American shooter Virginia Thrasher has won the first gold medal of the Rio Olympics, capturing the women’s 10-meter air rifle.
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Thrasher who had been previously training to become a figure skater, got hooked on shooting five years ago after going on a hunting trip where she killed her first deer in one shot.
Thrasher arrived in Rio holding the NCAA title in two rifle events.
Success did not end there. And then she’ll board a flight home – a new gold medal included with her carry-on luggage – to begin her sophomore year at West Virginia, where she’s an engineering major. But she was set to compete in the last of six preliminary heats along with fellow Russian Svetlana Chimrova.
So even making it to Rio was an astonishing achievement for the teenager.
Thrasher’s triumph came before midday local time on the first full day of the Games, putting the US into an immediate early lead in the gold medal count with the unexpected triumph. Korean archers have won every women’s team title at the Olympic Games since the sport was introduced in 1988.
Thrasher advanced to today’s final with a sixth place, 416.3 showing in the qualification relay.
“It’s just an intensive feeling of pride for my country and I’m so happy to be here”, said Thrasher after the victory ceremony. “I knew it was a realistic expectation for me to get into the finals and once you get into the finals, anything can happen”.
Thrasher won her first medal with an Olympic record 208.0 final total, defeating two-time Gold medal victor, China’s Li Du. Thrasher had a cumulative score of 208.0 to beat Du, a two-time gold medalist, by a point.
She later joined the air rifle team at West Springfield High – her daily routine: figure skating lessons in the morning, then classes and shooting practice after school – before enrolling previous year at West Virginia, a shooting powerhouse that has won the past four NCAA championships. Yi earned air rifle gold at the 2012 London Games just three years after starting her global shooting career.
“Knowing that I had the first gold medal in the entire Rio 2016 Olympics, that was the moment when I thought I am so proud, I am so proud of being American, I am so proud to stand on that podium, to listen to my nation’s anthem and to just be able to represent, and start off this Rio 2016 games on such a positive note”, she added.
“We’ll see”, she said with a wide smile.
Scherer still has three-position competition August 11, giving her one last shot at a medal before she retires for good. “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”.
It was an intense match for Thrasher, Du and Yi for the medal contention.
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She has three years remaining in her college career, and she hopes at least a couple of more Olympic appearances ahead of her.
