Ohio State freshman Henry Leverett Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
This story has been updated for the BuckeyeBound edition.
Since they were eight and nine years old, Henry and Jackson Leverett rose through the ranks of pistol shooting competitions growing up in Bainbridge, Georgia.
Last December, the Leverett brothers said they had their eyes set on competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Now, the rising sophomores will take part in the games much sooner than anticipated.
“I think it hasn’t set in yet, it’s probably not going to set in until I touch down in Tokyo,” Henry Leverett said. “It’s definitely something I’ve been looking forward to for a very, very long time. Just to have it be on my shoulders now is a huge weight that I’m expecting to kind of realize very, very soon.”
USA Shooting named the brothers to the United States Olympic Team after Henry Leverett won the United States’ only quota for the 25M Rapid Fire Pistol event. Jackson Leverett filled a second quota obtained through an exchange between USA Shooting and the International Shooting Sport Federation.
Since first participating in competitions through the local 4-H shooting program, Henry Leverett has traveled across the world to partake on increasingly grand stages.
Henry Leverett won gold each of the last five years at the Pistol National Junior Olympic Championships, according to USA Shooting. But even after competing in dozens of international competitions in places like Beijing and Lima, Peru, Henry Leverett said the Tokyo Olympics will be the grandest stage of them all.
“It is the Olympics. It is going to be the highlight of my shooting career, essentially,” Leverett said. “I’ve competed in World Cups before. I’ve qualified at the Pan American Games, but the Olympics is really, really special –– lot more people, lot more athletes there.”
There is a bit of an interesting twist surrounding the Leverett’s trip to Tokyo: the event in which they will compete isn’t a collegiate event, so USA Shooting provided the opportunity for the two to practice and ultimately earn their Olympic berths.
Ohio State pistol head coach Emil Milev, a 1996 Olympic silver medalist himself, said the Leverett’s have a huge opportunity to boost collegiate participation in pistol shooting.
“To me, the U.S. has a really big opportunity to be the strongest nation in pistol and we’re lacking on some stages, some places, in the world stage, and I’m hoping that collegiate can be part of that process as establishing U.S. as a dominant figure in pistol shooting,” Milev said.
The United States last medaled in an Olympic pistol competition in 2008, when current National Coach Jason Turner earned bronze in air pistol.
Milev said he believed the number of non-Olympic events in collegiate pistol shooting and the platform of international competition may sway some young, college-age individuals away from attending college programs.
The fourth-year head coach said he hopes to swing attention for younger people to consider college programs, and that the Leverett’s are a prime example for both the brothers and Ohio State to benefit.
“It’s still interesting when walking through campus and meeting people, outside of fans of Ohio State, that didn’t even know pistol exists,” Milev said. “So I think that’s definitely gonna put the team on the map. Hopefully for the future this is gonna be a great opportunity for us to be more present.”
Having the opportunity to bring awareness to collegiate pistol shooting on top of the challenge to compete on the world’s stage as a member of the United States Olympic Team presents a range of pressure to anyone.
Still, Henry Leverett said he is going to stick to what he does each time he stands across from his target.
“My plan is to just focus on my shot process –– what I do every single time I shoot –– and really just focus on the things that help me shoot really well,” Leverett said. “Hoping that that’s gonna kind of alleviate all of the pressure, all of the pressure of being at the Olympics.”
