Fourth Time’s the Charm for Amat

Frenchman Jean-Pierre Amat, a four-time Olympian who lost the bronze medal in the 10-meter air rifle event in Barcelona four years ago by one-tenth of a point, won the gold medal in men’s three-position rifle.

Amat, who did not medal in 1984 or 1988, also won a bronze in the air rifle event last Monday.

Amat, 33, finished with an Olympic-record score of 1,273.9. Sergei Beliaev of Kazakstan won the silver (1,272.3) and Wolfram Waibel Jr. of Austria the bronze (1,269.6).

All the medalists bettered the previous Olympic record of 1,267.4 points set by Gracha Petikian of Armenia in Barcelona in 1992.

Rob Harbison of Fallston, Md., finished sixth with a score of 1,267.7.

In skeet, Italy’s Ennio Falco came within one target of tying the world record in winning the gold with a score of 149. The world-record score of 150 is shared by Jan Henrik Heinrich of Germany and Andrea Benelli of Italy, the bronze medalist here.

Miroslaw Rzepkowski (148) of Poland won the silver and Benelli beat Ole Rasmussen of Denmark in a shoot-off for the bronze.

Bill Roy, 37, of Alamogordo, N.M., barely missed qualifying for the finals. He missed only four targets in five rounds of qualifying over two days, but his score of 121 left him one point short of getting into a shootoff for the sixth and final spot in the finals.

Amat began his quest for an Olympic medal in Los Angeles in 1984. He finished seventh in free rifle and 11th in the free rifle prone position. In Seoul in 1988, he finished 32nd in free rifle prone.

Amat went into the final shot leading Beliaev by 1.2 points. This time his final shot--a 10.0--was golden.

“I knew I was ahead and just had to shoot a 10,” Amat said. “I told myself, ‘Just do it.’ I shot in a very easy way. I felt perfect, like a dream.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

MEDALISTS

Shooting

MEN’S SKEET

Gold: Ennio Falco, Italy

Silver: Miroslaw Rzepkowski, Poland

Bronze: Andrea Benelli, Italy

*

MEN’S 50-METER FREE RIFLE THREE POSITION

Gold: Jean-Pierre Amat, France

Silver: Sergey Beliaev, Kazakhstan

Bronze: Wolfram Waibel, Austria