Shooter Du Li gets gold 8212; but six days too late

But Li lost her nerve and finished fifth in the women8217;s 10m Air Rifle event, the honour of 8216;aoyun shoujin8217; 8211; first Olympic gold 8212; going to Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic.

Li made amends on Thursday by taking the 50m Rifle 3 Positions title with a new Games record, leaving both Emmons and defending champion Lioubov Galkina of Russia trailing far behind.

Li finished with 690.3 points to shatter by a fair margin the previous Olympic record of 688.4 set by Galkina in Athens four years ago.

China8217;s hopes of adding a fifth shooting gold from the 11 of the 15 events held so far were dashed when world number one Wei Ning of China finished last of the six finalists in the women8217;s Skeet.

The event was won by world number three Chiara Cainero of Italy after a dramatic final in blinding rain that was decided by a shoot-off between the top three competitors.

Kimberly Rhode of the United States took the silver and Christine Brinker of Germany claimed the bronze medal.

China have so far won four shooting golds, followed by the Czech Republic with two, and India, Finland, South Korea, Italy and the United States with one each.

Li revealed it was exactly four years ago on August 14 that she had won her maiden Olympic title in the 10m event at Athens.

8220;This date obviously brings me luck, but going into today8217;s competition was not easy,8221; she said.

8220;The last four days felt longer than four years. It was very hard to lose the first gold of my home Olympics, but I got a lot of support from my family and coaches and the Chinese people,8221; she added.

Emmons said she was happy to take the silver in what was a secondary event for both Li and her.

8220;There was no pressure on me because I had already won the 10m gold,8221; she said.

The nail-biting finish in the Skeet final under heavy rain left the medallists drained and the losers frustrated.

China8217;s Wei, the Athens Games silver medallist, said the bad weather ruined her chances.

8220;My problem was not the technique, but the rain,8221; she said. 8220;It really affected my performance because the rain made my gun slippery and I missed several targets.

8220;I am very upset not to have won a medal at home.8221; Defending champion Diana Igaly of Hungary failed to make the final, coming in 13th after the qualification round.