Near-novice a gold medalist
Inexperienced U.S. woman pulls shocker in air rifle
RIO DE JANEIRO — Ginny Thrasher walked into the Fandango Room at Barra Olympic Park carrying a bit of history Saturday evening.
Some eight hours earlier, at 19, she became the youngest woman to win the first gold medal of the Games.
Ranked 23rd in the world, she shocked the rather insular shooting world by winning the women’s 10-meter air rifle competition. It was a moment that would surely rattle any just-turned-adult, especially one where the crowds at athletic competitions can be counted by hand.
Instead it was a display of nearly perfect recitation of stock answers — don’t reveal much of anything, just be proud to represent your country, focus, focus, focus. The smile never went away from her face, and the bubble never burst.
“I knew if I made the final that anything could happen,” Thrasher said of her most improbable rise from middle-of-the-pack obscurity to the top of the medal stand. She was the sixth qualifier from a field of 51.
After the first round of the final, she was third, then jumped to first in the second round and stayed near the top as the field narrowed one by one until she beat Li Du, a 2004 and 2008 Olympic gold medalist, in the ninth round of the series.
Three years ago, the then-West Springfield High (Va.) student was 43rd at the junior nationals. The year before, about the time of the London Olympics, she hadn’t even picked up the sport.
“I started shooting that August and I remember watching the Games and watching the men’s air rifle event,” Thrasher said. “I didn’t even know the rules or how it worked. I’m very thankful to be here four years later.”
Growing up, Thrasher had her designs set on being a figure skater. But by the time she entered high school that looked like a long-term non-starter.
“I would go figure-skate in the morning and then go to school and then go to rifle practice right after,” Thrasher said.
“Figure skating for me was always a nice outlet. It was good exercise. It helped my balance.
“It was good amount of social time. For me it was something that I loved but it was a hobby. I kind of dreamed about going to the Olympics but it was a very unrealistic dream.”
She learned to shoot from her father, who was formerly in the Air Force. Hunting was a family hobby. One of her first experiences was with her grandfather, father and two brothers.
“They didn’t think I could kill a deer,” Thrasher told the Washington Post earlier this year. “It was just a big rush of adrenaline. Things were happening very fast and all of a sudden, my aim was good and it was an exciting feeling.”
Whatever excitement and exuberance she felt that day was clearly replaced by a calm and assured manner that seemed more coached than possible for a 19-yearold on the most important day of her athletic career. After clearing doping control at the shooting complex at Deodoro, she went to Copacabana, where NBC got the interviews that come with a big rightsholder check.
“About halfway through the final I knew I was in contention for a medal, and that was a great feeling obviously,” Thrasher said. “But I had to go and push that thought away and come back and focus on shooting. … I’m just very proud to start off the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in such a positive manner for my country.”
With questions cut off after 15 minutes, she held up her medal for some smartphone picture ops and whisked out a back door to who knows where.
She plans to give her parents and brothers a tour of the Athletes Village on Sunday before preparing for the three-position competition on Thursday. Then it’s back to the U.S., where she will go back to school at West Virginia.
Sarah Scherer of the U.S. finished eighth among the 50 competitors.
“It’s just such a great thing to come together, especially in her first Games, so young,” Scherer said of Thrasher.
“I know her really well, and I know how tough an athlete she is, and I know her mental game.
“I’m honestly not surprised.” Olympic Bureau’s Helene Elliott contributed.