Air Rifle, 10 metres, Women

Kateřína Emmons of the Czech Republic won the first gold of the Beijing Olympic Games when she won the air rifle. As Kateřína Kůrková she had placed third in this event at the 2004 Olympics, and was the runner-up at the 2006 World Championships. The favorite in Beijing was the defending champion and 2006 World Champion, Du Li of China. Du was fourth after the qualifying with 399, which was led by Emmons who went clear with 400. But Du had the second lowest score among the finalists and dropped back to fifth place overall. Emmons had the highest final score with 103.5 to win the gold over Russia’s Lyubov Galkina, silver medalist in 2004 and many times an international champion. Another disappointment was Germany’s Sonja Pfeilschifter, who had been a three-time World Champion and was one of the best international rifle shooters in the last decade. But Pfeilschifter placed only 12th in qualifying. She has never performed well at the Olympics. Thru 2008, after four Olympics and eight events, she had yet to win a medal and only made the finals four times. Kateřína Emmons was the wife of American shooter Matt Emmons. They had met at the 2004 Olympics and married in June 2007.