NIK SIMON: Amber Rutter’s Olympic goals went up in puff of pink smoke

Everything fell into perspective as Amber Rutter pulled her three-month-old baby, Tommy, into her arms and hung the silver medal around his neck.

Just weeks after giving birth, any place on the Olympic podium was a remarkable feat, yet there was a lingering frustration here about what could have been.

Team GB‘s sharp-shooter hit 183 out of 193 targets across the women’s skeet competition, each clay shattering into tiny pieces and going up in a puff of pink smoke.

She clipped the edge of her final clay in a dramatic shootout but it failed to detonate. Rutter raised her hand to challenge the call but the hit was missed by the judges and victory went to her Chilean rival.

Francisca Crovetto Chadid, at 34, became the first woman from her country to win Olympic gold.

‘I truly believe that I hit it and I heard from many other people who I was competing against that I hit it,’ said the 26-year-old from Windsor, who was initially unaware that the sport had removed video replay technology for the Olympics.

‘It’s so important that sports have the technology like that. It’s accessible so we should definitely be using it,’ she added.

‘The last time that I competed it was there and I’m not sure what happened with the Olympics. That’s why I was turning around, instantly looking for my coach to see if we appealed.

‘The fact the viewers at home can see it, I’m sure they’ve got questions to ask about how the referees have not seen it.

‘But this is the fun of sport, there are so many moments where things just don’t happen the way they’re meant to.’

The debate around video technology is not limited to football and VAR. In shooting, there have been complaints about its accuracy but here Rutter was failed by the naked eye of the judges. There was no appeals process to be sought and the decision was final. She gave a thumbs-down, denied the perfect Olympic story, as headlines about the mum with the golden gun were suddenly ripped up.

For Rutter’s coach, Richard Brickell, however, it was a struggle to keep his counsel.

‘It’s clearly a hit,’ he said. ‘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. This shouldn’t happen.

‘This is as big as it gets and it’s a sad mistake. Sponsorship and everything is based around Olympic medals, and gold even more so. So it will have ramifications, but we are going to celebrate silver.’

Rutter built her training plan around childcare, retuning her body for the 100kg recoil of her 12-gauge shotgun. She worked on her pelvic floor after the trauma of childbirth, while building up the strength in her arms and shoulders.

The fluorescent orange clays travel at more than 60mph and Rutter took them down like a dead-eye gun slinger.

It became a test of nerve as the tied competition went into a shoot-off but Rutter’s fate was ultimately out of her hands.

‘I wish I could say it was easy, but it was really hard,’ she said. ‘Just battling with those nerves for two days, it really does feel like a marathon in this event.

‘When you get to the end and you secure that medal, it is just a feeling like no other. And then to turn around and see my son there with my husband, he completely surprised me.

‘I had no idea he was coming. I’d said to my whole family, ‘You’re not coming, I’m focusing on me and if I hear Tommy cry, that will be it’.

‘I know Tommy might not remember it, but it’s a moment in time that I’ll certainly remember and I know James my husband will, too.

‘I just hope that we can really share the message to other mums of how important it is that your life doesn’t stop after having a baby. 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.’ She paid tribute to her late grandfather, Bill, who got her into the sport.

He travelled with her to the Rio 2016 Games but passed away the following year from cancer.

Rutter missed the Tokyo Olympics after failing a Covid test the day before she was due to fly to Japan but yesterday she finally achieved her goal.

‘Even when my grandfather was really sick, he always had the iPad up watching every moment, wherever I was in the world,’ said Rutter.

‘He used to shoot as well. 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.’