Heartbroken Shooter

Sitting behind to watch the competition, Matthew' wife Katerina, who won the most eye-catching first gold of the Beijing Olympics for the Czech Republic and was working as commentator for the Czech Television, opened her mouth in astonishiment, before rushing over to comfort her husband.

Matthew threw himself into the arms of Katerina, eyes wet with tears.

Matthew Emmons (R) of the United States is comforted by his wife after the men's 50m rifle 3 positions final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Shooting event in Beijing, China, Aug. 17, 2008. Matthew Emmons won the 4th with a total of 1270.3. [Jiao Weiping/Xinhua]

"Old competitions I played back home kept running through my head and calmed me. On the final shot, the shot was high, at twelve o'clock. I relaxed down into the bullseye and hit the trigger every softly, they call it a set-off, where it just happens," said the disappointed shooter, who just won an Olympic silver at rifle prone.

"I didn't feel my finger shaking, but I guess it was. I realized it went off and I hoped it made it into the black (above eight points). I call it a freak-of-nature; I felt normal in this match, a little bit more nervous. If it had made it to the bullseye, and it would have been great," he continued.

His rivals conveyed their sympathy.

"It is the most accidental case. I shot zero point once in a World Cup in Russia," said Sukhorukov, who rose to second after the mistake of Matthew.

"I know every human shooter can make a mistake. My friend's mistake was more than it should have been. He's very nervous maybe because of what happened in Athens, where he missed his last shot. Maybe he didn't have good concentration," said bronze medalist Debevec.

Chinese volunteers encouraged Matthew after he finished his interviews at the mixed zone.

"Matt, come on!" they shouted in Chinese amid thunderous applauses.

Words to comfort the dejected ace shooter soon appeared on portal websites.

"It was a pity that we lost a 'gold-medal couple'," said a netizen nicknamed Loving Heart on Xinhuanet. "I was deeply touched seeing Matt hug with his wife. What a touching scene!"

Another named Shenyuan said, "Don't grieve, Matt. Drawing lessons from the failures, you will perform more steadily next time."