Shooter Kimberley Rhode etched her name into the annals of great American Olympians on Sunday when she easily won the women's skeet gold medal to become the first U.S. competitor to win individual medals in five consecutive Games.
Rhode finished with a total of 99 points, only missing one of the 100 clays she shot at all day, ahead of Wei Ning of China on 91 with Slovakia's Danka Bartekova (90) taking bronze after a shootoff with Marina Belikova of Russia.
The American's total bettered her previous shared Olympic record of 93, which she set at the Beijing Games four years ago en route to a silver medal after a three-way shootoff.
The world number one drew successful green dust after shooting her first 50 orange clays in her opening two qualification sessions on the outdoor range before missing her only shot in the third and last session during the rain.
Rhode, 32, took a four-point lead over Bartekova into the six-woman final where the Slovakian missed five clays, allowing Wei to snatch silver.
That meant another medal for China on the range to follow the two golds won by Yi Siling in the 10 metre air rifle on Saturday and Guo Wenjun in the 10m air pistol earlier on Sunday.
Bartekova regained her composure to seal a bronze by edging Russia's Belikova, who had qualified third for the final.
Photograph: Lars Baron/Getty Images
