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.
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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.
The 19-year-old USA college champion, competing in her first Olympics, edged out China’s Du Li, who won gold in Athens in 2004, with an Olympic-record score of 208 in the sport’s new finals format. The 19-year-old was a figure skater growing up but switched sports after a family hunting trip in which she killed a deer with her first shot. She has since led her university’s team to their 18th NCAA team rifle championship and also took home individual titles in air rifle and smallbore.
Her win, the first gold of the Rio Games, helped the United States fire – literally – the first salvo in the race to top the medal table at these Games. Coming into the Olympics, her best finish at a World Cup was fourth in Munich this year.
Thousands of police and soldiers were patrolling the city amid concerns about safety as athletes opened the first full day of the Olympics in more than 20 sports a day after some spectators at the opening ceremony came upon the body of a man who had been shot dead near Maracana Stadium.
Thrasher stayed in the top spot as her competitors fell off, consistently hitting 10s despite a fan blowing an air horn at random times.
“I’ve gotten to this point in my career by focusing on my process, and myself, and not having any thought about outcome”, she said via wvalways.com. After the breathtaking moment, the young athlete pulled it off against two of the world’s best shooters: Du Li and Siling Yi.
Yi won Olympic gold in the 2012 London Games.
Surprisingly, just how close they are isn’t quite settled, so it’s hard to predict when the record might be reached.
Apart from practicing for her forthcoming rifle competition, Ginny Thrasher is excited to go back to school.
“This is very special for me”, Thrasher added.
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Who will swim in the final for Team USA is unclear, but even if it doesn’t include Bethesda, Maryland’s Katie Ledecky, she could still earn a medal if she swims in an earlier heat. Our team boasts the most women who have ever competed for any nation at any Olympic Games.
