Skeet, Women

The women’s skeet event was held in a raging downpour, which affected the performances. The favorites were Svetlana Demina of Russia and the defending gold medalist, Diána Igaly of Hungary, but they finished 12th and 13th, respectively. The qualifying leader was Italy’s Chiara Cainero, the 2006 World runner-up, with 72. She led Thailand’s Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit by one bird, with three shooters at 70, including American Kim Rhode. Rhode had been a trap shooter, and won the gold medal in 1996 and 2004 in double trap, but that event had been dropped from the Olympic Program so she had switched to skeet. After the final round, Cainero, Rhode, and Germany’s Christine Brinker tied for first with 93 hits. Cainero won the shoot-off for gold when she hit the first two targets, Brinker and Rhode both missing their second shot. Rhode won the silver in the second round of shoot-offs, making two birds, when Brinker missed her second target. For Kim Rhode it was her fourth Olympic shooting medal, adding another silver to her silver in 2000 double trap and her two gold medals in that event.