(ATHENS)- Former UAF Rifle Team member, Matthew Emmons claimed his first Olympic Games gold medal. The 23-year-old New Jersey native, held off competition from Christian Lusch (Germany) whose own chances of gold disappeared when he shot 9.9 with the last shot of the final.
Emmons, who was taught how to shoot by an FBI firearms instructor at the age of 14, led all shooters after the qualifying round and in the final shot 104.3/109. He secured the gold medal with two bullseye scores of 10.6 in his final two shots.
Lusch, another 23-year-old shooter, was cheered on by a large crowd of German fans including his family and had gradually closed in on Emmons shooting nine consecutive 10s, before a 9.9 with his final shot saw him take the silver medal.
The bronze medal went to Sergei Martynov (Belarus) who repeated his performance from Sydney four years ago, despite only qualifying for the final in fifth position.
Martynov, one of the joint world record holders, overtook Jozef Gonci (Slovakia), the 10m Air Rifle bronze medallist, with his last two shots.
Another German shooter, Maik Eckhardt, in his second final after also qualifying for the 10m Air Rifle final, could only finish sixth.
Defending Olympic champion Jonas Edman (Sweden) failed to qualify for the final after finishing joint 32nd in the qualification round.
Emmons qualified for three events at the 2004 Olympic Games, becoming the first American shooter to do so.
He failed to reach the 10m Air Rifle final, but will compete again in the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions on Sunday, 22 August. The schedule is as follows:
Sunday August 22, 2004-50m Rifle 3 Positions Men 9:00 a.m. - 12:20 p.m. (10 p.m. AST)
Medal Ceremony: 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men 2:25 p.m. - 2:40 p.m. (3:25 a.m. AST)
For more information on Matt Emmons and the U.S. Olympic Rifle Team please visit: http://www.usashooting.com/usashooting.cfm
