(20 July 1996; Day 1)
A look of anguish passed over Germany's Petra HORNEBER's face as she saw that her last shot was an 8.8, killing her 1.7-point lead over Poland's Renata MAUER. The result was a 0.2-point win for Polish shooting team. Just a fraction behind was Aleksandra IVOSEV from Yugoslavia.
"It was just a bad shot," said HORNEBER about the shot that cost her the gold. "It could have happened at the beginning, the middle or the end. It's just the kind of nervousness that could happen at any time of the competition."
In the preliminary round, HORNEBER had a 3-point lead over MAUER and IVOSEV's scores of 395. "I was in the lead all the way through," said HORNEBER. "I just tried to make my last shot a center 10." Nevertheless, she was pleased with her performance. She prefers not to say that "I lost the gold, but that I won the silver."
This is a personal triumph for MAUER because she was pregnant much of the time she spent training for these Olympic Games. She just had her baby last February. Dealing with constantly changing emotional and physical states makes training an especially difficult task. Obviously, this was not a roadblock for MAUER.
For Vessela LETCHEVA (BUL), the competion was not as glorious. World record holder in this event, she missed qualifying for the final by 1 point. In addition to the medalists, she was edged out by Valerie BELLENOUE (FRA), 395; Marta NEDVEDOVA (CZE), 395; Olga POGREBNIAK (BLR), 394; Lesa LESKIV (UKR), 394; and Eva JOO (HUN), 393.
U.S. shooters Elizabeth BOURLAND and Nancy NAPOLSKI, who usually place well internationally, also did not place as expected. BOURLAND was one point away from qualifying for the final, while NAPOLSKI's performance was not up to her usual standard. She took the gold in the Atlanta UIT World Cup with a 398 in April.
This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Janelle Whateley.
| An estimated 5.3 million visted Centennial Olympic Park between opening day - 13 July - and closing day - 4 August, making the park the most single most visited Olympic site during the Games. |