Seriously, Ginny Thrasher sounds like the name of a crime-fighting superhero (well, that or a heavy metal drummer).
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“It looks like a gun from outer space”, Thrasher conceded.
The American, a Springfield, Va., native, was one of eight competitors to emerge from the 50-woman qualification round. And Thrasher’s not the only rifle Olympian speaking out.
The teen added that she hopes this will not be her last Olympics: “I have three more years of NCAA eligibility, and then I’ll be shooting the next year after that aiming for Tokyo”.
“I thought, ‘Oh no”.
She wasn’t merely “here” in Rio, where the best athletes on the planet have converged in this embattled corner of paradise.
4 in her weight class, struggled to gain traction against 17th-ranked Dayaris Mestre Alvarez of Cuba and lost on a single penalty in an otherwise scoreless match.
And she has now shot to stardom by beating favourites to become the gold medal victor in Rio. That’s when her grandfather introduced her to shooting. The idea of yielding a gun and taking dead aim at a target almost 33 feet away was completely foreign. I’ve been working very hard and I’m very proud to start off Rio with a gold for my country.
“This is very special for me”. And the 19-year-old took up shooting just five years ago, with her only previous global competition limited to two events this spring. The first time Thrasher took down a deer, she was hooked. “The first gold medal for Rio 2016, for US at 19 years old is incredible”. Scores for each shot were in increments of 1, with a maximum score of 10.The top 8 shooters in the qualifying round moved on to the final round.
It wasn’t long before Thrasher was shooting precociously, overtaking the far more experienced.
“I definitely knew that I just needed to keep shooting the best shot I could”, Thrasher said. The medals are wonderful. “I’ve watched her and her sister play tennis since they were 12 or 13 and just change the game”.
Shi (Phoenix, Arizona) also shot very having climbed as high as ninth before the final string (10 shots). Thrasher opened the finals with a bull’s-eye that yielded a ideal score of 10.9, setting a high bar for the rest of the field. “It says a statement: ‘Ginny’s here to win'”. Thrasher had a cumulative score of 208.0 to beat Du, a two-time gold medalist, by a point. First came Chase Kalisz, the 22-year-old protégé of Michael Phelps, who swam his fastest time ever to win a silver medal in the men’s 400 individual medley. Thrasher begins her sophomore year at West Virginia University next week.
“They’re blowing up my phone, but I have turned my phone off”, she said, “and I’m right now only communicating with those who can help me refocus for my next match”. Even more exciting is the fact that she will be able to participate for at least the next three Olympics barring a drop in form or motivation, so we have a potential legend in the making. No doubt she won’t be entering future competitions as an underdog.
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“So much pressure for me”, said Yi.
