The US won its first gold medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics when 19-year Virginia “Ginny” Thrasher–a good girl with a gun–beat out Chinese Olympians in the 10mm air rifle competition.
Thrasher beat Chinese shooters Li Du and Yi Siling. It was Yi who won Gold in the 10mm air rifle event at London in 2012.
The Sun reports that “a horde of Chinese fans and journalists had gathered in the hope of seeing their country take the opening event of the Olympics, just as it had done in London.” And while Yi managed to lead early on, then stumbled because of some “poor shots.” Thrasher turned it on and “never looked back after hitting the front for the second time after the 11th of 20 shots in the final.”
Virginia Thrasher, center, of the United States holds her gold medal for the Women’s 10m Air Rifle competition during the award ceremony with the runner-up Du li, left, of China and third place Yi Siling, right, of China at Olympic Shooting Center at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
According to Yahoo Sports, Thrasher became interesting in shooting competitions via “a family hunting trip five years ago.” The event in which she won gold is the first “international shooting competition” in which she has taken part.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.