Former University of Alaska Fairbanks shooter wins silver at Olympics
Originally published Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 7:57 p.m.
Updated Friday, August 15, 2008 at 12:00 a.m.
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — Matt Emmons battled Beijing’s wind and has now joined his rifle-shooting wife as a medalist at the Beijing Olympics.
Emmons, a former multiple national champion at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, won a silver medal in the 50-meter prone rifle event on Friday morning. He won gold in the same event at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
Emmons scored 701.7 points to place one point behind Artur Ayvazian of the Ukraine, who tallied 702.7.
Emmons entered the eight-shooter final in second place, two points behind Ayvazian, who tallied a near-perfect 599 points of a possible 600 in the qualifying round.
Emmons did well to be even that close due to bad luck in the random draw for positions in the outdoor portion of the event.
“Ayvazian was squatted up against the wall totally sheltered from the wind,” said Dan Jordan, the UAF rifle coach who communicated by text message Thursday with Olympic coach Dave Johnson. “Matt was right in the middle of the range. Dave said the conditions were pretty bad. ... One of those skills you have to learn is how to read the wind and compensate for it.”
Emmons then outshot Ayvazian by a point in the indoor 10-shot final, but could not overcome the deficit despite scoring 10.4 or higher on eight of his shots (a perfect bull’s eye is 10.9).
“He had a great final,” Jordan, who watched the match on the Internet, said. “It’s just extremely hard to pick up two points in a prone final.”
The silver medal was the third for the Emmons family at these games. Matt’s wife, Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic, won gold and silver in her two events. The couple met at the Athens Olympics and now lives at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Matt Emmons will shoot again on Saturday in the three-position rifle, the event in which he blew a gold medal in Athens by infamously shooting at the wrong target on the final shot.
“He’s definitely one of the favorites in three-position,” Jordan said. “If the wind holds out, he has a good chance of putting up a big score.”
Community Discussion
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Way to go Matt!!
Matt you can be my right hand man for the moose hunt!
I know you will not waste any meat on the moose.
Way to go!
Interesting impersonation. Did you think other people wouldn't notice the difference in usernames? Did you think I wouldn't notice?
But, imitation? It's flattering, not insulting.
:)
Congrats Matts.
Yes, I realize that my last post didn't make sense....now. I had an impersonator that was posting garbage under another very similar username.
Great job to Matt and his wife. Good choice to find a woman outside of Fairbanks =)
Pat
WAY TO GO!!!!!
No offense but the picture on the front kind of freaks me out. Looks like a picture a school shooter would take of himself before going on a rampage. Other than that, good job!
Awesome Job Matt!! Wahooo Fairbanks!
WAY TO GO MATT!!! ALL OF US MISS YOU HERE!! CONGRATS FROM ALL OF US FORMER LHS RIFLE TEAM MEMBERS !
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