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Sunday, August 7, 2016

teen-ager Thrasher wins first Gold at Rio -Gold medal is not all gold !!

Mack Horton was lucky to compete after he rolled his Land Rover off the edge of the road and down an embankment in May. The car was written off from the accident but Horton walked away with nothing more than a fractured nose from the airbags… .. more about him alter… first it is about the First.


Virginia Thrasher of the United States won the first Gold medal handed out at the Rio Olympics for finishing in first place in the women's 10-meter air rifle** event Saturday morning.  Thrasher,  beat Du Li in the final round with a total score of 208.0, setting an Olympic record. Du Li finished with 207.0.  

        It is somewhat surprising, then, to discover that the first gold medallist of the 2016 Olympics was a beaming, unflappable teenager who has to get the first flight back after the Games so she can be in class. Thrasher is 19 years old, a biomedical engineering student at West Virginia University, and as well as claiming the first medal of these Olympics in the women’s 10m air rifle, engineered the first real shock as well.

Defeat can be crushing. Germany’s Barbara Engleder was in silver medal position after 15 shots, but after her 16th shot, a 10.2, she dropped to fourth place and was eliminated.  It is all about Medals.  An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal: gold, awarded to the winner; silver, awarded to the 1st runner-up; and bronze, awarded to the 2nd runner-up. The granting of awards is laid out in detail in the Olympic protocols. Medal designs have varied considerably since the first Olympic Games in 1896, particularly in size and weight.

A gold medal is the highest medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.  While some gold medals are solid gold, others are gold-plated or silver-gilt, like those of the Olympic Games.. .. .. so Olympic Gold is not actually a gold medal !! – the  winners at the 1900 Olympics received trophies or cups instead of medals. The custom of awarding gold, silver, and bronze medals started at the 1904 Olympics. After the 1912 Olympics the gold medals have been gilded silver rather than real gold. The specific composition and design of Olympic medals is determined by the host city's organizing committee. However, certain standards must be maintained:
•          Gold and silver medals are 92.5% silver.
•          Gold medals must be plated with at least 6 grams of gold.
•          All Olympic medals must be at least 3 mm thick and at least 60 mm in diameter.
·         Bronze medals are bronze, an alloy of copper and usually tin.

Now about the Australian with large frame of glass - Mackenzie 'Mack' Horton  scored Australia's first gold medal win of the Rio Olympics, storming home to win the 400m freestyle on the Games' opening day. The 20-year-old from Malvern, Victoria touched just ahead of China's defending champion Sun Yang to propel himself into Australia's Olympic history books.

The short-sighted swimmer needs thick prescription goggles to compete as his eyesight is bad and he was earlier scared of water. 

Although he narrowly missed out on selection for the London 2012 Olympics, finishing second in the 1,500 metres freestyle trial, he has made impressive strides since. In 2013 at the World Junior Championships in Dubai he took an incredible five gold medals and five championship records.

The Indian flag bearer stands tall - Abhinav Singh Bindra, the shooter is a World and Olympic champion in the 10 m Air Rifle event. By winning the gold in the 10 m Air Rifle event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games.  It was also India's first gold medal since 1980, when the Men's Field Hockey Team won the gold.  



Abhinav won Gold Medal in2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow too.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
7th Aug 2016.
News & pic credit : www.abc.net.au/news


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