American Thrasher wins first gold of Rio 2016
American
teenager Virginia Thrasher won the first gold medal of the Olympic games rio
2016 on Saturday, holding her nerve against two Chinese Olympic champions to
clinch the women's 10m air rifle event.
The 19-year-old American edged out China's Du Li, gold in Athens in 2004, with
an Olympic-record score of 208. Defending Olympic champion Yi Siling, also of
China, took the bronze medal.
Competing in her first Olympics, Thrasher, as the first champion of the 2016
Games, was awarded her medal by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president
Thomas Bach and said the achievement was beyond her wildest dreams.
"About
halfway through when I took the lead it kind of became clear to me that I was
in contention for a medal, but I quickly pushed that thought away and focused
on breathing and taking one shot at a time," Thrasher said.
Afterwards, she noted that she had not attended the Olympics' opening ceremony
Friday night and had instead gone to bed early for her Olympic debut.
