Connie Smotek

{{short description|American sport shooter}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Connie Smotek

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

| full_name = Connie Jean Fluker-Smotek

| nickname =

| nationality = {{USA}}

| residence =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|8|22}}

| birth_place = Temple, Texas, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height = {{convert|1.65|m|ftin|abbr=on|order=flip}}

| weight = {{convert|63|kg|lb|0|abbr=on|order=flip}}

| website =

| country =

| sport = Shooting

| event = Skeet (SK75)

| club = Brazos Valley Skeet and Trap
Club

| coach = Lloyd Woodhouse

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalSport | Women's shooting}}

{{MedalCountry|the {{USA}}}}

{{MedalCompetition|World Championships}}

{{MedalSilver | 1995 Nicosia | SK125W }}

{{MedalBronze | 1986 Suhl | SKW }}

| show-medals = yes

}}

Connie Jean Smotek (née Fluker; born August 22, 1964, in Temple, Texas) is an American sport shooter.{{cite sports-reference|title = Connie Smotek|url = https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/fl/connie-fluker-smotek-1.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200418083804/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/fl/connie-fluker-smotek-1.html|url-status = dead|archive-date = April 18, 2020|access-date = July 21, 2015}} She produced a career tally of eleven medals, including two (one silver and one bronze) in skeet shooting at the World Championships (1986 and 1995), and was selected to compete for the U.S. team in two editions of the Olympic Games (1992 and 2004).{{cite web |title=ISSF Profile – Connie Smotek |url=http://www.issf-sports.org/athletes/athlete.ashx?personissfid=SHUSAW2208196401 |publisher=ISSF |accessdate=July 16, 2015}} Having pursued the sport since the age of fourteen, Smotek trained full-time as a member of the skeet team for Brazos Valley Skeet and Trap Club in College Station, Texas, under her personal coach Lloyd Woodhouse.{{cite news |title=Smotek aims for gold at 2004 Olympic Summer Games |url=http://today.agrilife.org/2004/04/21/smotek-aims-for-gold-at-2004-olympic-summer-games/ |publisher=Texas A&M University |date=April 21, 2004 |accessdate=July 21, 2015}}{{cite news |first=Larry |last=Bowen |title=The Brazos 4-H Sportsman's Club right on target |url=http://archive.theeagle.com/stories/052907/sports_20070529020.php |publisher=The Bryan-College Station Eagle |date=May 29, 2007 |accessdate=July 21, 2015}} Smotek is also a graduate of Texas A&M University, and has been employed as an administrative assistant by the University's agriculture program since 1995.

Smotek was one of the six female shooters who competed in the mixed skeet tournament at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where she scored 145 out of 150 targets to share a twenty-fifth place tie with eight other shooters in the qualifying stage, narrowly missing out on the final by a single bird.{{cite news |title=Smotek finishes sixth in skeet |url=http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Athletics/Games/2004/Shooting/2004/08/19/592585.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722143445/http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Athletics/Games/2004/Shooting/2004/08/19/592585.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 22, 2015 |publisher=Canoe.ca |date=August 19, 2004 |accessdate=July 16, 2015}}{{cite web |title=Barcelona 1992: Shooting – Mixed Skeet |url=http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1992/1992s5.pdf |work=Barcelona 1992 |publisher=LA84 Foundation |pages=351–352 |accessdate=July 21, 2015}}

Twelve years after competing in her first Olympics, Smotek qualified for her second U.S. shooting team, as a 40-year-old, in the women's skeet at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Five months before the Games, she took a three-shot lead over her rival Haley Dunn to receive a cumulative score of 488 out of a possible 500 targets and grab one of the available Olympic slots for the U.S. team at the Olympic trials in Fort Benning, Georgia.{{cite news |title=Kurzer, Hungary's Igaly claim golds |url=https://www.espn.com/olympics/summer04/shooting/news/story?id=1862675 |publisher=ESPN |date=August 20, 2004 |access-date=July 21, 2015}} Smotek fired her first 11 shots in the final round, but could not move into the medal position with only 22 out of 25 birds, finishing only in sixth place for a total record of 90. Earlier in the prelims, Smotek shot a score of 68 to attain one of the six places for the final.{{cite web |title=Shooting: Women's Skeet Final |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/shooting/results/3532306.stm |work=Athens 2004 |publisher=BBC Sport |date=August 15, 2004 |accessdate=January 31, 2013}}