Moldoveanu won an outstanding duel against Campriani, which left the audience briethless right to the very last shot. It was a matter of tenths of a point, and steady nerves, in a crowded final hall.
Alin George Moldoveanu finally made it. The 29-year old Romanian shooter won the 10m Air Rifle Men event at the London 2012 Olympics, pocketing that Olympic medal he had lost four years ago, when he had finished in fourth in Beijing.
Moldoveanu, ranked 34th in the world before the Games, was not listed among the favourites. But previews did not count, he said. Passing through the qualifications with an equalled Olympic record of 599 points, he started off the medal match in second place, tied to Italy’s Nicco Campriani, world’s #1 in this event.
Campriani and Moldoveanu fought neck and neck from the first to the last shot, on the edge of points’ tenths.
The Romanian shooter started the final session strongly, scoring 10.3 with his opening shot. He led until his sixth shot when he dropped to second after scoring 9.9.
But Moldoveanu never gave up and his ninth shot (a brilliant 10.5) put him back in front. He clinched the title with 10.3 points from the last shot, giving him an overall score of 702.1.
"I dedicate the medal to all the people back home." Moldoveanu said.
“I tried not to think, I tried not to hear. I tried to concentrate. Today’s final has been difficult, the crowd was awesome but at the same time it was difficult for us to concentrate.” He added.
Campriani finished second with a tally of 701.5. The Italian was in the gold medal position after scoring a massive 10.8 with his sixth and seventh shots but scored 9.9 and 9.4 in his next two, dropping back in second.
"It's good preparation for the 3P (50m rifle 3 positions). That is my favourite event because there is no room for mistake." The Italian athlete said. He was a favorite for the 10m Air Rifle Men event, as well as he is for the 50m competition.
"Shooting is getting bigger, the two medals Italy won here in London so far, will help. I won the world championship two years ago but if you ask anyone, they wouldn't know. These Olympic silver medals will win a lot of publicity back home. I don't want to be famous, I just love shooting. It's good for the sport because kids will get involved. You should just try it, if you don't like it you can go back to soccer." Campriani said with a smile on his face. "In my experience out of ten kids, eight stay at the range, after trying once."
Popular Indian shooter Gagan NARANG took bronze with 701.1 points. He lay fourth after his seventh shot but scores of 10.3 and 10.7 with his last two shots propelled him up on to the podium.
"Beijing I missed and it was a heartbreak. It's a huge stone off my chest with this one." Said the Indian shooter, who was followed here in London by a crowd of supporters, and over 100 media representative.
“Shooting is clearly getting bigger and bigger in India. I am happy that I made it, and I hope my victory will help the development of the sport, back home.”
"I would like to thank everyone back home and I look forward to their support in the future." Narang concluded.
"As far as I am concerned, the final went great. I was surprised about the audience clapping and shouting every shot from every shooter. The atmosphere is quite special here for the first three of four shots. I was quite startled. I had to wait for others to shoot and the applause to stop." Said Peter Hellenbrand of the Nederlands, who placed in fifth with 699.8 points, behind China’s Wang Tao, fourth with 700.4 points.
"I did not expect to show such a bad result. I was able to score better in more difficult situations. I had few good shots so I thought I would be able to get better." A disappointed Ilia Chareika of Belarus said, right after placing in seventh with 698.6 points. The Youth Olympic Games Silver medalist had never competed in the Olympics, before, but he said I will give it another try, in four years.