Om Yun-chol of North Korea, the victor from four years ago, got silver.
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Some countries pay their medal winners even more. pays gold medalists $250,000; Malaysia promises its medalists a solid gold bar worth $600,000.
Once in Rio, she didn’t flinch at the spotlight – or an air horn.
There’s a bit of disbelief and I’m very overwhelmed.
She wasn’t merely “here” in Rio.
Whatever excitement and exuberance she felt that day clearly has been replaced by a calm and assured manner that seemed more coached than possible for a 19-year-old on the most important day of her athletic career.
After the first round of the final, she was third, then jumped to first in the second round and stayed near the top as the field narrowed one by one until she beat Li Du, the 2004 and 2008 Olympic gold medalist, in the ninth round of the series.
In her first performance in Rio, Biles immediately demonstrated why she’s been world champion for the past three years. The idea of yielding a gun and taking dead aim at a target almost 33 feet away was completely foreign.
Thrasher, who was on her high school rifle team, will also compete in the three-position event August 11.
Three years ago, according to the Washington Post, she was the 45th-ranked junior shooter in the country and wasn’t a popular medal pick before the competition. She became the first freshman to win both individual NCAA rifle titles and helped West Virginia win the team title. She could win up to five gold medals.
Virginia Thrasher arrived in Rio de Janeiro this month, ready to take part in just her second global competition and glad that an event as momentous as the Olympics would be where she celebrated her fifth anniversary in shooting.
In the history of Olympic swimming, the US is the big cheese by a mile, winning 230 golds and 520 total medals before Saturday night, light years ahead of Australia’s 57 gold and 178 total medals.
Despite her lack of experience, Thrasher woke up with confidence Saturday morning and was eager to take her black Feinwerkbau 700 air rifle to the range. Despite being pursued closely by Chinese shooter, Du Li, Thrasher kept her ground and never did let any slight chance pass her, putting her up in the pedestal with close calls 1.3 points against Du Li, Team USA reported.
There has to be some sense of a mental management for you to be able to focus deeply on what you are doing. The medals are incredible.
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“It was a tough double”, she said. “What’s important is taking the best shot you can and giving your all”. The men’s 400m individual medley final is scheduled for 10 p.m., and the men’s 400m freestyle final is at 10:30 p.m. Thrasher is from Springfield, Virginia and is now a student at West Virginia University. “I urge the sportspersons to do their best for the glory of the nation and to promote unity and friendship with sportspersons of all participating nations”, Mukherjee wrote in the letter.
