BEIJING, China (August 15, 2008) — Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, N.J.) won his second Olympic medal Friday when he took home the silver in the Men’s 50m Prone Rifle Event at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Emmons, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist in prone, fired an excellent match score of 597 out of a possible 600 points and entered the final in second place behind Ukraine’s Artur Ayvazian, who had a qualification score of 599. Emmons shot an exceptional final score of 104.7 finishing with a total of 701.7 to claim the silver medal. Ayvazian held on to win the gold after shooting a 103.7 in the final and a total score of 702.7.
“I had the best match of my life today, but it turned out that someone else shot a little better,” Emmons said of taking home the silver medal. “I gave it everything I had and couldn’t be happier with the outcome. I am completely satisfied with the silver. This medal and this competition to me is the biggest one I have ever shot in and one I will never forget.”
Emmons will have the chance to earn his second medal of the 2008 Olympic Games on Sunday when he competes in the Men’s 50m 3 Position Rifle event.
The bronze medal in men’s prone went to Warren Potent of Australia, who shot a 105.5 in the final and ended with a total score of 700.5. Michael Anti (Winterville, N.C.), a Major in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), who is the reigning Olympic silver medalist in Men’s 3 Position Rifle finished the prone event today in ninth place with 594.
Stage 2 of the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event and the last 50 targets in Men’s Skeet, along with the finals in each event will be contested at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall/Clay Target Field (CTF) on Saturday.
USAMU member Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.), a world champion and world record holder, is leading the way in skeet with 73 targets after today’s 75 target qualification. Sean McLelland (Mission, Texas) is three targets back from the lead with a score of 70 targets.
Following Stage 1 of the men’s rapid fire event, Keith Sanderson (San Antonio, Texas), a Staff Sgt. in the U.S. Army, is tied for second place with two other shooters with a score of 289. Leonid Ekimov of the Russian Federation is in the lead with 291.
For complete results from the shooting competition at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, please visit the following link on the official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: results.beijing2008
