Czech wins trap gold in rain

David Kostelecky of the Czech Republic won the Olympic gold medal in the men's trap shooting yesterday with a brilliant final round in splendid duck-hunting weather to surge past a nervous Alexey Alipov of Russia.

Kostelecky, who had never won a major championship, dropped to the ground and lay on his back soaking in the falling rain for a moment after hitting a perfect 25 for 25 targets in the final for a total score of 146.

"I don't really know why I did that," Kostelecky told a news conference. "I thought the rain gave me a lot so I was just very happy to lie down on the ground. The pressure was heavy so I just had to lie down for a minute."

Italy's Giovanni Pellielo won the silver and Alipov got the bronze after winning a shoot-off with Australia's two-time Olympic gold medal winner Michael Diamond - an intriguing showdown between the winners of the last three gold medals.

Alipov, who had won the gold in Athens, was in first place alongside Kostelecky after the two rounds of qualification on Saturday and earlier yesterday.

But the Russian crumbled under the pressure, missing two of his first four targets and three of the first 11. He had hit 121 of his first 125 shots in qualification.

Meanwhile, Guo Wenjun of China won the gold medal in the women's 10m air pistol yesterday, beating Russia's Natalia Paderina with a new Olympic record of 492.3 points in the final.

Georgia's Nino Salukvadze, who almost left the Games earlier yesterday with her 35-member team over a conflict with Russia at home, took bronze. After putting down her pistol on her final shot, she wiped tears from her eyes.