Emmons misses again, lucky gold goes to China once more

Gold medalist Qiu Jian. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(BEIJING, August 17) -- Matthew Emmons of the United States, who shot the wrong target in the final of the Men's 50m Rifle Three Positions at Athens 2004 and lost the gold medal, shot a terrible 4.4 on his last shot in the same event today and once again lost a gold that should have been his.

China's Qiu Jian picked up the gold medal with a total score of 1272.5. Jury Sukhorukov of Ukraine won the silver with a tenth of a point less, and the bronze medal went to Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia with 1271.7. Emmons finished fourth.

Lanky Texan wins gold and breaks Olympic records in the Men's Double Trap

Eller celebrates his victory. (Photo credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images)

"It felt awesome. I've been working at this for God knows how long now. The last two times I finished 17th and 12th, so I'm glad I finally made a final," said the 26-year-old Texan.

All his hard work could be witnessed in the qualification rounds, when he hit 145 targets out of a maximum 150, a new Olympic qualification record. Italian Francesco D Aniello finished the qualification rounds in second place, four points less than Eller. The other four shooters who qualified for the final were US shooter Jeffrey Holguin (140), China's Hu Binyuan (138), Sydney 2000 gold medal winner Richard Faulds of Great Britain (137) and Atlanta 1996 gold medal winner Russell Mark of Australia (136).

The final round saw Eller miss five targets, equal to the amount of targets he missed in the three qualification rounds. After Eller missed the first two targets, his opponents had some hope of victory, but the lanky American recovered and hit a total of 45 targets in the final, a good enough score to set a new Olympic record for the final score. Eller's 190 overtook the 189 targets hit by Ahmed Almaktoum of the United Arab Emirates at Athens 2004.

D Aniello and Hu both hit 46 targets in the final, earning the silver and bronze medals respectively with finals scores of 187 and 184.

Holguin (182), Mark (181) and Faulds (180) finished in the last three places. Mark's path to the final was tumultuous as he needed to win a shoot-off against three other shooters. All four shooters had hit 136 targets in the qualification rounds.

Mark needed to hit six targets in the shoot-off, eventually besting Athens 2004 gold medalist Almaktoum.

Finland's Satu Makela-Nummela wins Women's Trap gold with 91 hits

Satu Makela-Nummela reacts after receiving the gold medal. (Photo credit: Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images)

The final of the Women's Trap was held at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall on day three of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 11, 2008 in Beijing, China. Satu Makela-Nummela of Finland won the gold medal in the event with a total of 91 hits. Slovakia's Zuzana Stefecekova won the silver medal. Corey Cogdell of the United States won the bronze medal.

pang wei bagged Gold for china in men's 10 m air pistol

Pang Wei of China bagged gold in Men’s 10m Air Pistol event at Beijing Shooting Range Hall. Jin Jong Oh of South Korea was second and Kim Jong Su of North Korea followed third.

Gold in Mens Trap for David kostelecky (SHooting)

David Kostelecky of the Czech Republic clinched gold in Men’s Trap (Shooting). Giovanni Pellielo of Italy with a silver and Alexey Alipov of Russia landed a bronze.

source :beijing official site