Beijing recap
On the last day of shooting, American Matt Emmons missed the gold medal once again when he misfired his rifle in the last shot of the men's smallbore rifle, three positions final. Emmons ended up placing fourth. Emmons won the silver medal in the men's smallbore rifle, prone position event, his only medal in Beijing.
Emmons' wife, Czech shooter Katerina Emmons won the first gold medal of the Beijing Games in the women's air rifle event defeating China's Du Li, the crowd favorite. China's Pang Wei won the gold in the men's air pistol event. American Jason Turner was eventually awarded the bronze medal in the men's air pistol event after South Korea's Kim Jong Su was suspended because of doping.
China topped the medal standings with eight overall, including five gold. The U.S. was second with six medals, two gold.
More on Olympic shooting
Rifle events
In the qualification rounds, competitors will shoot at a 10-ring target. The eight highest scores will advance to the finals -- each rifle event has separate, specific rules regarding how many shots are to be taken. In the finals, the 10 rings are sub-divided into 10 score zones (10.0-10.9, with 10.9 being the highest point total). The scores accumulated in the finals are added to the qualification score to produce the top marks in the event.
Pistol events
Scored the same way as rifle events, pistol events have two separate types of targets being used. The precision events (e.g. air and sport pistol) use a 10-ring system similar to the rifle events. The rapid fire event (men only) uses a larger 10-ring target, but only the five highest-scoring rings are used. Pistol shooters are to be standing and must use just one hand, unsupported, while competing. Eight competitors advance to every pistol final but the men's 25m rapid fire pistol, which has just six finalists.
Shotgun events
In the three shotgun events, the shooters will stand at designated stations and fire at clay targets that are released on or after the shooter's command. A referee must see one visible piece fall from the target for it to be a hit and to award a point to the shooter.
