Katerina EMMONS and JIN Jong Oh “Shooters of the Year 2008”

Katerina Emmons and Jin Jong Oh were named Shooters of the Year 2008, winning the votes of the members of the International Association of Shooting Sport Journalists, a special commission of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS). The election was based on the outstanding performances and on the prime achievements reached by the two athletes, who returned from Beijing as Olympic multi-medallists.

With 74 preferences, the Rifle shooter Katerina Emmons, 25, earned the highest number of votes placing in first in the women ranking of the “Shooter of the Year” award, distancing the following Chinese shooter Guo Wenjun of more then twenty votes.
The young Czech shooter had opened the Games by winning the very first Gold medal of the XXIX Olympiad at the 10m Air Rifle Women final, the 9th of August. She kept on winning on the lines of the Olympic Final All of Beijing, shooting Silver at the 50m Rifle Three Positions Women events a few days after.
Katerina, married to the American Olympic medallist Matthew Emmons, is facing a new challenge in these days “We are expecting a baby! Actually, the baby was enjoying the medals together with me, last August!” said Katerina “I will surely come back to competitions, but I will probably start next winter.”

The Pistol master Jin Jong Oh, 29, was named as Shooter of the Year 2008 with 51 votes.
Shooting and winning since 1995, the 29-year old Korean shooter was recognised the “Shooter of the Year” title after his extraordinary Olympic season. Jin shot indeed Gold at the 50m Pistol Men and Silver at the 10m Air Pistol Men finals of Beijing, becoming the most successful pistol shooter of this Olympic edition.
The Korean shooter Jin, who had also been one of the protagonists of Athens 2004, will probably come back to competitions next April, when the first stage of the 2009 ISSF World Cup Series will kick-off in Changwon, Korea.

The complete results of the election:

RANK	WOMEN	VOTES
1	EMMONS, Katerina (CZE)	74
2	GUO, Wenjun (CHN)	53
3	DU, Li (CHN)	45
4	GALKINA, Lioubov (RUS)	38
5	PFEILSCHIFTER, Sonja (GER)	20
6	CAINERO, Chiara (ITA)	12
7	DORJSUREN, Munkhbayar (GER)	6
8	BRINKER, Christine (GER)	3
8	MAKELA-NUMMELA, Satu (FIN)	3
8	PADERINA, Natalia (RUS)	3
8	YAUHLEUSKAYA, Lalita (AUS)	3

RANK	MEN	VOTES
1	JIN, Jong Oh (KOR)	51
2	EMMONS, Matthew (USA)	42
3	HANCOCK, Vincent (USA)	39
4	SCHUMANN, Ralf (GER)	21
5	REITZ, Christian (GER)	20
6	AIVAZIAN, Artur (UKR)	17
7	POTENT, Warren (AUS)	16
8	BROVOLD, Tore (NOR)	16
9	ALIPOV, Alexey (RUS)	11
9	KOSTELECKY, David (CZE)	11
11	BINDRA, Abhinav (IND)	5
11	DIAMOND, Michael (AUS)	5
11	QIU, Jian (CHN)	5
14	NIKOLAIDIS, Antonis (CYP)	3