SCANLAN Laetisha

General
RIO HEARTACHE FUELS TOKYO DREAM
She finished fifth at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where she said she simply didn't perform well enough to contend for a medal. She believes this experience will benefit her in Tokyo. "I still cannot to this day describe in words the feeling of heart wrenching disappointment that ran through my veins on the day of my competition [in Rio]. It had never felt so right and yet gone so wrong. Knowing I didn't achieve what I was expected was crushing. My feelings of unworthiness and disappointment were not just experienced by me but by many [other athletes in Rio]. What I learnt was that it is your response to winning or losing that makes you a winner or a loser, and while it is great to succeed in your sport it is even greater to excel in character. I was a baby [in Rio]. I was so fresh, and I went in there quite naive and it's taken me three to four years after Rio to realise that I have developed a lot as a shooter and I've grown up. That's why I'm looking forward to Tokyo so much now because I know what Rio was, I know how I performed, I know why I did this, and I know why I did that. Now coming into Tokyo, I have so much knowledge and so much experience and I think it can only benefit me positively." (shootingaustralia.org, 18 Jun 2020; girl.com.au, 01 Jan 2017)

MIXED PAIRS
She won gold in the mixed team trap event alongside James Willett at the 2019 World Championships in Lonato del Garda, Italy, and said she is motivated by the prospect of competing in more than one event at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "I've always been jealous of the swimmers that have so many opportunities to compete at the Olympics. And it was so hard going into Rio knowing you had one opportunity and that was it for the next four years. It [mixed pairs] is such a great opportunity for us as Australians to win medals. I think we are going to go in quite favourable with the other teams. I think chemistry [in mixed pairs] is quite important. In an individual event I don't really care if anyone hits or misses a target next to me. I do care if James hits or misses a target. As we have shot more together internationally, we kind of know how each other rolls now. We're very ying and yang. James and I are very different shooters and different personalities but somehow, we gel perfectly together." (shootingaustralia.org, 18 Jun 2020; vis.org.au, 30 Apr 2020)

BALANCE THROUGH WORK
After finishing a degree in communications at Monash University in Melbourne, VIC, Australia, she began a course in early childhood education from the Selma Institute of Education, also in Melbourne. She has also worked part-time picking and packing apples, operated the front desk at a dry cleaning store, and assisted Russell Mark [her coach] and Lauryn Mark with their corporate shooting business. "I realised, at the start of last year [2019], that I needed more balance in my life so it wasn't so shooting orientated. And I think the perfect thing to do was to have a part-time job that has no relationship with the sport so you can switch off for a bit. I think it keeps you more mentally fresh rather than thinking about shooting 24/7. It's one of those sports where it gives you the most amazing opportunities to travel and see the world and compete at an elite level. But I think I realised after Rio [2016 Olympic Games], that I needed a little more balance." (results.gc2018.com, 14 Apr 2018; Australian Women's Shooter, 01 Dec 2018; shootingaustralia.org, 18 Jun 2020)

EARLY DAYS
She says her experience from finishing last at her first international competition as a junior in 2007 played an important role in getting her to where she is today. "I came dead last. It was probably the best thing that could ever happened to me. It made me work harder and I guess lit a fire to do better. If I'd given up and said it was too hard, then I wouldn't be where I am today." She went on to win her first senior World C

At the 2013 World Cup event in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, she and fellow Australian Catherine Skinner became the first female Australian shooters to win gold [Scanlan] and silver [Skinner] medals in the same World Cup event. The duo stood on the podium together again at the 2014 World Cup event in Tucson, AZ, United States of America, where Skinner won gold and Scanlan took bronze. (thechronicle.com.au, 19 Apr 2013; shootingaustralia.org, 03 Mar 2015)