If Amber Rutter felt any frustration when she turned to the crowd to acknowledge becoming the first British woman to win an Olympic shooting medal it immediately abated as everything instantly fell into perspective.
Rutter’s three-month-old son Tommy was not meant to be in France. Under strict orders not to come anywhere near the Châteauroux Shooting Centre, located 270km south of Paris, her husband, James, was supposed to be back home with their baby watching on TV. If he had been, he would have seen the video replays that suggested Rutter had struck a decisive clay deep into a shootoff for gold; replays that, controversially, were for TV use only and not available to the referees in competition, who ruled incorrectly that she had missed.
But James had secretly flown out with Tommy to surprise Rutter so they could all enjoy the astonishing, historic moment together. “I had no idea they were coming,” said Rutter. “I know Tommy might not remember it but I definitely will so I’m so glad they made the journey.
“I didn’t spot them before the end, thank God. I’d said to my whole family not to come because I wanted to focus on me, and if I hear Tommy cry that will be it – my focus will be straight on him. I don’t know how close to the range he got but hopefully not that close because he’d definitely have been playing with fire.”
It was a risk worth taking. When he is older, Tommy will be told all about his mother’s remarkable story. How she finished sixth at the Rio Olympics, three years after she was named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year. How she almost quit the sport in devastation after she was denied the chance to compete at the Tokyo Games when ranked world No 1 after being diagnosed with Covid the night before she was due to fly to Japan. How she did not put her dreams of starting a family on hold just because she wanted to compete at these Olympics, continuing to train until she was 28 weeks pregnant and then standing on the podium barely three months after his birth. But also, annoyingly, how a pesky absence of video replays robbed her of fighting for gold.
The skeet final was at its bitter end, with four of the six finalists already eliminated, when the controversial moment arose. Rutter and Chile’s Francisca Crovetto Chadid were the only two left standing in a sudden death shootoff for gold. Essentially, the first to miss would have to make do with silver.
When Rutter’s ninth shootoff shot was marked as a miss, she spun immediately round to her coach, Richard Brickell, to appeal against the decision, certain that it had in fact clipped the clay. But, unlike at many other major shooting competitions, replays were not in use, so she had no ability to appeal. Crovetto Chadid duly sealed her fate and the standings were confirmed.
“It’s clearly a hit,” said an irate Brickell. “All the coaches knew it was a hit, everyone in the stadium knew it was a hit and everyone at home knew it was a hit. Unfortunately, the only people who didn’t were the judges. It’s tough. A big mistake for a very important medal.”
Rutter was more sanguine, eager not to let the dispute take the shine off her extraordinary achievement. “I truly believe that it did hit, but that’s sport for you,” she said. “It’s all swings and roundabouts. It’s just one of those things you have to live with. But to come away with a silver medal, I’m just super proud of my performance and I’m not going to let a target like that take away my moment. I know I put in a really solid performance out there so I’m going to celebrate and enjoy my moment.”
Nevertheless, Rutter echoed Brickell’s calls for technology to be used to avoid such mistakes when the stakes are so high. “I think it’s so important in sport because it’s moments like these that you want the true result,” she said. “The fact that viewers at home can see it, I’m sure they will be asking questions about how the refs haven’t seen that.”
But for Rutter, this was not a moment to be bitter; it was a family moment to treasure, from the tiny baby in her arms to her grandfather who had first encouraged her to take up the sport as a child but sadly did not live to see her biggest moment of glory.
“Even when he was really sick he always had the iPad up watching me every moment wherever I was in the world,” she said. “His dream was to see me win an Olympic medal and although he may not be here today I know he’ll be watching up there. This is for him as well.”
