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August 22, 2004 2:21 pm

Graves fails to reach skeet finals

By MIKE PRATER

Gannett News Service

MARKOPOULO, Greece - Todd Graves missed the finals of men's Olympic skeet shooting Sunday and didn't get a chance to defend the bronze medal he won in Sydney.

He kept the disappointment in perspective, though.

``I can't complain. I didn't shoot my foot off or anything,'' said the four-time Olympian, who was born in Ruston, La., and raised in Laurel, Miss.

The sergeant first class with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit stationed in Fort Benning, Ga., missed out on the six-man finals after shooting at 125 targets over a two-day period. He missed four, one too many to reach the finals at the Markopoulo Shooter Centre.

Graves, 41, finished in a tie for ninth place.

``I gave everything I had. I didn't shoot too bad, a couple of targets just got away from me, and I didn't seem to have luck on my side. I'm not going to beat myself up over it,'' he said.

Graves started the competition on fire - he hit 50 of 50 attempts in two qualifying rounds Saturday. He missed two shots in round three of Saturday's qualifying, including one that got caught in the wind, and was 24 of 25 in both of Sunday's qualifying sessions.

``I knew I had to break 50 straight (Sunday), and I went into the mindset knowing I had to do that. ... When the best in the world come out and play, you have to be on top of your game, and it just didn't work out for me today,'' he said.

Graves' bronze medal in Sydney was the first U.S. men's skeet shooting medal since 1984.

He said he keeps the medal at home in a safe. He wouldn't rule out making his fifth Olympic appearance at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

``It's a possibility, a possibility, but I can't say for sure right now,'' he said.

The gold medal in Athens went to Andrea Benelli of Italy, who beat Marko Kemppainen of Finland in a shoot-off. Kemppainen qualified with a perfect score of 125, but Benelli was 25 of 25 in the finals, while Kemppainen missed one. Cuba's Juan Miguel Rodriguez won bronze.

The top American was Shawn Dulohery, the 2001 world champion from Kansas City, Mo. He lost a shoot-out for bronze and finished fifth.

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