Ukrainian shooter Artur Ayvazian led all the way in the men's 50-meter rifle prone to win the Olympic gold at the Beijing Shooting Range in Beijing on Friday.

His final score was 702.7 points, one point ahead of American runner-up Matthew Emmons. The bronze was picked up by Australian Warren Potent with 700.5 points.

Ayvazian, who topped the qualification round, advanced into the final with 599 points, or one point below the world record but two points more than the score of Emmons.

The 35-year-old veteran shooter did a decent job in the final round, making all his shots above or equaling 10.0 point.

Despite a not-so-good start of a 10.0 in the first shot, defending champion Emmons pulled up his socks to impose a big threat to the former.

Always the last to open fire, the 27-year-old American impressed spectators by scoring five of his ten shots above 10.5 points.

After the ninth shot, gap between the duo was narrowed to 1.1 point.

In the last shot, Ayvazian made a quick fire.

A 10.3.

There was no chance for Emmons to overtake, although he did make a higher score of 10.4.

"It is the greatest success I have ever had," said the joyful champion who kissed his rifle before hugging with his coach to celebrate.

"It is hard to maintain the first place in the final but I made it. Today if my day."

A three-time Olympian, Ayvazian said he did a lot of preparation work this time.

"I want to dedicate it (the gold medal) to my coach who has helped me a lot," he said.

Emmons said he was "extremely satisfied" with his performance.

"This is the best match of my life. It is the best I can shoot," he said.

In the qualification he was challenged by the wind in the hall.

"I had to fight harder than ever. The wind just swirled around. It was definitely challenging, but those kinds of conditions really show off the best," he said.

While the final competition was more difficult, he noted, to shoot with two points behind.

Thus he said after the final, the first thing he thought was "Holy crap, I hit it!"

After Emmons finished, his wife Katerina who just won a gold and a silver in Olympic rifle event jumped over, embracing and kissing him.

Talking about his champion wife, the man said, "her success gives me good energy and great motivation. I want to do well too. She congratulated me after the final. She knew it was the best I can shoot."

This April Emmons said at the Good Luck Beijing World Cup that he and his wife were a "shooter couple", helping each other like a team.

"The more medals we win as a team, the better," he said.

The 46-year-old Potent, the oldest among all finalists who had equaled world record of the discipline with a staggering 704.8 points at Good Luck Beijing World Cup, just collected 595 points in the qualification this time and was ranked fourth.

But he managed to make a steady progress, climbing to the third after the fifth shot and hence maintaining his position. In fact, his final round score, 105.5 points, was the highest among the eight shooters.

The bronze was the first Olympic medal for the veteran shooter, who wrapped up his Athens journey four years ago as a 42nd-placer in the event.

This time, he said "I have changed my equipment, changed my attitude. I have just learned to become more calm."

In the final he didn't know changes of his standing, but Potent could guess that he was close and climbing because he had some good shots.

"I'm still getting to my prime," said the man contentedly, "I'm just maturing with age, you know, like good wine."

Russian Konstantin Prikhodtchenko made a surprising start with 10.8, 10.6 and 10.9 points and surged to the third before the fourth shot, lending a glim of hope for the shooting powerhouse nation to end its gold drought in shooting events at the Beijing Olympics. But the 36-year-old failed to keep his momentum and slipped to the fifth after the seventh shot, a 9.9.

Two Chinese shooters, Qiu Jian and Jia Zhanbo, finished 19th and 27th among the 56 shooters and failed to enter the final.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)