As a freshman at West Virginia this past year, she won both NCAA air rifle titles as she led her school to a national title in the sport.
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Thrasher’s score of 208 set a record for a final round in an Olympics.
Olympic chief Thomas Bach was on hand to do the honours at the 2016 Games’ first podium presentation.
Ginny Thrasher won the first gold at the Rio Olympics for the United States and then spoke about gun laws after the victory.
Thrasher. 19, beat silver medalist Du Li in the final round.
“This is beyond my wildest dreams”, she added.
“I just tried to focus on the competition”, Thrasher said. “For me, this year has been incredible”. 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.
The first time Thrasher took down a deer, she was hooked.
Once in Rio, she didn’t flinch at the spotlight – or an air horn.
Ms. Thrasher was sixth in the qualification round on Saturday and shot a flawless 10.9 on her opening shot in the finals. Not that the 10.9 score gave her an extra jolt of confidence.
Swimming got off to a fast start in preliminaries at the Olympic pool on Saturday, with a world record in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke, the second-fastest performance ever in the women’s 400 individual medley. Thrasher moved ahead after the seventh and eighth shot.
Her performance was a big surprise, as she is ranked 23 in the world.
Competing in her first Olympics, Thrasher established an early lead after battling with the Russian shooter Daria Vdovina, who stumbled midway through the competition and finished fifth. Ginny will compete again on Thursday, August 11th in the Women’s 50-meter rifle event.
Yi took a similar path as Thrasher’s, earning air rifle gold at the 2012 London Games just three years after starting her worldwide shooting career.
Thrasher will next compete on August 11 in the three-position event. The bronze also went to China, with the 2012 victor Yi Siling carding 185.4 points. She’ll go back to West Virginia, where she will be a sophomore.
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“So much pressure for me”, said Yi.
