The United States has claimed its first gold in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Advertisement
The first win! American athlete Ginny Thrasher won the first gold medal of the 2016 Summer Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro in the women’s 10m air rifle competition on Saturday, August 6.
According to The Guardian, Thrasher won the gold by not only besting the 2012 gold medal victor – China’s Yi Siling, who finished third on Saturday – but she also took the top spot in the shooting competition by setting an Olympic record score of 208.
The USA’s Virginia Thrasher celebrates with Elaheh Ahmadi of Iran as Du Li of China looks on.
China, on the other hand, once again took two of the three podium places in this event, just as they did in London four years ago, except this time it was the United States who clinched the gold. She became the first freshman to win both individual NCAA rifle titles and helped West Virginia win the team title.
“I’ll be in physics at 8:30 a.m.”, she said. Thrasher then won the U.S. Olympic Trials and now has an unexpected gold medal.
This is the first Olympics for Thrasher. Li finished with 207.0, while Thrasher came in with 208.0. The 19-year-old grad from Springfield, Va., won the 10-meter air rifle finals.
“I heard the cheers and the horns and it was very disturbing”, Yi said.
“It was just a big rush of adrenaline”, Thrasher said of her first hunting trip in an interview with The Washington Post. “This is just the icing on the cake”. She will also compete in the three-position shooting on August 11.
Advertisement
She apparently made the right decision.
