Emmons wins first gold of Olympics

BEIJING (Reuters) - Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic derailed host China's hopes of a golden start to the Olympics when she won the first gold medal on Saturday with a convincing victory in the women's 10m air rifle event.

Emmons, who met and married U.S. shooter Matt Emmons after winning bronze at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, equaled a world record score of 400 in the qualification round and was near flawless in the final to win gold medal a score of 503.5 -- a new Olympic record.

"I was so nervous," she told reporters after the event that traditionally opens the Olympics. "Our heart rate was so high. I'm seriously happy it is over and I hold gold."

Du Li of China, the heavy favorite whose gold four years ago at the start of the 2004 Olympics led a Chinese medal winning streak, wept after finishing fifth. She had won the gold medal in Athens and had been favorite at the Olympics at home.

"I feel really bad for Du Li, I do -- and I'd like to give these flowers to her because she can shoot way better than she did today," Emmons said, holding the flowers she was given at the medal ceremony led by IOC president Jacque Rogge.

"Sorry, the Chinese press is putting a lot of pressure on Chinese athletes," Emmons added. "I had a hard time handling my own pressure. It's obvious to see there's a lot of pressure (on Du) everywhere, every day in training, all around her."

Lioubov Galkina of Russia won the silver medal with a score of 502.1. She had also won silver in Athens. Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia took bronze with 500.9.

PERFECT SCORE

Emmons hit the bullseye on all 40 of her qualifying round shots for a perfect 400 score. Du had also been perfect before getting 9 on her 34th shot in qualifying to finish with 399 points. She seemed dejected after that result.

Emmons, who married the U.S. shooter last year, was previously known as Katerina Kurkova.

"She did a fantastic job. I'm so proud of her," Matt Emmons told Reuters. Emmons had gone over to his wife and kissed her as she took a rest during her perfect qualifying round.

"It happened to me once too. You just want to take a break and chat," he said. "So her dad and I just talked to her for a minute."

Matt Emmons missed out on a gold medal in Athens with an ill-timed lapse of concentration, when he fired at the wrong target on his last shot. The two met right after that when she approached him to tell him how sorry she felt for him.

Katerina Emmons went out of her way to praise her husband.

"He's the best team mate I ever had," she said. "It's great to have him. I knew I'd do good even if he couldn't be here and he'd do great if I wasn't here. The fact we're here together is awesome. We work as a team. It's one of the best in the world."

Emmons said their kisses in the heat of the battle was perfectly normal thing for married people to do.

"The kiss is completely natural," she said. "He's my husband. It's just a good thing." (Editing by Alex Richardson)