Yes, America’s first gold medal win the 2016 Summer Olympics is for shooting.
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Thrasher was awarded the first gold of the Games by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.
“I just tried to focus on the competition”, Thrasher said. “I went and got my first deer and I liked the adrenaline”.
Thrasher, who goes by Ginny, hails from Springfield, Va., and majors in engineering, according to West Virginia’s official biography page for her.
Thrasher beat silver medalist Du Li of China and set a record in the process by finishing with a total of 208.0 points.
Thrasher is a biomedical engineering major at West Virginia and will go back to start her next semester on August 17.
“This is beyond my wildest dreams”, Thrasher said.
China’s Yi Siling took the bronze with a score of 185.4.
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. She became the first freshman to win both NCAA rifle titles and led the Mountaineers to the team championship.
VIRGINIA THRASHER, the youngest shooter to figure in yesterday’s final of the women’s 10m air rifle.
“I heard the cheers and the horns and it was very disturbing”, Yi said. She also competed in the 2012 London Games and pulled off a clutch shot in the Rio final, hitting 10.9 to stay alive in the second round.
It was the fourth Olympics for 34-year-old veteran Du, who won the title at the same event 12 years ago in Athens, Greece. “But I just had to control myself”.
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Going into the last two shots of the final with a slender 0.7 lead, Thrasher knew Du was fully capable of leapfrogging her for gold.
