ACOG - News - IBM

(26 July 1996; Day 7)

China Earns First Gold in Shooting

Not only did XI Duihong (CHN) win the first gold in shooting for her country Friday in women's sport pistol, she set an Olympic record and a final Olympic record. In this event, the qualification round is 60 shots, comprised of 30 shots precision and 30 shots rapid-fire. The final is 10 shots on the precision target fired one shot at a time.

These Olympic Games were especially exciting for LI because she surpassed her performance in Barcelona in 1992, where she took the silver. "I aimed for the gold medal this time, " she said. "I was a little nervous in the first few shots, but then I realized that I was going to do okay."

When asked how she felt about teammate WANG Yifu's performance in the men's air pistol event, she said, "We're from the same country, so of course we are friends. It was not easy for him to win the silver because he was ill before competing. I felt that he did his best." WANG fainted after shooting his tenth shot in the final, a 6.5, and lost the gold by one-tenth of a point. LI said that she felt that his medal meant more than hers did.

Not winning a gold medal with only two days of competition left forces the athlete to focus much harder mentally, according to LI's coach, XU Haifeng. "Because we hadn't won a gold medal in this event up to this point, there was a lot of pressure on the athlete and the coach.

LI is elated to have competed so well. She said, "I'm proud of myself to win a gold medal for our country."

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by Janelle Whateley.


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