“It looks like a gun from outer space”, Thrasher conceded. He did not give his name because he was not authorized to speak. It is very hard to come back from a 10.9, ‘ ” Thrasher said at a news conference shortly after the competition.
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The quick-footed 16-year-old, the first member of the United States’ Olympic team to be born in the 2000s, put up a fight against his world number 111-ranked opponent in the last three games but eventually succumbed 4-1 in the preliminary round. The 2012 Olympic champion, Yi Siling of China, claimed bronze.
Coached by the former British Olympian Jon Hammond, Thrasher has virtually come from nowhere to sit at the pinnacle of her sport. Her interest in competitive shooting was piqued by a hunting trip as a youngster.
The bug had bitten.
“It was the hardest day I’ve ever had in my life on a bike”, said Ireland’s Dan Martin, who finished 13th, one place behind Tour de France victor Chris Froome. But the rifles fire invisible pellets and the scoring is all done electronically, which rather sanitises the fun somewhat: like Laserquest without the aliens. Thrasher had a cumulative score of 208.0 to beat Du Li of China by a point. In this physically demanding sport, fighters score points by landing kicks and punches on the torso and head of their opponent – the fighter with the most points wins the bout.
All of which is hard enough to sustain under the best of circumstances, but in the frenetic, pop-music-splattered ballroom of the Deodoro Shooting Centre, it seemed nearly impossible. It was a good amount of social time.
“This is very special for me”. “I heard cheers and horns”.
But the story changed during the women’s 10-meter rifle competition.
In the final round, she opened with a slight lead before shooting a 10.5 out of 10.9, which Li Du matched.
It was an intense match for Thrasher, Du and Yi for the medal contention.
Having once dreamt of competing in the winter Olympics in figure skating, Thrasher switched focus to shooting at the age of 15.
Said Thrasher: “I had some distracting thoughts about the medals (midway through), but I just breathed through it and concentrated on shooting the best that I could”.
Defeat can be crushing.
Hoang meanwhile snatched the gold from Brazilian home team athlete Felipe Almeida Wu on the final shot of the men’s 10m air pistol, taking the gold by four tenth of a point with 202.5 points to Wu’s 202.1. She was the sixth qualifier from a field of 51. “Once you get into the finals, anything can happen”. ‘I’ve had rifle malfunctions in the past. But beyond the hardware count, the performances are what really got people talking.
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Earlier this week, Kim Rhode, another American Olympic shooter, lamented about the new gun control laws passed in California, her state, and how it was affecting her practice. Younger sister Bronte surged past Dana Vollmer before handing off to Cate, who pulled away from Ledecky to win in 3 minutes, 30.65 seconds – breaking the mark of 3:30.98 the Aussies set two years ago. “I wanted the experience, to be a part of the Olympics”. She will return to classes at West Virginia only 20 hours after returning to the US on August 17.
