Air Pistol, 10 metres, Men

Jin Jong-O (KOR) had placed second in this event at the 2008 Olympics. In London he moved up from second in the qualifying, taking the lead in the final on his first shot, and went on to win the gold medal. The defending gold medalist, China’s Pang Wei led the qualifiers but shot poorly in the final and dropped off the podium to fourth place. The favorites had difficulty in this event in London. Tan Zongliang, the Chinese #1 seed, could only manage 581 for 12th place in qualifying and did not make the final. The defending World Champion was Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda, but struggled and finished only 13th. Turkey’s Yusuf Dikeç opened with a poor series of 92, and although he improved in the final rounds, could only finish with 575 for 27th place.

The Chinese had won six straight medals in this event but were shut-out in 2012, despite Tan and Pang coming in among the favorites. The silver went to Italian pistol shooter Luca Tesconi. Andrija Zlatić won the bronze medal, winning the first shooting medal for Serbia. Jin would later win the free pistol in London, becoming the first shooter to win two gold medals at one Olympics since Unified Team shooter Marina Dobrancheva-Logvinenko in 1992, and only the second shooter to do so since 1924, back when there were numerous team events. In fact, Jin became only the seventh shooter to win two individual gold medals at one Olympics, following Dobrancheva-Logvinenko and five shooters from 1906-20.