Susan Marie Nattrass | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Susan Marie Nattrass

Susan Marie Nattrass, trapshooter (b at Medicine Hat, Alta 5 Nov 1950).

Susan Marie Nattrass, trapshooter (b at Medicine Hat, Alta 5 Nov 1950). She has been the dominant individual in her sport. A 6-time women's world champion, she became the first woman to compete in trapshooting in the Olympic Games in 1976 in Montréal. She has competed against the men in the world championships, achieving a 3rd-place finish in 1986.

In 1990 Nattrass became the first woman to compete in the shotgun event at the Commonwealth Games and then spent most of the 1990s lobbying the International Olympic Committee to have separate Olympic shooting events for women. Nattrass's tenacity paid off and the sport made its debut at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where she placed 9th in the trap and 15th in the double-trap. She then set her sights on the 2004 Olympics at Athens, and although she sustained an injury to her foot just prior to qualifying, she successfully bid for one of the remaining quota spots based on her past achievements. The 53-year-old 5-time Olympian and 35-year member of the national team improved on her 2000 performance at Sydney and placed 6th overall.

An outspoken advocate of equality in sport, she has proven to be one of the most successful Canadian woman athletes of her generation. She is an inductee to the Canadian and Alberta sports halls of fame. In 1981 Nattrass won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's athlete of the year and received the Order of Canada. Since 1996 she has resided in Washington State, conducting osteoporosis research at the Pacific Medical Center in Seattle.