It's a self-serve medal ceremony as Chinese shooter wins 1st gold of Tokyo Olympics
Naohisa Takato claims Japan's 1st top-podium finish with victory in men's judo
China's Yang Qian claimed the first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday after prevailing in a battle of nerves with the Russian Olympic Committee's Anastasiia Galashina in the women's 10-metre rifle competition.
Galashina barely made it to the final, grabbing the last of the eight qualifying slots, but was in pole position for gold until she cracked under the pressure.
Her last shot of 8.9 was the lowest of any competitor in the final, leaving her on a total of 251.1.
Yang was not immune to the pressure at the Asaka Shooting Range but her below-par final shot of 9.8 was still enough to snatch the gold with an Olympic record total of 251.8.
Switzerland's Nina Christen won the bronze, while American world No. 2 Mary Tucker was eliminated early and finished sixth.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach presented the medals.
WATCH | China's Yang Qian 1st athlete to hang gold medal around her own neck:
"I was really nervous. The competition was really tight, but I'm so happy that I could win," Yang said after winning an event which did not feature a single medallist from Rio.
"We did train how to perform under pressure. The coaches would actually create a nerve-racking atmosphere and try to pressure us," she later told reporters through an interpreter, her long hair pinned back with a yellow barrette.
Galashina said the pressure got to her on the final shot.
"Perhaps my nervousness took over," Galashina said, adding she was still "euphoric" with a medal in her first Olympics.
Russian athletes are competing under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee at the Tokyo Olympics this year as part of sanctions for several doping scandals.
Norwegian Jeanette Hegg Duestad had set an Olympic qualifying record of 632.9 to reach the final but finished just outside the medals.
Naohisa Takato wins Japan's 1st gold medal
Naohisa Takato won Japan's first gold medal at its home Olympics, beating Taiwan's Yang Yung-wei in the men's 60-kilogram judo final.
Kosovo's Distria Krasniqi beat Japan's Funa Tonaki in the women's 48-kilogram final less than an hour before Takato made sure his team wouldn't have a double heartbreak on the opening day of competition in its beloved homegrown martial art.
Takato won his final three bouts in sudden-death golden score, but he took the final a bit anticlimactically after Yang committed too many fouls.
The charismatic Takato's success — and Tonaki's heartbreaking, last-minute defeat — could provide a much-needed jolt of excitement for a nation still feeling profoundly ambivalent about these Olympics and discouraged by the scandals and coronavirus setbacks surrounding them.
With files from the Associated Press
