Small-Bore Rifle, Three Positions (50 metres), Women

The favorite was the defending champion, Lyubov Galkina of Russia, who had also won the 2006 World Championship. Also highly considered was Germany’s Sonja Pfeilschifter, world-ranked #1 in 2008. China’s Du Li was better known as an air rifle shooter, winning the 2004 gold medal and the 2006 World Championships in that event. In Beijing she had difficulty in the final in that event and placed only fifth. In qualifying here she led with 589, and then held on in the final with 101.3 to win the gold medal over the 2008 air rifle gold medalist, Kateřína Emmons of the Czech Republic. The bronze medal went to Cuba’s Eglis Yaima Cruz, the first Cuban woman to win an Olympic shooting medal. Galkina placed fourth. Pfeilschifter continued to struggle at the Olympics. In her fourth Olympics, despite being favored several times, she had yet to win an Olympic medal. Du’s gold medal made her the third woman to have won shooting gold medals in two different events, after Poland’s Renata Mauer-Różańska – gold in 1996 air rifle and 2000 small-bore rifle; and Russia’s Marina Logvinenko-Dobrancheva – gold in 1992 air pistol and sport pistol.