Zuzana Rehák-Štefečeková (born 15 January 1984) is a female Slovak

sports shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such as ...

. She won the gold medal in the Women's

Trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecological research. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), Fil ...

event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

and the silver medal at the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Career

Her first big successes were bronze medals from 2002 World and European Junior Championships. She also placed fourth at the 2001 World Junior Championships and fifth at the 1999 World Junior Championship. As a junior, she also competed in

double trap Double trap is a shotgun shooting sport, one of the ISSF shooting events. Participants use a shotgun to attempt to break a clay disk flung away from the shooter at high speed. The layout of double trap shooting is similar to that of trap shoot ...

, her best results were the 6th place from the 2001 World Junior Championships and 7th place from the 1999 World Junior Championship.

Olympic Games

She entered the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

as a holder of the qualification ''(74 hits)'' and final ''(96)'' world records which she achieved in 2006 at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

event in

Qingyuan Qingyuan, formerly romanized as Tsingyun, is a prefecture-level city in northern Guangdong province, China, on the banks of the Bei or North River. During the 2020 census, its total population was 3,969,473, out of whom 1,738,424 lived in the ...

. She won the qualification round, but placed second in the final, where she missed two more targets than

Satu Mäkelä-Nummela Satu Mäkelä-Nummela (born October 26, 1970, in Orimattila, Finland) is a Finnish sports shooter. She won the gold medal in the Women's Trap event at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She has also won bronze medals in Women's Trap event in 1995 and 20 ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Her world records lasted to the

, where they were overcome by

Jessica Rossi Jessica Rossi (born 7 January 1992) is a female Italian sports shooter. Biography She won the gold medal in the Women's Trap A trap is a mechanical device used to capture or restrain an animal for purposes such as hunting, pest control, or ecol ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, who missed only one target in the whole competition. Štefečeková was the most successful in the silver medal shoot-off, beating Delphine Réau of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Alessandra Perilli Alessandra Perilli (born April 1, 1988) is a Sammarinese professional target shooter. Her hometown is Borgo Maggiore. She finished 4th after a draw for 2nd place with a French and a Slovakian shooter in the Women's trap at the 2012 Summer Olymp ...

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

. She is the first sports shooter who managed to defend her medal in the women's trap competition at the Olympic Games. Despite qualifying for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, she did not compete due her maternity leave. Rehák-Štefečeková competed in two events at the

, women's trap (individual) and mixed trap team with

Erik Varga Erik Varga ( hu, Varga Erik; born 9 June 1976) is a Slovak sport shooter who specializes in the trap. He is a member of the Hungarian community in Slovakia. At the 2008 Olympic Games he finished in joint eighth place in the trap qualification, m ...

. She won the qualification in the individual trap event, setting the new world and Olympic record by hitting all 125 targets. She won the gold medal in the finals, the first ever gold medal for

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

from shooting events. Rehák-Štefečeková managed to hit 43 of 50 targets, one more than the silver medalist Kayle Browning. She thus became the most successful shooter in Olympic women's trap, with one gold and two silver medals (no other Olympic champion has ever managed to win another medal in this event). In the mixed trap team event she and

placed third in the qualification, missing only one target out of 75, while Varga missed three. They advanced into the bronze medal match, where they managed hit the equal number of targets (42) as Madelynn Bernau and

Brian Burrows Brian Burrows (born February 17, 1988, in Torrance, California) is an American sport shooter. Burrows and Madelynn Bernau won the bronze medal in the mixed trap team event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. In 2019, he won the g ...

from the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, but ultimately lost in the subsequent shoot-off, finishing fourth.

World and European Championships

Competing at the senior level, Štefečeková won her first medal at the 2003 World Championships, where she finished third. After placing 10th in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, 9th in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and 6th in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, she won the gold medal at the 2010 World Championships, with 72 hits in qualification and 19 in final, beating

Liu Yingzi Liu Yingzi (born 27 January 1971 in Xiangyin, Yueyang, Hunan) is a female Chinese sports shooter, who competed for Team China at the 2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprim ...

and

. She added a silver medal in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, where only Liu Yingzi defeated her and a bronze medal in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. Her biggest success came at the 2018 World Championships, where she won the gold medal not only in the individual event, defeating Wang Xiaojing in the final shoot-off, but also in the mixed trap with

. Her total score from the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in the single-target individual trap event is two gold (

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and

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

), three silver (

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

) and three bronze (

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

) medals. She also won the silver medal in the individual double trap event at the

2018 European Championships The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom (with Edinburgh hosting the diving events and Gleneagles ...

and five medals in team events: gold in 2018 (mixed double trap with Hubert Andrzej Olejnik), silver in 2015 (women's trap team) and 2018 (mixed trap with Erik Varga) and bronze in 2013 and 2017 (women's trap team).

Other competitions

At the first

European Games The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic Games, Olympic tradition contested by sportsperson, athletes from European nations and several European Olympic Committees#Notes, transcontinental countries. The Games were ...

, with

, they won a gold medal in the mixed trap event. She also won seven individual

events, including two World Cup finals.

Personal life

Štefečeková is a committed

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, she studied missionary and charitable work in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

. In 2016, she gave birth to a son, Nathan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stefecekova 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Nitra Shooters at the 2008 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2012 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic shooters of Slovakia Olympic gold medalists for Slovakia Olympic silver medalists for Slovakia Slovak female sport shooters World record holders in shooting Trap and double trap shooters Olympic medalists in shooting Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2015 European Games European Games gold medalists for Slovakia European Games medalists in shooting Universiade medalists in shooting Universiade gold medalists for Slovakia Universiade bronze medalists for Slovakia Shooters at the 2019 European Games 20th-century Slovak women 21st-century Slovak women