Debevec Takes Bronze in Three-Position

Beijing, 17 August

Slovenian shooter Rajmond Debevec won the bronze in Sunday's rifle three-position competition at the Beijing Olympics. The winner was Qui Jian of China, while silver went to Yuri Sukhurokov of Ukraine.

In a dramatic finish, Debevec managed to squeeze among the top three with his final shot, after the leader until then, Matthew Emmons of the US, shot only 4.4 to drop down the ladder.
The 45-year-old Slovenian came into the final with a lead, but two 7-point shots meant he slipped out of the medal hunt. A final shot of 10.8 was however enough to catapult him into third place.
Debevec said he saw a light at the end of the tunnel when he saw Emmons hit only 4 points, he however did not know in which place he would end the event.
"In shooting you need to control every muscle but I was unable to relax my body and my hands were shaking. It's all in the head. In Sydney I felt invincible but here it was completely different," he said.
After the third shot Debevec changed his position a bit, and the rifle "calmed down." "In the end I got lucky. Not by my shooting 10.8, which was excellent, but by the American shooting four," Debevec noted.
"What can I say. After all the bad luck that followed Rajmond in the 60-metres prone and here, when he shot 9.9 three times in a row, lady luck decided to smile back. Winning because of the bad luck of somebody else is not the best, but that's sports," said Debevec's coach, Lojze Mikolic.
Debevec came into the finals with a score of 1,176, only a shot under the Olympic record. Emmons was his closest rival with 1,175, while Sukhurokov was third with 1,174.
However, the Olympic gold-medalist from Sydney had a shocking start to the finals, hitting a wayward 7.7 on his first shot to lose the lead. A 7.9 on the third shot meant Debevec was at risk of losing touch with the leaders, but he replied with 10.6 on the fourth to stay in the medal hunt.
"Rajmond started poorly, since he could not settle down and shoot his best in the time available to him," said Mikolic of the 7.7 and 7.9 shots.
Debevec managed to settle down after that, shooting consistently around 10 points, but could not get back into the medal placings because of the strong performance of the top three - Emmons, Sukhorokov and Jian.
However, the disastrous final shot from Emmons - who suffered a similar fate in Athens in 2004, when his final shot hit his competitor's target - meant that Debevec's 10.8 on the final round was enough for bronze.

Debevec Takes Bronze in Three-Position

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