LONDON — Sergei Martynov of Belarus set a world record in the men's 50-meter rifle prone at the London Olympics on Friday as he won the gold medal he had been looking for at six Olympics.
Martynov became the second shooter in
Olympic history to score the maximum 600 points in qualification, and
went on to score a total of 705.5 points, beating the 12-year-old best
mark from Germany’s Christian Klees by 0.7.
“Obviously I am proud
of the record and the medal,” said Martynov, who looked as calm and
composed while carrying his gold medal as he had been during the
competition shortly before.
“This is the type of sport where you have to be calm, also after winning,” he said through an interpreter.
Martynov
has now shot the perfect 600 six times — more than any other shooter.
He shot his first at a World Cup event in Munich, Germany in 1997.
The
44-year-old Martynov, who first competed in the Olympics in the 10M air
rifle in Seoul in 1988, has been ever present in the 50M rifle prone
since the 1996 Atlanta Games. He won bronze in 2000 and 2004, but
finished eighth in Beijing four years ago.
As the top-ranked shooter, Martynov was regarded a favorite for the title.
“There
might be something in that,” he said. “But I did not expect to win
today. I felt well, had no problems with the rifle or the bullets. That
helped my performance.”
Martynov outscored second-place Lionel Cox by 4.3 points. It was the first medal at a major competition for the Belgian shooter.
Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia, the 2000 Olympic champion in 50M rifle three positions, trailed Cox by 0.2 to take bronze.
Several expected close challengers of Martynov failed to qualify for the final.
Second-ranked
Wang Weiyi of China and No. 3 Marco De Nicolo of Italy were four and
six points off the qualification limit of 595.
Defending champion Artur Ayvazyan of Ukraine also went out after shooting 593.
Michael
McPhail of the United States shot 595 to share fourth place but missed
out on a final spot during a shoot-out with nine competitors who all
finished on the same score.
Fellow American Matthew Emmons, who won gold in 2004 and silver four years later, did not make the American team.
