Teenage South Korea shooter Ban Hyojin takes Olympic gold by .1 of a point in dramatic shoot-off

By: The Associated Press Posted: 4:06 AM CDT Monday, Jul. 29, 2024 Last Modified: 9:22 AM CDT Monday, Jul. 29, 2024

CHATEAUROUX, France (AP) — Teenage South Korea shooter Ban Hyojin found out just how fine the winning margin in her sport can be as she won an Olympic gold medal by one-tenth of a point on Monday.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

*Billed as $4.00 plus GST every four weeks. After 24 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.

CHATEAUROUX, France (AP) — Teenage South Korea shooter Ban Hyojin found out just how fine the winning margin in her sport can be as she won an Olympic gold medal by one-tenth of a point on Monday.

Read unlimited articles for free today:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/07/2024 (456 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CHATEAUROUX, France (AP) — Teenage South Korea shooter Ban Hyojin found out just how fine the winning margin in her sport can be as she won an Olympic gold medal by one-tenth of a point on Monday.

The 16-year-old Ban beat 17-year-old Huang Yuting of China to the gold medal by 0.1 in a shoot-off after they were tied on 251.8 points from 22 shots, a score that had given both an Olympic record.

When she realized she’d won the gold, Ban looked up to the ceiling and took a deep breath before securing her rifle. She seemed to be shaking with emotion as she hugged her coach and wiped away tears while posing with her fellow medalists.

South Korea's Ban Hyojin is hugged by her coach after winning the 10m air rifle women's final as the third-place holder Switzerland's Audrey Gogniat looks on at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Chateauroux, France. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

“At this young age, I felt a lot of pressure coming to France without my family and being alone,” she said after becoming the youngest-ever female Olympic champion in shooting. “But after the match I saw my fellow countrypeople cheering for me and I felt like ‘finally.’”

Ban might have felt like she’d lost the gold medal in women’s 10-meter air rifle after having a comparatively comfortable lead of 1.3 points with two shots to go. All but one of her shots until then had scored at least 10 points of a possible 10.9, but she then shot 9.9 and 9.6 to allow Huang to close the gap and force the tiebreaker shoot-off. Ban scored 10.4 to win that to Huang’s 10.3.

Huang won her second medal of the Paris Games after she and teammate Sheng Lihao won the 10-meter mixed team air rifle on Saturday, the first gold medal awarded in any sport at the 2024 Olympics.

Switzerland’s Audrey Gogniat took the bronze medal Monday when she was eliminated on 230.3. Sagen Maddalena was fourth for the United States, which is yet to win a shooting medal in the competition.

Sheng won his second gold of the Paris Games and China’s third in shooting with victory in the men’s 10-meter air rifle. Sheng set an Olympic-record score of 252.02 to beat Sweden’s Victor Lindgren by .8 of a point in the final. Bronze went to Miran Maricic of Croatia.

Sheng became the first athlete in any sport to win two gold medals at the 2024 Olympics.