Having been introduced to shooting by her grandfather, Bill, who passed away in 2019, Rutter used his inspiration to work her way back to sport. She returned to competition in 2022."My grandad would have said: 'Look to the future and don't give up just yet,' so I kept pushing but a lot of it [competing again] was initially for financial reasons."[After winning World Championship medals, three European titles and a berth with Great Britain for Paris, 2022] was my most successful year to date… But still, when I was there, I was in tears a lot and wanted to pull out of the competitions a day before because I didn't want to be travelling the world."As the competitions went forward, I started to get a bit of momentum and direction and with the support of an amazing team, success slowly started to feel more meaningful."Today Amber takes a different approach to elite sport. She married in February this year and has started to revaluate her perspective on competition.She ends by saying: "Tokyo has really given me a real reality check and made me realise that you're a person before you're an athlete."I felt like I was planning life for eight years in advance working around an Olympics, which is really just two days of my life and I'd put so much on hold."Right now, I'm really happy with marriage and with the idea of starting a family because these are really important things to me."The idea of winning an Olympic medal has slightly changed for me and I would be lying to say that it was everything I wanted to achieve now."Yes, it would be life-changing, but I'm really prioritising happiness and the things that I want to do with my life first.”Athletes struggling with their mental health or the impact of a sporting event can access support via the British Elite Athletes Association.Reach out via:
|https://britisheliteathletes.org/athlete-support/|
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|https://britisheliteathletes.org/athlete-support/|
