Margaret Thompson Murdock (born August 25, 1942) is a nurse and former
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
officer most widely known for her success in international shooting competitions, including a silver medal at the
1976 Summer Olympics
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 P ...
.
Murdock is the first woman to win a medal in
Shooting at the Summer Olympics
Shooting sports have been included at every Summer Olympic Games since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics except at the 1904 and 1928 games.
Summary
Events
Shooting was one of the nine events at the first mode ...
and the first to win an individual open
World Shooting Championship
The ISSF World Shooting Championships are governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation. World Shooting Championships began in 1897, after the successful 1896 Summer Olympics, and although the ISSF was not founded until 1907, these early ...
. In international competition Murdock set four individual world records and nine team world records. She is a member of five halls of fame, including the USA Shooting Hall of Fame and the
Kansas Sports Hall of Fame
The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame is a museum located in Wichita, dedicated to preserving the history of sports in the state of Kansas. The museum provides exhibits, archives, facilities, services, and activities to honor those individuals and te ...
.
Early years
Margaret L. Thompson was born August 25, 1942 in
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central U ...
. While growing up during the 1950s, she learned how to shoot by following her father to the rifle range.
She graduated from Hayden High School, then attended Kansas State University, where she competed on the men's rifle team winning two Big Eight Conference championships and became the university's first female student to earn a
varsity letter
A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met.
Description ...
. The team practiced with 5th Army Rifle Team at
Fort Riley
Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Ge ...
, which led to a four-year stint in the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
, where she was assigned as a shooting instructor at Fort Benning, eventually achieving the rank of major.
Competitions
Murdock was the 1966 World Champion in Women's Standard Rifle. In 1967 she won two gold medals in small-bore rifle at the Pan American Games and set a world record, for men or women, in the kneeling rifle shooting.
Murdock narrowly missed qualifying for the 1968 games in Mexico City. She became the first woman ever on the U.S. Olympic shooting team ( in 1976) and the first woman to win a medal in shooting at the Olympic Games. She won a silver medal that year, after tying with
Lanny Bassham
Lanny Robert Bassham (born January 2, 1947) is an American sport shooter who won a gold medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics, and a silver medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Early life
Bassham was born in Comanche, Texas. Olympic rules forbade a shoot-off, which Bassham had requested. During the national anthem, Bassham pulled Murdock up to stand with him on the gold medal spot at the podium. In 1992 she was named to the U.S. International Shooting Hall of Fame.