Competing in her first Olympics, Thrasher established an early lead after battling with the Russian shooter Daria Vdovina, who stumbled midway through the competition and finished fifth.
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China’s two-time gold medallist Du Li suffered a shock in Rio on Saturday after losing out to American teenager Virginia Thrasher in the Olympic women’s 10m Air Rifle in Rio.
But social media snark aside, let’s not take anything away from this first gold of the games by a sharpshooting master with perhaps the coolest name of all Olympics athletes.
“Some of the (controversy surrounding) gun laws in America is just distracting from our sport, which is very different”, Thrasher said.
Thrasher, a Springfield, Va., native, learned to shoot with her grandfather.
“I got my first deer, and I loved the adrenaline”, Thrasher said.
“I didn’t really care much about the Olympics”, Thrasher told The Post last month, after she qualified for the US team.
Thrasher stood her ground against the two Chinese shooters in the medal eliminations, hitting nothing lower than 10.4.
Thrasher had a cumulative score of 208.0 to beat Du Li of China by a point.
“I heard the cheers and the horns and it was very disturbing”, Yi said.
“I’m actually looking forward to getting back to school again”, Thrasher said.
Watch live: Women’s gymnastics begins with qualifications.
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A cereal variety pack lineup – men’s triathlon, 9 a.m. (USA), men’s 400 hurdles final, 10 a.m. (NBC), women’s freestyle wrestling, 2 p.m. (NBCSN), women’s basketball semifinals, 1 and 5 p.m. (NBCSN).
