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19-year-old USA markswoman claims first gold of Rio Olympics
Thrasher, the youngest of the 15 members of the USA rifle team, bested a field of 50 competitors, comfortably winning the final duel with China’s Du Li, who won gold medals at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.
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“I was just trying to shoot the best I could for my 1st Olympics experience coming without any Medal”. Ana Paula Rodrigues led the way with 12 goals for Brazil, which has never won an Olympic handball medal.
She is a NCAA Champion at West Virginia competing in her first Olympics.
She has successfully closed out the summer with the biggest surprise of her career to date. “This is very special for me”, Thrasher said.
“I knew if I made the final anything could happen”, said the happy victor.
“I have turned my phone off”, she said. Yet, it was the teenager who emerged victorious in a tale of David vs Goliath that made Virginia Thrasher a top worldwide trending topic on Twitter for four hours!
A figure skater growing up, she switched sports five years ago after a hunting trip with her family. She went through gun-safety training, learned to shoot from her father, who’s retired from the Air Force, and when Thrasher bagged her first white-tailed deer, she was hooked. And there has been the avalanche of congratulations from Virginia, West Virginia and the rest of the country.
Despite the controversy, the highest gold medal count in the history of US participation in the Olympics has been earned by its shooting team.
She didn’t flinch at the sport’s brightest spotlight – or an air horn.
Earlier this week, Kim Rhode, another American Olympic shooter, lamented about the new gun control laws passed in California, her state, and how it was affecting her practice.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio.
Thrasher’s performance at the final round was impressive, opening with a 10.5 with a 0.7-point lead.
Speaking to NBC’s Dan Patrick, Thrasher said she was thrilled to get the USA delegation to Rio off on the right foot. It was Yi who won Gold in the 10mm air rifle event at London in 2012.
The Chinese have shown just as strong a proclivity in swimming and shooting as the U.S. Minxia Wu and Tingmao Shi claimed the women’s synchronized three-meter springboard for gold, and Mengxue Zhang won the women’s 10-meter air pistol competition. Defending champion Siling Yi of China was third.
She began her finals bid with a stunning bull’s-eye that yielded a ideal score of 10.9, eventually outlasting Serbia’s top-ranked Andrea Arsovic and China’s defending Olympic champion Siling Yi.
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“Standing on that podium, hearing the national anthem and watching our red, white and blue flag be raised was just an wonderful moment”, she said.