Rio de Janeiro, Aug.6: Indian contingent, led by ace shooter Abhinav Bindra, marched their way out in the middle as the Rio Olympics kicked off in a spectacular fashion with a colourful opening ceremony here at the Macarana Stadium on Saturday.
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American teenager Virginia Thrasher won the first gold medal of the Rio Olympics in the women’s 10-meter air rifle Saturday.
As well as being handy with an épée, Fiamingo is also a classically trained pianist and student of nutrition at Catania university.
“The adrenaline rush was incredible”, Thrasher said.
“I look at the younger generation of women’s basketball players and there is such a tremendous boat load of talent from, say, 10 years ago”, said Geno Auriemma of UConn, who is coaching the US team.
Katie Ledecky almost broke her own world record in the preliminaries of the 400-meter freestyle, setting herself up as the overwhelming favorite to capture her first gold medal of these games in the final Sunday night. First came Chase Kalisz, the 22-year-old protégé of Michael Phelps, who swam his fastest time ever to win a silver medal in the men’s 400 individual medley. She helped lead her team to an American record while Australia set the world record to win the gold by more than a second.
As Thrasher stood in the finals hall of the Olympic Shooting Centre yesterday, a raucous crowd behind her and bossa nova playing in the speakers, few would have bet on the American – ranked No. 23 in the world and the only Olympic debutante among the eight finalists – to prevail. Thrasher smiled after a 10.4 left a slight opening, but Li’s 10.1 on her final shot sent Thrasher on a surprising trip to the podium.
Said Thrasher: “I had some distracting thoughts about the medals (midway through), but I just breathed through it and concentrated on shooting the best that I could”. “I knew shooting was an Olympic sport, but I never really thought, ‘Oh, I want to go to the Olympics in shooting.’ I was just shooting because I loved shooting”.
Athletes opened the first full day of the Olympics Games with table tennis, rowing, archery, cycling, water polo and fencing all taking place under a cloudless Rio de Janeiro sky and warm temperatures. Rhode told press, “I shoot 500 to 1,000 rounds a day, having to do a background check every time I purchase ammo or when I bring ammo out for a competition or a match – those are very, very challenging for me”. “I’ve been travelling internationally the whole summer – this is just icing on the cake”.
The first time Thrasher took down a deer, she was hooked.
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“I’m actually looking forward to getting back to school again”, Thrasher said. She wasn’t the favorite coming in as Du won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
