Rifle: Hammond Weathers Wind at Beijing Olympics
August 15, 2008 01:43 PM | General
August 15, 2008
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| WVU rifle coach Jon Hammond with his Olympic coach Kimmo Yli-Jaskari.
Photo courtesy of hammond4gold.com |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University Rifle Coach Jon Hammond finished 34th in the 50m rifle prone qualifier with 589 points at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Hammond opened competition at 9 a.m. Beijing-time.
Hammond, competing for Great Britain, battled poor wind conditions throughout the match. He followed his first string of 99 with a break, only to return 25 minutes later to even stronger wind gusts. After second-and third-round scores of 97 and 96, respectively, Hammond rebounded and closed out the match with strings of 98, 99 and 100.
Despite a few rough middle strings, Hammond was both satisfied and optimistic about his performance and thankful for his experiences thus far.
“Unfortunately, today didn’t go as I had hoped, but I cannot be too disappointed,” Hammond said. “Conditions were extremely difficult, and ultimately I didn’t shoot well enough in the wind. To be honest, I don’t feel that I fired any bad shots; I just had trouble negotiating the conditions.
“I’ll have 3-Position training tomorrow and move on to the next match. I still feel that I am performing well and hopefully that will show through on Sunday with a better result.”
Hammond returns to the Beijing Shooting Range Hall on Aug. 17 for the men’s 50m rifle 3-Position qualifier. The event is set to begin at 9 a.m. Beijing-time.
Artur Ayvazian of Ukraine took the gold medal with a final score of 702.7 points. Matthew Emmons of the United Stats finished with 701.7 points for the silver medal. Emmons is coached by 1986 WVU graduate Dave Johnson. Australia’s Warren Potent finished third in the event and won the bronze medal with 700.5 points.
Additionally, Mike Anti, a four-time Olympian and 1987 WVU graduate, just missed qualifying for the final round and finished ninth with 594 points. The four-time All-American will also compete in the 3-Position qualifier on Aug. 17. Anti won the event’s silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
