Du Li of China finally struck gold in her home Olympics yesterday, six days after she had left millions disappointed by failing to win the inaugural event of the Games.
Li, a 26-year-old from Shandong Province, had been one of the most talked about athletes ahead of the Games as the favorite to win the first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics last Saturday.
But Li lost her nerve and finished fifth in the women’s 10m Air Rifle event, the honor of aoyun shoujin — first Olympic gold — going to Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic.
PHOTO: AP
She made amends yesterday by taking the 50m Rifle Three Positions title with a new Games record, leaving both Emmons and defending champion Lioubov Galkina of Russia trailing far behind.
Li finished with 690.3 points to shatter by a fair margin the previous Olympic record of 688.4 set by Galkina in Athens four years ago.
In a close finish for the remaining spots, Emmons took the silver just 0.1 points ahead of bronze medalist Eglis Yaima Cruz of Cuba, who herself was 0.2 points in front of fourth-placed Galkina.
Later yesterday, Italy’s Chiara Cainero won a three-way sudden death shoot-out in pouring rain to take the gold medal in skeet shooting.
Cainero hit both her targets despite conditions more suited for duck hunting. American Kimberly Rhode then clinched the silver medal after a two-way shoot-off against Germany’s Christine Brinker, who collected bronze.
Cainero, eighth in Athens four years ago, said the downpour that left the 2,000 spectators and scores of journalists drenched had not bothered her at all. It rained so hard that the medals ceremony had to be moved indoors.
“It was actually OK out there,” the 30-year-old told reporters when asked about the worsening conditions. “It’s an Olympic medal and I’m very happy.”
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