When Emmons lost gold and found love

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To say that the 2004 Games was eventful to American shooter Matthew Emmons would be an understatement of Olympic proportions. From the US trials for Athens to the final day of shooting competitions in the Greek capital, Emmons went through a gamut of emotions few would have experienced in the history of the Olympics. The twists and turns in his story would be beyond the imagination of a master story teller.

It all started at a training camp for US shooters prior to the Olympic trials. Emmons, a rifle expert, was full of excitement about qualifying for his maiden Olympics. He had entered three events: 10m air rifle, 50m prone and 50m three position. And he was feeling good.

But Emmons was stunned to find his gun damaged before a 50m prone training session. He was sure that it was sabotage by a team-mate because no-one else had access to the room where the guns had been kept. It was a hammer blow. Shooters swear by their equipment. From tuning to feel, they always work hard to derive the maximum from the machine.

Even though the conspiracy hurt him, Emmons soldiered on by borrowing a rifle from a woman team-mate. The replacement was as deadly as the original: he qualified for the Olympics in the prone, besides the 10m air rifle and 50m three position.

Emmons’ campaign in Athens started like a dream. He nailed the gold in the 50m prone, an event he wasn’t fancied to win, with his borrowed gun. His first Olympics got closer to a fairy tale in the 50m three position as he entered the final round with a seemingly unassailable three-point lead.

The US shooter pulled the trigger and looked at his TV monitor only to find no mark on his target. Emmons had shot the target of the next competitor. One terrible shot dragged him from first to last.

Blowing the gold medal on the last shot with such a horrendous attempt would have dealt an irrecoverable psychological blow on lesser men. Emmons, however, showed remarkable composure after the disaster.

The crushing loss would help him find his future wife, though. Czech Republic shooter Katerina Kurkova, a bronze medallist at Athens, knew how bad it was to suffer a catastrophe when the gold was almost in the bag.

The Czech met the American to commiserate with him and she was impressed with the way Emmons dealt with the loss. Cupid duly shot his arrow. After three years of dating, they married in 2007. Katerina gave up her maiden name for “Emmons”.

Emmons and Katerina went to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics together. Katerina raised the bar high by shooting down the Games’ first gold in the 10m air rifle. Her husband didn’t fare badly as he won the silver medal in the 50m prone.

Now it was time for his favourite event: the 50m three position. Emmons had a gold-winning lead, ahead of the final round. Incredibly, he botched it up once again. Lightning had indeed struck twice. He finished fourth after shooting 4.4 out of possible 10.9. It was, however, an improvement as his bullet didn’t hit the next competitor’s target.

Life outside the shooting range hasn’t been less dramatic for Emmons. The shooter was found to have thyroid cancer in 2010. He is now free of cancer after surgery.

Emmons has qualified for the 2012 Olympics in the 50m prone and the 50m three position. Don’t miss the final of the second event.