Margaret Murdock

Career

In international competition Murdock set four individual world records and nine team world records. Margaret L. Thompson was born August 25, 1942 in Topeka, Kansas. 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 to earn a varsity letter.

Murdock narrowly missed qualifying for the 1968 games in Mexico City. 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 United States. International Shooting Hall of Fame.

Murdock retired from competitive shooting at age 35, becoming a registered nurse, specializing in anesthesia.

Achievements

• Murdock is the first woman to win a medal in Shooting at the Summer Olympics and the first to win an individual open World Shooting Championship. The team practiced with 5th Army Rifle Team at Fort Riley, which led to a four-year stint in the United States. Army, where she was assigned as a shooting instructor at Fort Benning, eventually achieving the rank of major. Murdock was the 1966 World Champion in Women"s Standard Rifle. She became the first woman ever on the United States. 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, the United States. team captain.

Membership

She is a member of five halls of fame, including the United States of America Shooting Hall of Fame and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.