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| Major Mike Anti, of the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU), won the Olympic silver medal in men’s three-position rifle event.
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ATHENS, Greece – Maj. Michael Anti, a marksman in the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, won a silver medal Aug. 22 in men’s 50-meter three-position rifle shooting in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
“I wish I had the gold but I’m just excited to have a medal,” said Anti, 40, of Winterville, N.C., assigned to the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Ga. “We have such a great unit and such a great Army for them to allow me to do this. There are people overseas risking their life to allow me to compete here, so it’s a big deal.”
China’s Zhanbo Jia won the gold medal with 1,264.5 points. Anti took the silver medal with 1,263.1 points. Austria’s Christian Planer claimed the bronze medal with a 1,262.8 total.
Anti entered the final round in seventh place. After shooting marks of 10.4, 8.8, 9.3 and 10.6, he moved into fourth place with a 10.8 on his fifth of 10 shots in the finale. An 8.5 on his ensuing shot, however, cost him dearly. He quickly rebounded with marks of 10.4 and 10.8 to move into third place. Then an 8.1 dropped him back to fourth. He capped the performance with a 10.4 as drama intensified at the other end of the shooting line.
Matthew Emmons, 23, of Browns Mills, N.J., had the gold medal firmly in his grasp until he shot the wrong target on his last of 10 shots. The mark of zero dropped him to eighth place with 1,257.4 points, stunning the crowd at Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre.
Had Emmons closed with a respectable mark, Team USA would have won the gold and bronze medals.
“For me, it was kind of up and down,” Anti said of his final round. “I’d shoot a good 10 and then I’d shoot an 8. Then shoot a good 10 and shoot an 8. None of the shots were really bad shots, I just was late on the trigger,” he said. “If I caught it a millisecond before, it could’ve been a 10. I’m just thrilled to death that I won the silver with my final.” |
