Olympic Record. Final Olympic Record. Equalled Final World Record. And Rhode is also the first US athlete to win 5 individual Olympic medals in 5 different Olympics back to back. And there’s more to come.
Kim Rhode made it. The US sharpshooter became the new Skeet Women Olympic Champion, securing her third Olympic title, and totalizing 5 Olympic medals.
Rhode achieved three records in one day. She set the new Olympic record by hitting 74 out of 75 targets at the qualifications. She then set a new Olympic final record with a total score of 99 hits. And – most important – she became the first US athlete ever to win 5 individual Olympic medals in 5 different Olympics back to back. Rhode has indeed won two Olympic Gold in 1996 and 2004 and a Bronze in 2000 in the Double Trap event, and a Silver in Skeet at the last Olympics.
Impressive. But there’s more.
Rhode will indeed try to become the first woman to participate and win in all three Olympic Shooting events. On the 4th of August she will indeed participate in the Trap Women event, as she set the minimum qualification score to participate in that event last March, at the ISSF World Cup in Tucson, AZ.
"It all came together - all the training. I really worked hard getting targets like this back home with this type of background, and it has really paid off." She said.
"I wouldn't say that I've been dreaming of this day but winning the Olympics has always been a dream of mine." Rhode added.
"There are really no words to describe it. It's totally emotional."
Silver came 8 targets later.
As far as eight targets behind her, the Silver medal went to China’s Wei Ning, 29, who secured a spot on the podium with a total score of 91 hits, after qualifying with 68 targets and hitting 23 clays in the final.
Wei went back on an Olympic podium eight years after her success at the 2004 Olympics, when she had earned a Silver as well.
"I feel good. I try my best and never give up." Wei Ning said. “I prefer to shoot in the rain, I am used to it so it can turn into an advantage.”
Shooting-off for Bronze
Two shooters fought head and head right to the last shot, and further on, for the Bronze medal. Russia’s Marina Belikova and Slovakia’s Danka Bartekova, 27, finished tied with an overall score of 90 hits, and met in a shoot-off, a sudden-death tie-breaker to decide the medal.
Danka Bartekova, ranked second in the world, outdid her opponent 4 to 3 hits after two doubles, securing that Olympic medal she had been chasing since Beijing 2008.
"I kept reminding myself that I had to keep going. I lost easy targets. I needed to create chance to get a medal. I should not say that I was hoping someone to miss a target but then Marina lost some targets and I got a big chance. I told myself I am going to take my chance to a win medal. I decided to keep going." Said Bartekova, talking about her final.
"It was very, very important to me. It is my second (Olympic) Games and I'm more experienced than the last one." Danka said.
"I was just trying to do my best and only focus on the target. We have practised the shoot off many, many times. When I heard the cheer behind me I was so happy." She added.
Defending champion Cainero in 5th
The defending champion, Italy’s Chiara Cainero, ended up in fifth place, paying a lower qualification score, and a few mistakes in the final. Entering the medal match with 67+2 hits after outdoing Sweden’s Lundqvist, Cainero missed three targets in the final, ending up with a total score of 89 hits.
The 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist Christine Wenzel (maiden name: Brinker) did not make it to the podium as well. After qualifying with 68 hits, she shot 21 targets, finishing in sixth and last place. “The light was changing a lot. Conditions were difficult here, with this background. That’s why the scores – our scores – were not that high.”