“My Dad Taught Me Gun Safety”: 34-Year-Old American Shooting Legend Opens Up on His Journey in the Sport

The American skeet shooter and former U.S. Army veteran, Vincent Hancock, has been making waves in the sporting realm since he was just a teen. From winning his first world championship title in Men’s skeet category at 16 to winning three Olympic gold medals, Hancock has covered every alcove of his beloved sport of shooting. Nonetheless, the champion credits the major chunk of his successful career to his upbringing and the valuable counsel of his parents.

Hancock’s love for guns was first sparked when he was just a toddler. Growing up around a father who knows the real deal about handling guns and shooting targets has its perks. Therefore, living in the proximity of guns favored Hancock’s passion for skeet shooting and he went on to become the world’s renowned shooter. Coupled with his unquantifiable passion were his parents’ important life lessons that fueled his determination to reach the pinnacle of success.

Vincent Hancock’s journey of achieving a prominent status in the skeet shooting realm

In 2022, Hancock appeared in an interview with Team USA, where he profoundly chatted about his journey of achieving a hoard full of accolades. While underlining the facts about his vocation, Hancock reminisced about his childhood. As per the Olympian’s revelations, as a child, he once took a shot at a bird and took the creature home to flaunt his victory in front of his parents. He stated, “I would see birds and think I can hunt like my dad”. On this, his father gave him his first real lesson about guns.

The 34-year-old added, “My parents taught me it was wrong. They taught me how to respect a gun, and my dad taught me gun safety”. Following this, Hancock instilled the lesson taught by his parents in his life and ever since then, he was unstoppable. At just 10, the champion rose to fame through his flair for competitive shooting and soon after that, he joined the army before his senior year of high school. 

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In 2005, he received his first accolade in the form of a World Championship title. Then came the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he won his first gold and astounded everyone with his incredible feat. The next big win for Hancock came in the 2012 London Olympics, when once again he made many heads turn his way by clinching another gold medal. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the Army veteran made it to the center of the spotlight by bagging his third gold medal and becoming the first skeet shooter to repeat as Olympic champion.

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Now, as the champion closes to the age of retirement, he still has two more Olympics left. The Olympian has now girded up his loins for the 2024 Paris Olympics and is looking forward to retiring from the sport in the 2028 Olympic games in Los Angeles.