Team GB's Amber Rutter questions why there's no VAR after controversial skeet final
Team GB shooter Amber Rutter spoke to ITV News about the controversial women's skeet final on Sunday
Team GB shooter Amber Rutter told ITV's Good Morning Britain she does not know why there isn't a video assistant referee (VAR) at the Olympic Games - after a controversial shoot-off in the women's skeet final saw her take home a silver medal.
Despite the disappointment, Rutter said she is happy to win a medal of any colour and does not want this moment to take away from her hard work.
In Sunday's final against Chile's Francisca Crovetto Chadid, the judge concluded that Rutter missed the target, however, a slow-motion TV replay showed she had clipped it.
Rutter appealed the decision at the time but because there is no VAR or Hawkeye equivalent, the judge's initial decision stood.
Crovetto Chadid secured the gold medal - a first for her country - and the United States' Austen Smith took the bronze.
Speaking about the controversial shoot-off, Rutter said: "It is just sport for you. It happens not just in our sport, there's so many other sports where decisions like this have happened.
"And I know even in that final it wasn't just myself. Some of the other athletes felt like they had hit targets but we just didn't have the footage to look back on. So it was just purely on the refs decision. "We have had VAR put in place at previous competitions in previous years so I'm not quite sure why we didn't have it at the games.
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"But at the end of the day I am so pleased to come away with a medal of any colour. "And I really don't want to let that moment, that split decision, take away from all the hard work I've put in. Not just over these last few days but over these last few months."
Rutter had only given birth to her son, Tommy, three months before competing in the Paris Olympics.
She said being able to have Tommy and coming to the Olympics, let alone to win a medal, felt like a "dream".
"It doesn't feel like it's sunk in yet, because it just feels like a dream," she said.
"I was like yeah it'll be great to even go there, but to say that I got a silver medal in the Olympic Games, it just feels unreal."
The former world champion had to miss the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 due to contracting Covid-19.
She has secured GB's second shooting medal so far in Paris, with Nathan Hales winning gold in the men's trap shooting final.
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