Category — Shooting

Oleksandr Petriv embodies the motto that goes, “A man should be part of his flag.” Anyways, Oleksandr won the gold medal in the men’s 25 meter rapid fire pistol bringing the Ukraine’s gold medal tally to four.

Ukraine related:
Artur Ayvazian: Rifle Kissing Gold Medalist

Photo source: xinhua

Ahh, the art of rifle kissing as demonstrated to us by Ukraine’s Artur Ayvazian. I’m not sure if it is this kissing thing which helped him win the gold medal (in the 50 meter rifle prone) or whether he kissed his rifle after he won his gold medal. Anyways, Artur outgunned Matthew Emmons of the United States and Warren Potent of Australia who won the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Artur’s gold is the second for Ukraine. The women’s fencing team of Olha Zhovnir, Olga Kharlan, Halyna Pundyk and Olena Khomrova won the first one.

Photo source: xinhua via beijing2008

There’s the art of Olympic medal biting, then there’s the art of flag waving, now let’s look at the art of medal kissing as demonstrated to us by Finnish gold medalist Satu Makela-Nummela. Satu won the gold medal in women’s trap shooting last Monday [so this is a "better late than never" kind of post]. Satu’s gold is the first, and so far the only, gold for Finland in Beijing.

Photo source: mtv3.fi

Come on, Abhinav, go ahead and bite that Olympic gold medal to test if it is real. Abhinav, who won the gold for the men’s 10 meters air rifle, earns the distinction as the first individual gold medalist for India. He’s a smart cookie too; he’s got an MBA and is the CEO of Abhinav Futuristics.

India related Olympic stories:
Round II: The Paes-Bhupathi “Will We Play Doubles Together?” Saga
Olympians to Watch: Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes

Photo source: beijing2008

China’s Guo Wenjun ruled supreme in the women’s 10m air pistol making her the third Chinese athlete to win a gold medal. The score so far in the US vs. China race for gold medals is China: three golds vs. US: two golds.

But this is only the second day of the competition and there’s a long way to go for both teams.

N.B. The silver medalist for this event is Natalia Paderina of Russia while the bronze went to Nino Salukvadze of Georgia.

Related:
Pang Wei Makes it Two Golds for China
Chen Xiexia Scores One Gold for China

Photo source: sina.com