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Finals 50m Rifle Prone Men

Belarus’ Martynov secures 50m Rifle Prone Gold, and smiles

XXX Olympic Games · London, GBR

Sergey Martynov finally smiled. All the tension of the 30-years melted in a wide, sincere, happy smile. The best Rifle Prone shooter of the world had been chasing this success since his first Olympic participation, back in 1988.

So far, Martynov had finished on the Olympic podium already twice, in 2000 and 2004, winning two bronzes. In between, he just won all.

 

Two ISSF World Championships, six World Cup Finals, seventeen World Cups Gold medals were displayed in his medal collection. Every possible trophy, but the Olympic Gold.

 

This time, it could have been the last chance, for the 44-year old athletes. And he prepared the competition like never before. Throughout the last Olympic cycle, between 2009 and 2012, Martynov participated in 12 ISSF events (World Cup Series and World Championship), making it to 12 finals, winning 10 medals, including 7 Gold.

Waling into the match as the absolute favorite, he did not delude the expectations of his fans. Martynov passed through the qualifications with a record score of 600 points. The maximum possible. Entering into the medal match with 1 points of lead on his followers, he managed the competition perfectly. He wrapped up the session in impressive style, including a perfect 10.9 in the ninth shot, and he finally took the title with an overall score of 705.5 points, setting a new final world record and final Olympic record.

 

“I will throw the medal into a drawer. I never hang things up on the wall” Martynov said, smiling to the cameras for the first time.

 

"Well, I have something to say today. Of course I finally smile. It is natural to feel happy because I have been over thirty years in this discipline and this is one of my best days." Martynov said.

And then, answering to whom was asking about his equipment dating back to the soviet era: “Well, a rifle isn't a wife but you have to look after it and give it tender, loving care. My jacket was probably made in 1996, but my idea is: why should I change something which works just fine?"

“I want to continue. This medal is not the end. I won a Gold at the Olympics, I believe this won’t change my life.”

Silver medal went to Lionel Cox (BEL) with a final score of 701.2 points. He started chasing Martynov with a narrow margin in the final but could not close the gap.

The Belgian came from nowhere: nobody would expect him to even finish in the final, before today’s match. He recently started competing internationally and his best result was ninth at ISSF World Cup in Lonodn, last april (the Olympic test event).

The medal came so unexpected, that surprised the same Cox “I did not plan to finish in the final, nor to win a medal. I will have to go back to my job – I am a work inspector – in a few days! But I will certainly celebrate in the meantime!”

"I have been doing well the week before and I got 599 points in the qualifiers which meant I went into the final with the three-point lead over the next shooter. And I managed to keep that lead."

Slovenia’s most famous sportsman Rajmond Debevec (SLO) took the bronze medal with 701.0 points. The Slovenian, who is competing at his eighth Olympic Games, performed well in the final and marked the second highest total score (105.0) in the 10-shots match.

The bronze is Debevec’s first Olympic medal in the prone event. It added to the medals he has won at previous Olympics in a different discipline, the men's rifle three positions, in which he took gold in Sydney 2000 and bronze in Beijing. The Slovenian shooter will have a chance to increase his medal tally later on next week, when he will be competing in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men event.

India’s Joydeep Karmakar finished in fourth with 699.1 points, underlining once again India’s great results in shooting. Following him, Daniel Brodmeier placed in fifth 698.2 points, missing to achieve Germany’s first Olympic shooting medals of London 2012 by 2.8 points.

Marco Dalla Dea

 

ISSF Partners