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Kiwi Olympic shooter adjusts sights for Tokyo after losing her mum during NZ lockdown

July 28, 2020

Chloe Tipple's mum Betsy was set to cheer her on at the 2020 Games.

Kiwi skeet champion Chloe Tipple should be in Tokyo gunning for gold right now but instead, she's seeing out the winter in Christchurch preparing for a domestic circuit.

The last few months have been particularly challenging for the shooter with the tragic loss of her number one supporter - her mum, Betsy – who died during lockdown to a brain aneurysm.

Tipple told 1 NEWS her mother’s death hurts even more knowing she was meant to be cheering her on at the Olympics.

“Obviously, it’s a tragedy I never expected and it was so sudden but my mum is and was my biggest fan,” Tipple said.

“So the tragedy for me and the burden of today is that she was going to be there so I feel gutted she won’t see that, naturally, but I feel so blessed and grateful that my mum brought me up and inspired me in so many ways.

“I know she’s with me everyday so I kind of feel she'll be closer to me on the field cause she's inside.”

Tipple has also got plenty of gratitude for teammate and Rio Olympics silver medallist Natalie Rooney.

“She’s an experienced athlete, she’s so bloody wise and we’ve done it different but also the same,” Tipple said.

“So I feel grateful there’s another Kiwi and female who's followed the same journey. It’s nice to have her there at the events.”

The pair and their families caught up for dinner over the weekend in Rooney's hometown of Waimate to officially mark the countdown until Tokyo 2021.

It served as a friendly reminder of why she’s on her journey,

“Some days I’m like, ‘man, I have a loss or lack or purpose’,” she said.

“Of course we have Tokyo but usually we also have an event in four, five, six weeks that we're training for so it’s just re-evaluating self-motivation and what that looks like.”

Tipple is now setting her sights firmly on dominating the domestic season and hoping that follows through to Tokyo next year.

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