First three medals go to Slavic athletes

[White Cossack]

10 m air rifle for women.

Gold Czech Rep. Katerina Emmons
Silver Russia Liubov Galkina
Bronze Croatia Snjezana Pejcic

[White Cossack]

KATERINA Emmons won the first gold medal of the Olympic Games in Beijing, the Czech winning the women's 10m air rifle.
Emmons, 24, won the title at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall with an Olympic record of 503.5.

Emmons, the bronze medallist in Athens four years ago, shot 103.5 in the final after averaging a perfect 10 in qualifying, hitting all 40 targets to set an Olympic and world qualification record.

Lioubov Galkina of Russia won the silver medal with 502.1, while Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia took the bronze with 500.9.

"I just feel great," Emmons said as she walked out of the hall accompanied by her husband, Matthew Emmons, the American shooter who won the 50m rifle prone gold medal in Athens.

China's Du Li, the gold medallist in Athens four years ago, finished fifth to the palpable disappointment of the host nation, which had held high expectations of her winning the first gold medal of their own Olympics.

Du was greeted with a roar from the fans in the upper balcony of the shooting range when she came out for the final, and she turned to face the crowd with a wide smile on her face, waved and bowed before heading over to her lane.

But she misfired immediately in the final round, scoring only 9.8 points with her first shot - the worst shot of any of the eight finalists.

The two Australian shooters in the competition failed to make the eight-woman final.

Three-time Olympian Susan McCready, from Sunbury, finished 42nd of the 47 competitors in the qualification round, while Robyn Van Nus, from Melbourne, finished 44th.

McCready averaged 9.650 out of 10 after her 40 shots while Olympic rookie Van Nus averaged 9.600.

Former Commonwealth Games champion McCready and Van Nus will also compete in the 50m rifle three positions event on Thursday.

McCready's husband, Daniel Repacholi, is competing in the 10m air pistol event with David Moore.

Other Australian shooters in action are two-time Olympic champion and world record holder Michael Diamond and Craig Henwood in the men's trap.

The men's trap final is staged tomorrow.