Chinese young gun Yang Qian claimed the first gold of the Tokyo Olympics with a victory in women's 10 m air rifle (气步枪) on July 24 in Tokyo, Japan. Russian markswoman Anastasiia Galashina took the silver and Nina Christen of Switzerland bagged the bronze. Yang, who was ranked sixth in the qualification, scored 251.8 points in the final, beating Galashina's 251.1 points to set off Team China to a fine start in Tokyo.
Trailing by a mere 0.1 point ahead of the final two shots, Yang saw the gap widen despite a 10.7-point shot, as her rival made an impressive 10.8. However, when it came to the last shot that would define the eventual champion, Galashina surprisingly shot for 8.9 points, and lost the Olympic title to Yang, who had a 9.8.
"I am very happy and proud to win this gold," said the 21-year-old in a calm tone. The result set the standard for future Olympic competitors as Tokyo 2020 is the first games under new competition rules for the event. "I was extremely nervous before the final shot, and all I could do was to calm down," the young Olympic champion recalled. "I wasn't as calm as I appeared to be. During the qualification and the final I kept adjusting my mentality (心态) gradually, trying to shake the pressure off me, and I think I did well in doing so."
Yang had to stand up to a long wait for other shooters to finish their shots before reaching the final. The favored Indian duo, world record holder，Apurvi Chandela and world No.1 Elavenil Valarivan, bowed out after the 60-shot qualification round. Norwegian Jeanette Hegg Duestad was the dark horse in the qualification, setting an Olympic record of 632.9 points. But the 22-year-old narrowly missed the medals in the final.
