How Good Is Edwin Gouw

Watch out for Gouw in the Men’s Air Rifle, an hour-and-three-quarter-long, 60-shot competition. 

Edwin’s a very determined young man who’s always striving for perfection;
Image: Simon Carroll, Living Images Photography.

What's wrong with Australia’s young people? Where are all the slackers and delinquents? All our country’s kids ever seem to do these days is aspire to be parliamentarians, like 20-year-old MP Wyatt Roy, or want to sail around the world, like 16-year-old Jessica Watson, or shoot at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, like 15-year-old Edwin Gouw.

EDWIN WHO?

Jakarta-born and Singapore-based Gouw turned 15 in May, making him our youngest representative at the Delhi Games, pipping even pole-vaulting youngster Liz Parnov. Watch out for Gouw in the Men’s Air Rifle, an hour-and-three-quarter-long, 60-shot competition. Following a qualification round, the top eight shooters progress to the final round, consisting of ten shots. The pressure’s on from here: competitors go shot-for-shot, with scores called after each shot. Scoring’s based on how close to the centre a shot lands – 10.0 isn’t as good as a 10.9, and so on. Qualification and final scores are added together to calculate the winner ... What’s much easier to explain is that Gouw is very young and very, very good.

WHAT’S HIS STORY?

The Gouws moved from Australia to Singapore a decade ago when Edwin’s Indonesian-born parents relocated for business purposes. Gouw has only been shooting for three years, kicking off his career after his primary school leaving examination. Singapore law says shooters are only permitted to compete in the Air Rifle category at 12 years or older, and only in 50m Prone and 3P when they reach the ripe old age of 14. Reports Carrie Quigley, Australia’s development rifle coach: “When the Gouws realised he wouldn’t be able to compete for Singapore, they contacted Australian International Shooting and he entered our local competitions. Edwin travelled to Australia for all the qualification competitions for the Commonwealth Games.”

Gouw is mentored in Singapore by local club coach Ding Xiyin, whose progress with the young gun has been followed closely by Australia’s national rifle head coach, Petr Kurka. The story of Gouw’s rapid rise is exactly what these controversy-stricken Games needs to attract the “right” kind of media attention, but the man least surprised by the talented youngster’s achievements is Kurka. “The Asian countries tend to have a lot of young shooters,” Kurka says. “So every now and then some young, talented shooter does surprise people with his or her high performance. The important thing for Edwin will be not to get over-satisfied with his good results he has now. He needs to keep working on his talent so he can reach the really top level of world-class shooters.”

Those “good results” include a third-placing in the 10m Air Rifle final
Image: Australian International Shooting Limited.

Those “good results” include a third-placing in the 10m Air Rifle final at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in 2009, and a 33rd (out of 96) junior men’s ranking at the ISSF World Championship in Munich in August. “I gained a lot of experience from the World Championships, which I’ve used to prepare myself for the Commonwealth Games,” Gouw tells Inside Sport. “From Munich, I learned how to improve my concentration in front of large audiences and with cameras looking and pointing at me during the competition, which was a new experience for me.”

Quigley, a Commonwealth Games medallist and Sydney 2000 Olympian, says Gouw will eat the confidence game for breakfast at Delhi. “Edwin’s a very determined young man who’s always striving for perfection; he’s not pleased unless he’s worked hard and achieved his goals.” So, nerves, it seems, shouldn’t be a problem when Gouw steps to the line and competes in front of the entire British Empire. “I’ll be trying not to think about the result of the competition, and will try to stay confident and concentrate on my basic shooting action while competing,” says Gouw.

WHO’S HE LIKE?

“Edwin is uniquely Edwin,” says Quigley, but perhaps Gouw uses traits carried by Australia’s Beijing 2008 50m Prone bronze medallist, Warren Potent, and Matthew Emmons, the 50m Prone American star who collected silver at Beijing and a gold medal at Athens in ’04. “I learned a lot from Matthew during the ISSF Sydney World Cup camp in March this year, and from Warren during the Munich World Championships camp in the Czech Republic recently, as I’ve just started shooting 50m Prone.”No doubting it won’t be long till Gouw’s mastering that, too … Pesky teenagers!

– James Smith

What do they say?

“Australia is very lucky to have Edwin representing us. In a country with such a small pool of shooters who develop into elite athletes, it’s exciting to see someone so young with an excellent possibility of becoming world-class.”

– Petr Kurka, rifle head coach, Australian International Shooting

“Edwin is a sensitive, polite and friendly young man. He gets on well with the Aussie team and is always good for a laugh. As well as being so personable, he’s talented, hard working and determined to achieve the goals he sets himself.”

– Carrie Quigley, national development coach