The 19-year-old from Springfield, Va., is still trying to regain her bearings in light of a dizzying initial 24 hours after becoming the first athlete to win gold at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
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Thrasher pulled it off against two of the world’s best rifle shooters, Li and Yi Siling.
Australia took the second gold in the pool as they won women’s 4x100m freestyle relay in new world record. “I went and got my first deer and I liked the adrenaline”.
Afterwards, she noted that she had not attended the Olympics’ opening ceremony Friday night and had instead gone to bed early for her Olympic debut.
Hungary’s gold medal winner Katinka Hosszu is flanked by United States’ silver medal winner Maya DiRado, left, and Spain’s bronze medal winner Mireia Belmonte Garcia after the women’s 400-meter individual medley finalduring the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“This is beyond my wildest dreams”, she added. “For me, I’m excited to enjoy all the outcomes that come with a successful Olympic Games”.
Unflappable she has been during her growth this past season as a West Virginia University freshman and now Olympian.
She understands that life will be different from now on, that her gold medal puts her in rare and illustrious company.
With the qualification scores thrown out and 20 shots to gold, Thrasher (Springfield, Virginia) showed no fear right from the very beginning, firing a flawless 10.9 score on her very first shot, showcasing that steely determination that got her to Rio. And now, here she is winning the first Olympic gold of the Rio Games; what a difference three years (and an unbelievable amount of perseverance) can make.
“They’re blowing up my phone, but I have turned my phone off”, she said, “and I’m right now only communicating with those who can help me refocus for my next match”. Thrasher also set an Olympic final record by posting a score of 208.
“I’m actually looking forward to getting back to school again”, Thrasher said.
The 19-year-old secured her first major global victory, scoring 208.0 to leave China’s 2006 world champion Du Li with silver.
With her non-nonsense style, Thrasher seemed unfazed by her seasoned field and consistently scored in the 10 points target area over the 20 rounds. Her perseverance and dedication have shone through and made these Olympics special from Day 1.
In other action, South Korea’s archers routed the United States to win the men’s team gold at the Rio Olympics yesterday and restore a dynasty broken by the Americans at London four years ago.
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“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”, she said.
