In an all Italian gold medal match, Diana Bacosi defeated compatriot Chiara Cainero to win the women’s skeet event.
U.S. shooter Kim Rhode, who won the bronze medal match, is the story of the final, however.
Rhode becomes the first Summer Olympian to win six consecutive individual medals, a feat that had only been done by Italian luger Armin Zoeggeler.
After the semifinal, Rhode had to meet fellow American Morgan Craft and China’s Wei Meng in a sudden death shoot off to see who’d make it to the bronze medal match. Craft, the 23-year-old world number two ranked skeet shooter, was ultimately defeated.
In the bronze medal match, Rhode, 37, and Meng, 27, were tied at 15 apiece, and they headed to another sudden death shoot off. After trading hits and misses, Rhode won in the fourth round.
Rhode’s first medal was a gold medal in double trap at the 1996 Atlanta Games. She then went on to win bronze in the event at the 2000 Sydney Games, before taking back her double trap gold at the 2004 Athens Games. This was the last year of women’s double trap at the Summer Olympics.
This is when Rhode decided to take on skeet shooting, and she won silver in the event at the 2008 Beijing Games. She then won gold at the 2012 London Games, and today’s bronze gives her the six-straight medals.
Another interesting note is that Rhode is the first ever Olympian to medal on five different continents.
Heading into the gold medal match, Cainero, 38, had hit 16 of 16 in the semifinal. Bacosi, 33, had hit 15 to book her place in the gold medal match.
Cainero, the gold medalist in the event in 2008, slightly lost her form, only hitting 14 of 16 in the gold medal match. Bacosi stayed true, hitting 15 again to earn her first Olympic medal.
With the gold and silver medals, Italy now has five total shooting medals in Rio.
The final standings are as follows:
1. Diana Bacosi (Italy)
2. Chiara Cainero (Italy)
3. Kim Rhode (USA)
4. Wei Meng (China)
5. Morgan Craft (USA)
6. Amber Hill (Great Britain)