Czech Republic get their first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics in the women's 10m air rifle event through the steady pulse of Katerina Emmons. While Lioubov Galkina of Russia claimed the silver, and Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia took bronze.
There was disappointment for the home fans as China's defending champion Du Li failed to get amongst the medals.
Emmons capped her win by setting an Olympic record of 503.5 points, after shooting a perfect 400 in qualifying.
The 24-year-old Czech wife of American shooter Matt Emmons shot a near flawless 103.5 in the final to take the gold.
She revealed afterwards how she overcame nerves and a splitting headache to become Olympic champion.
"Thank God it's over because I was so nervous," she said. "I had a headache this morning. I felt so terrible that I did not know how I would shoot. "So to win the first gold medal of this Olympics is pretty amazing."
Emmons' win at the the Beijing Shooting Range Hall marks a big improvement on four years ago, where she finished with bronze behind Li and Galkina.
Russian shooter Galkina finished just a point behind the champion to claim silver once more.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge was among the crowd of 5,000 to present the first medals of the Games.
Who Is Katerina Emmons
Katerina Emmons was born on November 17 1983 in Plzeň, Emmons named Kateřina Kůrková before she married USA Olympic rifle shooter Matt Emmons in 2007, is a female Czech sports shooter who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she won her first gold medal in the women's 10 metre air rifle competition.
Katerina Emmons, a bronze medalist at the Athens Olympics, equaled the world record of 504.9 points. She totaled an Olympic record 503.5 points and became the first in the Games' history to record a score of 10 on all 40 of her qualifying air rifle shots: “Just because I won here today doesn’t mean I can win an Olympic medal.” Emmons crushed China's hopes of sport dominion, with China's defending Olympic champion Du Li finishing 5th.
FYI - Behind Sports
No comments:
Post a Comment