The United States has its first gold medal, thanks to the gunmanship of a 19-year-old from West Virginia named Virginia “Ginny” Thrasher. Until then, hopefully Thrasher will find some time to celebrate being the first gold medal victor for the United States in the Rio Olympics. “For me, I’m excited to enjoy all the outcomes that come with a successful Olympic Games”. This is beyond my wildest dreams.
Advertisement
China’s Du Li, who set an Olympic record with a 420.7 score in qualifying, took the silver with 207.
The youngest of the eight finalists by several years, Thrasher established an early lead after battling with the Russian shooter Daria Vdovina, who stumbled midway through the competition and finished fifth.
“I was just trying to shoot the best I could for my first Olympics experience coming without any medal”. “But I knew it was realistic to get into the finals, and once you get into the finals, anything can happen”. And the 19-year-old took up shooting just five years ago, with her only previous global competition limited to two events this spring. Defending Olympic champion Yi Siling, also of China, took the bronze medal. Thrasher ended up with an Olympic record of 208.0 in the 10-meter air rifle event. Her best record on worldwide stage before the Rio Olympics is the 4th place at the ISSF World Cup in Munich earlier this year.
If Biles can help lead Team USA to victory in the team final event it’ll mark the first time that the US women’s team has ever won back-to-back gold medals in the event.
She says she might bring a little something extra on that first day of the new school year – textbook in one hand, and quite possibly, a shiny gold medal in the other.
“I just tried to focus on the competition”, said Thrasher, who will be back at West Virginia University next week, where she is starting her sophomore year majoring in biomedical engineering.
A Mountaineer shooter has now earned a medal in back-to-back Olympics, as 2011 graduate Nicco Campriani won Gold and Silver for Italy at the 2012 London Summer Olympics.
“So much pressure for me”, said Yi.
Ginny Thrasher won the first gold at the Rio Olympics for the United States and then spoke about gun laws after the victory.
Advertisement
Once in Rio, she didn’t flinch at the spotlight – or an air horn.
