Beijing - American teenager Vincent Hancock showed the way as Olympic rookies mastered the Beijing shooting ranges to win gold medals against accomplished rivals on Saturday.
Vincent Hancock of the US celebrates his victory next to a team mate during the men's skeet shooting final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 16, 2008. [Agencies] |
Hancock, a 19-year-old from Eatonton, Georgia, grabbed the men's Skeet gold medal after a dramatic final that went into the tie-breaker for all three medals.
Rank outsider Oleksandr Petriv of Ukraine ended Germany's reign in the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol by displacing three-time Olympic champion Ralf Schumann and 21-year-old prodigy Christian Reitz.
With 14 of the 15 shooting events decided, China have four golds, followed by the Czech Republic, Ukraine and the United States with two each.
Oleksandr Petriv of Ukraine competes to win the men's 25m rapid fire pistol final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 16, 2008. [Agencies] |
India, Finland, South Korea and Italy share the remaining four golds.
Hancock left Tore Brovold of Norway in second place by winning the shoot-out after both competitors ended with a combined qualification and final tally of 145.
Anthony Terras of France won the bronze in a similar shoot-out with Antonis Nikolaidis of Cyprus when both finished with 144 points.
Hancock, who won the world championships in 2005 in his first year on the circuit as a 16-year-old and bagged the World Cup title earlier this year, struck gold in his first Olympics.
Reigning world champion Georgios Achilleos of Cyprus finished fifth, while retiring Chinese hope Qu Ridong came in last in the six-man final.
A relieved Hancock said he was nervous going into the shoot-off with good friend Brovold, a computer engineer aged 38.
"I couldn't have been asked to shoot against a better shooter," said the American.
"I hoped he wouldn't miss because Tore and me are really good friends. But I could feel the nervousness building inside me, so I was hoping it wouldn't last much longer."
Petriv, a 34-year-old taking part in his first Olympics, finished the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event with a new combined Games record of 780.2.
Schumann, 46, who has dominated the event for two decades, shot the best score of 200.5 in the final, but was unable to make up the one-point deficit against Petriv in the qualification round.
Schumann finished with 779.5 to add an Olympic silver to the three gold medals he won in Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996 and Athens in 2004 and a silver in Seoul in 1988.
Schumann's understudy Reitz, who won two of the three World Cup competitions earlier this year, took the bronze medal just 0.2 points behind his guru.
Petriv said he was delighted to defeat the accomplished field.
"It had to be my day, otherwise how can one think of defeating like likes of Ralf, Christian and others," he said.
Veteran Schumann hoped to be back in London in 2012 to attempt another Olympic gold.
"Why not? It is a good feeling to get medals," he said. "I will go to London and focus at the age of 50.
"This is my sixth Olympics but every medal has the same excitement."