.
“This has been the greatest experience of my life and I am extremely grateful to have been able to compete and represent our country and the Army and shooting sports in general,” she said. “I’m just really grateful for that experience.”
Why wouldn’t she be after spending the Opening Ceremonies on a boat with LeBron James and other NBA stars.
“You feel like a superhero out there on the boat, because everybody’s yelling and cheering for you,” Tozier said. “You can’t really see anybody. You see the crowds, but you don’t see any faces. You just see flags waving and we’re all waving flags on the boat. It was just really, it was kind of humbling to see how many people were actually cheering for us. Yeah, they were probably cheering for all the other countries too, but it was really cool to be up there with other athletes — not just shooters — and just feel the love in Team USA.”
Tozier spent a few extra days with her family in France, including a visit to Disneyland Paris. Her husband Tom, daughter Vivi and mother Dana were among those who made the trip.
“It was great to have them over there just to have some extra support,” she said. “They had never traveled overseas with me before. ... Once I was done shooting, it was vacation time, so that was great. It was nice to have there, though, for sure.”
After returning stateside, Tozier immediately returned to training and won the USA Shooting Trap National Championship last week in Michigan, which puts her in great position to qualify for the U.S. World Cup shooting team next year.
“It was crazy,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d be nervous at all and the first couple days I didn’t shoot very well. That’s when it’s like, ‘OK, you’ve got to turn this back on. You need to remember that this is not practice. This is actually a match.’ That was a little different to have to force myself to flip the switch into the competitive mode and out of training.”
But they’re all lessons she hopes to put to use during the next four years as she eyes a medal at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
“Whenever I got back, it was maintaining — I don’t want to call it the rage, but the disappointment of not winning and putting that into my training to make me train harder,” Tozier said.
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KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
