The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Beijing

Du Li of China finally struck gold in her home Olympics on Thursday, six days after she had left millions disappointed by failing to win the inaugural event of the Games.

Li, a 26-year-old from Shandong province, had been one of the most talked about athletes ahead of the Games as the favourite to win the first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics last Saturday. But Li lost her nerve and finished fifth in the women's 10m Air Rifle event, the honour of 'aoyun shoujin'-first Olympic gold-going to Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic.

She made amends on Thursday by taking the 50m Rifle 3 Positions title with a new Games record, leaving both Emmons and defending champion Lioubov Galkina of Russia trailing far behind. Li finished with 690.3 points to shatter by a fair margin the previous Olympic record of 688.4 set by Galkina in Athens four years ago.

In a close finish for the remaining spots, Emmons took the silver just 0.1 points ahead of bronze medallist Eglis Yaima Cruz of Cuba, who herself was 0.2 points in front of fourth-placed Galkina.

Li revealed it was exactly four years ago on August 14 that she had won her maiden Olympic title in the 10m event at Athens.