LONDON — Matt Emmons felt the world watching. When the competition ended, the world couldn’t bear to watch anymore.
The Colorado Springs shooter, one of the most sympathetic characters in the past two Olympics, lost another medal on his last shot. That makes three Olympics in a row in which his last shot may as well have been at his foot.
However, this time it was different. This time he earned a medal, a bronze. And, he didn’t know his final shot cost him a silver until a reporter told him his competitor’s score later that evening.
“(Monday) was one of the hardest competitions I’ve ever had to shoot in my life,” Emmons said.
Considering the pressure, earning any medal is a major accomplishment for a three-time Olympian who wasn’t considered a medal favorite.
But oh, what could have been.
He was in the final round of his specialty, the 50-meter rifle three position. He had worked his way up from tied for third to a solid second place with the 10th and last shot left. With Italy’s Niccolo Campriani having all but wrapped up the gold with 1,269.5 points, Emmons had 1,263.7 points, a comfortable margin ahead of the 1,262.1 of South Korea’s Kim Jonghyun. With Kim shooting a 10.4 out of 10.8 on his last shot, Emmons needed only an 8.9 to win silver. Only one man had shot under an 8.9 the entire final round. Emmons pulled the trigger.
Result: 7.6.
However, Emmons didn’t see the score total on the monitor. All he saw was “bronze medal” by his name. He broke into a huge smile and shook the hand of Campriani, a good friend. Emmons had no idea what he needed on that last shot. There’s a TV screen just to his left that keeps a running score. But it was out of his field of vision.
“I was like, ‘All right, I just won’t look at it,’ ” he said. “And also, between shots, they announce where everyone is. I couldn’t hear it. Perfect. I’ll just shoot this thing blind. It’s actually the way it used to be.
“I finished up and I honestly couldn’t tell you what I shot in the final, what the silver medalist shot in the final. I had no idea. I just know I looked down and won bronze. Cool. That’s all I know.”
Emmons won a gold medal at the Athens Olympics in small-bore rifle prone, but he’s better known for shooting at the wrong target to drop from first to eighth in three position in Athens. And then, in Beijing, he fired too soon on his final shot and dropped from first to fourth.
He handled the disappointments with class and sportsmanship, earning him fans worldwide.
“It’s not the pressure of ‘Matt has to win,’ but it’s that they really want me to do well,” he said. “That’s really challenging, especially with my history. It definitely didn’t make it any easier.”
It all became overwhelming in the final round. Emmons was smoking the entire field except for Campriani. In shots seven through nine, Emmons scored 10.7, 10.6 and 10.5. The Czech and American fans cheered wildly.
Then came shot 10.
“I used every single trick I had in my book to try to calm down the last couple of shots,” Emmons said. “To be honest with you, on that last shot, I was so nervous, I was just happy to be on the target.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, jhenderson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/johnhendersondp
