Olympic shooter Corey Cogdell brushed aside a friends constant pleadings to go on a blind date for as long as she could before finally relenting.Mitch Unrein, a defensive end for the Chicago Bears, similarly stiff-armed the Ive-got-the-perfect-girl-for-you beseechings until eventually giving in.When they finally did meet, without knowing much about each other, they found a kindred spirit standing in front of them, someone who had many of the same interests, was uncommonly driven and had reached the pinnacle of their chosen athletic endeavor.They married less than three years later, creating a power couple of elite athletes.It was an easy relationship from the start, Unrein said.Cogdell-Unrein grew up hunting and fishing with her family in Alaska and was a natural to the sport. She earned a bronze medal in trap at the 2008 Beijing Games after just two years of top-level competition, finished 11th at the 2012 London Games and is a medal favorite in Rio de Janeiro this month.Cogdell-Unrein was driven even at an early age, gleaning information from fellow competitors and coaches at competitions to make herself better. She also gained perspective and mental toughness through tragedy at 9 years old when her mother passed away.It was a big adjustment and we had to grow up much more quickly than we would have had she not passed away, she said. Through that tough experience, other things that people found tough in life didnt seem that tough anymore. I love the sport that I compete in, its very important, but at the end of the day, it doesnt define who I am and its not the most important thing in life. I think having that perspective has made me mentally stronger and the tough competitor that I am.Unrein starred at Wyoming and joined the Houston Texans as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He spent most of that season on the Denver Broncos practice squad before seeing his playing time increase the following seasons.Unrein played four seasons with the Broncos -- he caught a TD pass out of the backfield from Peyton Manning in 2012 -- and spent a season with San Diego before signing with Chicago in 2015.When Unrein met his future wife, he found someone who understood what it takes to become an elite athlete, the years of dedication, the hours of training involved, the time away from home to compete.Cogdell-Unrein felt the same thing about Unrein and it has worked out well. She understands when he has to work out, head off to training camp or play a road game. He, in turn, is supportive when she goes off to training camps or spends a month on the road at competitions around the world.An example: Unrein will not be able to watch his wife compete in person at the Rio Games because hell be in training camp, but is planning a watch party in a meeting room at the Bears complex.We both have a great amount of support for each other and a respect for what it takes on a day to day basis to do what we do, Cogdell-Unrein said. We have to make a lot of sacrifices as a couple to pursue our dreams individually in our sport. Theres a lot of time we have to spend apart and a lot of people might not understand not seeing their wife for a month at a time.The couple also feed off each others competitive spirit.Having an ultra-competitive person in the same house is like high-octane fuel, propelling both forward in their individual sports. Seeing the dedication it takes to reach the pinnacle of sport becomes contagious, pushing two already-driven athletes to reach even higher. Unrein also has taken the mental aspect of shooting from his wife and applied it to football.But the competitiveness can cause a bit of head-butting in the house when neither person wants to lose so badly.Put a board game in front of us, theres likely to be a fight by the end of it, Cogdell-Unrein said.How bad is it? Cogdell-Unrein has to count her husbands money in Monopoly when she gets up to get a drink because hes been known to steal $500s and $100s from the money drawer.Ive pulled that trick a time or two, he said. But its just really good fun. Its nice to have that competitive back and forth in pretty much anything we do.Good thing they went on that blind date five years ago. Paul Stastny Jersey . Louis. To which I would say two things: 1. Where there is smoke, there is or perhaps has been a little fire. 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Dipa Karmakars coach Bishweshwar Nandi believes that Sundays apparatus finals at the Rio Olympics is anyones game, given that the eight competitors start with a fresh slate.?Dipa had finished eighth in the qualifiers after scoring 14.850 points from her first two vaults, but Nandi is hopeful that Dipas past experience in Rio, including a gold medal at a test event in April, will give her an edge over the others.?We hope it [the Rio test gold event] will have an effect on her tomorrow, Nandi told ESPN. Of the eight in the final, the first two-three contenders are just exceptional and I cant claim that Dipa is better than them; these girls are very good.But the final competition of eight is a fresh slate. In the world championship, Simone Biles, who had been No.1 in the team and all-round event, finished the vault at No.3. The person who the stars favour on that particular day will take home a medal. My hope is that Dipa will do well.As a coach, I cannot say for sure she will take home a medal, but anything can happen. As a coach, what I can say is that each of the eight vault finalists are potential medalists. To be at an Olympic final is a very big achievement by itself.Dipas composed confidence and execution of the Produnova, the vault with the highest D-(for difficulty)-value in the womens vault, has become her signature move.At the qualifiers,?Dipa scored 15.100 in the Produnova (7 for difficulty + 8.1 for Execution) and 14.6 in the Zamolodchikova (6 for difficulty + 8.6 for execution). In fact, during qualification, she was the only gymnast to successfully attempt the Produnova.?Nandi revealed that Dipa would be attempting two vaults in the final - the Produnova, and the Tsukahara 720, which consists of a half turn off the springboard onto the vault table, then a push backwards.?We did a very serious practice. I told her that now that you are in the final, this is more serious and you haave to try and sort out the errors you made in qualification, that is the aim of this practice, Nandi said.ddddddddddddTry and get to do your routines better and we can get a better result. We have good feelings about it. We hope to do well in the final. We will try and do much better than what we have done in the previous round as well and hope that we will have a good result.I need to have her to do the Produnova a couple of times more. Before we came to the Olympics, we were able to practice the vault a lot at the great facilities given to us by SAI. And now no matter what people say, she is comfortable executing the Produnova vault. She is not afraid while doing it and she is able to execute it comfortably.The question on everyones mind is, does repeatedly practicing the Produnova take a physical toll on the body and knees??Its not like we talk to her about the load on her knees while doing the vault, Nandi explained.?Also, its not that it takes a lot away from her knees while performing this in practice in the run up to a competition. The stress is on the ankle and the back but she has practiced this so many times. Fortunately she is is far away from the impact of the vault being felt on either of those parts of the body at the moment.Nandi said that he was overall pleased with Dipas preparations for Rio, especially when pitted against the likes of Biles, who has been doing this for many years.?Gymnasts like Simone come from sports-developed countries which have very different training schedules from ours. They have four-yearly plans for the Olympics.Dipas schedule has been completely different, as she qualified in the Test event in April. In May we started the SAI camp, and we have done three months of good practice at IG stadium in Delhi for this Olympics. ' ' '