Chinese markswoman Guo Wenjun smashed the Olympic record in women's 10-meter air pistol with 492.3 points, winning the second shooting gold medal for China at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall on Sunday morning.
Guo, a 24-year-old from the northwestern Shaanxi Province, finished second in the preliminary with 390 points, following Russian shooter Natalia Paderina, who bettered the Olympic record with 391 points.
In the first shot of the final, both shooters scored 10.0 points.
But Paderina, 33, seemed to be out of gear in the second shot and just collected 8.5 points, two points lower than her Chinese rival.
The following shots saw Guo keeping her momentum to maintain the leading position, whereas Paderina lost her sharpness and scored her final four shots below 10.
The smiling Chinese girl waved to spectators after the final, while the excited crowd cheered and cried out her name.
"I am satisfied with my qualification score," she said. Her score actually equaled the previous Olympic record.
Talking about her final performance, Guo said that she didn't think too much, even when she scored a 9.4 point in the seventh shot.
"I am mentally prepared for bad shots," she disclosed.
Paderina, with 489.1 points, settled for a silver.
"I was disappointed at the second shot," she said later.
Glad at her resetting the qualification record, Paderina said, "Guo shot better than me."
The bronze medal was won by Nino Salukvadze from Georgia with 487.4 points.
"It (the bronze medal) was a small victory for my country, but my true hope is that in the sports family, we could all be friends," she said.
Paderina and Salukvadze had been competing together representing Russia and they are still good friends.
After the competition, the two girls hugged to celebrate the victory.