Guo defends pistol title in nail-biter

China’s Guo Wenjun showed nerves of steel as she came from behind on the very last shot to successfully defend her 10m air pistol Olympic title in thrilling fashion in London, yesterday.

With her final effort, Guo shot a 10.8, just 0.1 points short of a maximum score, drawing gasps from the packed crowd at the Royal Artillery Barracks and overhauling France’s Celine Goberville, who had led going into the last round.

Goberville could only manage 8.8, putting her level on points with Athens 2004 gold-medallist Olena Kostevych of Ukraine.

In a shoot-off, Goberville recovered from her disappointment at missing gold and secured silver.

Ice-cool Guo, 28, who said her motto was, “Never give up”, maintained she always felt she had a chance of gold going into the final shot – even though she was trailing by 0.5 points.

“I just focused on doing my best on the final shot,” she said, adding: “I think everyone is good, I just never give up.”

Guo said she put a poor eighth shot out of her mind as the competition reached its nail-biting climax, adding: “It was done. I just couldn’t keep thinking about it.”

The Chinese crack shot, who topped the earlier qualifying round, lost ground after the first shot of the final when she only managed a score of 8.0.

And as the rain thundered onto the roof of the temporary building that houses the competition, the pressure built, with neither athlete able to forge a decisive lead, leading to the dramatic climax.

Guo finished with a total score of 488.1, 1.5 points ahead of Goberville.

The top eight competitors from the qualification round reach the final, shooting a further 10 shots – each fired individually under timed conditions – and the scores are added together to determine the winner.