Yes, America’s first gold medal win the 2016 Summer Olympics is for shooting.
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As Thrasher stood in the finals hall of the Olympic Shooting Centre yesterday, a raucous crowd behind her and bossa nova playing in the speakers, few would have bet on the American – ranked No. 23 in the world and the only Olympic debutante among the eight finalists – to prevail. “For me, this year has been incredible”.
But Thrasher, whose first shot of the day was a flawless 10.9, never appeared to let the pressure – or the stellar field – get to her.
Having once dreamt of competing in the winter Olympics in figure skating, Thrasher switched focus to shooting at the age of 15.
She began competing with her high school in Virginia and went on to win the 2015 air rifle state championship, according to NBC Olympics.
For Thrasher, attempting to win the competition was a shot in the dark.
American shooter Sarah Scherer finished eighth.
Just one event was all it took for the games to turn into a USA-versus-China shoot-out, but the result was a major upset, with a novice American beating two experienced Chinese favourites. “So I’ll be in physics at 8:30 a.m”, she said. It’s a switch that proved profitable to kick-start what is likely to be a medal table-topping performance from the USA team at these Games, with gold in the 10m air rifle.
The 19-year-old had flown under the radar ahead of the Games but showed impressive accuracy to claim the title by one point with an Olympic record.
In the final round, Thrasher never scored lower than 10.4 on a shot.
“I thought, ‘Oh no.’ It is very hard to come back from a 10.9”, she said. “I also looked up and saw that Virginia and Du Li were doing well themselves”.
“This is very special for me”, Thrasher added.
Thrasher ended up on top of the podium and her whirlwind will wind down soon; a biomedical engineering major, she starts classes again at West Virginia on August 17.
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This is Thrasher’s first Olympics, but she’s no stranger to carrying a team.
