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South Korean Wins 3rd Straight Shooting Gold

Jin Jongoh overcame an inexplicable 6.6 on his ninth shot of the finals with some stellar shooting

An unexpected miscue was not enough to derail Jin Jongoh's bid for a third straight gold. 

The South Korean overcame an inexplicable 6.6 on his ninth shot of the finals with some stellar shooting, tracking down Vietnam's Hoang Xuan Vinh to win gold in men's 50-meter pistol at the Rio Olympics. 

Jin dropped to the bottom of the standings with a surprising ninth shot that put him on the cusp of elimination. He survived and continued to climb up the standings with a series of shots in the 10-ring after falling 4.4 points behind Hoang. 

Jin passed Hoang on the penultimate shot of the finals and finished 2.4 points ahead of Hoang, who became Vietnam's first gold medalist with his victory in 10-meter air pistol on Saturday. 

North Korea's Kim Song Guk captured bronze. 

The second event of the day, double trap, began with qualifying at 8:00 a.m. ET, and the final began after 2:00 p.m. ET.

Fehaid Al-Deehani, competing for the Independent Olympic Athletes, defeated Italian Marco Innocenti in the double trap gold medal match.

Al-Deehani, 49, is of Kuwaiti descent, but sanctions forbid the nation from participating in the Olympics. This is the first Olympic gold medal for the IOC, and first medal since the 1992 Barcelona Games. All of the medals have come in shooting competitions.

A solider in Kuwait, Al-Deehani ruled himself out of being the IOC flagbearer during the Opening Ceremony.

“I am a military man and I will only carry the Kuwait flag,” Al-Deehani said.

Al-Deehani won bronze in the event at the 2000 Sydney Games, and another bronze in single trap at the 2012 London Games while competing for Kuwait.

Marco Innocenti, 37, is the third Italian to win a medal in shooting events in Rio. Niccolo Campriani won gold in men’s 10m rifle, and Giovanni Pellielo earned silver in men’s trap.

Innocenti fell behind early in the final, and Al-Deehani was rock-solid keeping the lead throughout, firing quickly and confidently.

Al-Deehani led the semifinal the whole way, and when he made the gold medal match while the rest of the field was still to be determined, his celebration caused a distraction. He was subsequently given a yellow card for his actions.

The bronze medal match was a showdown between two Great Britain competitors, Steven Scott and Tim Kneale. Steven Scott, 31-years-old, shot a perfect 30 for 30 to defeat his 33-year-old compatriot and take home the bronze.

In order to get to the bronze medal match, they both needed to get by the number one ranked James Willett of Australia in a sudden death shoot off.

Willett (along with German shooter Andreas Loew) set an Olympic record in qualifying by scoring 140, but struggled in the semifinal and missed a target on his first try of the sudden death shoot off.

The U.S. double trap contingent was led by 2008 Beijing gold medalist Glenn Eller. Eller holds the Olympic record for both qualifying (145) and the final (190). Richmond is the 2016 World Cup San Marino gold medalist, and 2014 World Cup Almaty silver medalist. He placed 16th in London. 

American John Richmond, who finished 16th in his Olympic debut in London, also competed.  

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