RIO DE JANEIRO: American shooter Kim Rhode won the bronze medal in women’s skeet shooting on Friday, an honour that put her in an elite record-holding group of just five other athletes who have won a medal in six different Olympic Games.
The Californian and three-time gold medallist also became the first sportswoman in history to win medals in six consecutive Games.
It was a record that almost did not happen.
After a tense shoot-off for the bronze with China’s Wei Meng, Rhode was overcome with emotion, as her husband and young son shouted from the stands.
“When I started the Olympics I was 16 in 1996, I am 37 now and a mom, and who would have thought, it’s been an incredible journey,” said Rhode after her sixth trip to an Olympic podium.
“Standing up on the podium is addicting,” she added, noting that she hopes to be back for Tokyo 2020.
Italians Diana Bacuso and 2008 Olympic skeet champion Chiara Cainero won gold and silver, respectively.
Rhode suffered from a string of health setbacks over her 20-year Olympic career, including shoulder problems, complications from pregnancy and most recently a bad hip. Three doctors told her to give up shooting as a teenager.
The American won gold medals in double trap in her first Olympics in Atlanta in 1996 and in 2004 and in skeet in 2012, the most in women’s shooting at the Games. She added bronze in women’s double trap in 2000 and silver in women’s skeet in 2008.
