The idea of yielding a gun and taking dead aim at a target almost 33 feet away was completely foreign.
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The adrenaline rush had her wanting more so she started shooting with the air rifle team at West Springfield High School in Virginia. “Then, to have a final that was an honor to be a part of, win (the final) and stand on the podium and hear my nation’s anthem was a very pride-instilling moment for me”. She swapped figure skating for shooting after a family hunting trip in which she killed a deer with her first shot. Then it’s back to the USA, and back to school at West Virginia University.
American teenager Virginia Thrasher won the first gold medal of the Rio Olympics in the women’s 10-meter air rifle Saturday. In March, the WVU Honors College student became the first freshman in NCAA history to sweep the individual titles with wins in smallbore and air rifle at the 2016 NCAA Championships, where WVU also claimed its fourth straight and 18th overall national championships.
That would be the only gold for the United States on Saturday, as the Americans would settle for silver in four other events.
Despite claiming gold that year, she didn’t run her personal best.
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.
Katie Ledecky of the United States broke her own world record on Sunday on the way to winning the women’s 400 metres freestyle gold medal, the first stage of a rare treble she hopes to complete at the Rio Olympics.
“It’s been a pretty insane 24 hours”, she said. “What’s important is taking the best shot you can and giving your all”. “I knew it was a realistic expectation for me to get into the finals and once you get into the finals, anything can happen”. These shots scored in increments of.1, with a maximum score of 10.9.
China’s Du Li, who set an Olympic record with a 420.7 score in qualifying, took the silver with 207. Yi went out after a 9.8 on her final shot to earn bronze. “It says a statement: ‘Ginny’s here to win'”. She finished with 208 points, one clear of 2004 Athens champion Du.
Three weeks later she went to US Olympic team trials and prevailed over “a seasoned and talented field”, according to the USA Shooting team website. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that some of the best-recognized names on the U.S. Olympic team belong to women. She was the first American to bring home the gold. “It’s been insane to go from waking up at 5 a.m. yesterday morning, completing my normal pre-match routine, getting on the bus, going to the range and shooting what was a very hard qualification round for me”.
She comes along in a time of need, when America is going through hard times, unusual times, insane times, caught up in a world torn apart and with a presidential contest that is filled with more slime no matter which side you are on than you’ve ever seen in a free world race for its leader. No doubt she won’t be entering future competitions as an underdog.
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“I think that the exterior of your life changes, but who I am doesn’t change, no matter what medals I win or how many medals I win”, she said.
