TargetTalk

Shortly before Wilder won her world title, the USA was represented in the Men's 10m Air Rifle final by Matt Emmons. The crowd in the final hall gasped as Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, N.J.) shot a disappointing 8.4 point tenth shot. Emmons entered the Men's 10m Air Rifle final in sixth place with a match score of 597 points and scored a decent final of 101.5; yet, his tenth shot moved him from second place to seventh--just one place shy of a 2012 Olympic quota spot.

Given all has happened to Matt on 10th finals shot (Athens and Bejing touch off shot and cross-fire) I think he might have some serious YIPS happening. Yes he has had success since those events, however being ranked 6 in the world has its pressure points. I just hope this last one re-sets him and gets him back on track. Quota slots are precious..he will earn more no doubt. I am just worried for him ..confidence can be a very fragile thing.

i hope he gets over this as well... it'd be quite bad if he thought about these experiences in future competitions~

Matt just shot the Prone final, moved up from 7th to third, a Bronze and a Quota slot

I am a fan of Emmons but I think He is a serios case to gather specialists in sports psicology to research and write about his case.

I was in Munich in WCup in 2006 and I saw him lost another medal in tha air rifle finals, shooting a 9.0 on the very last shot e let the young German, Tino Mohaput, win the gold. ( I have this final filmed).


Again in WCH Munich, some bad mistakes at the end of competition who let the best 3p shooter out of the finals and even the podium.

In the 3p match, he scored an 8 at the last standing shot but the most serious was a Zero on the second kneelling shot, although he finished 89 in this serie.

This Zero must had been an honest mistake but...

I think the guy from Alaska need some sobrenatural magics to help him against his bad luck in main competitions.

I am from Brazil. Sorry for the bad english.

It is important to notice, however, that even with a "cold" 0 as a witness of an undisputable mistake (or technical problem, I do not know exactly what happened), he managed to get score of 1165, beating shooters such as Rajmond Debevec and Christian Planner... On the elimination day he shot 1184, BTW.
It takes a lot of "guts" only to stand on that firing line at this level with these people, I can tell by personal experience. I first saw Matt Emmons in the World Cup in Atlanta 2000, then in several WC in Fort Benning, CAT, USANC and OG trials where I have been also competing, and I have to say I have seen very few people as comitted to this sport as he is. I have seen him, right after winning a medal, going to the other range and start training for the next event.
He is one of the greatest shooters of all times if not the best. He still very young and I have no doubt he will overcome these errors. All my support to Matt Emmons.

pilkguns in Munich wrote:Matt just shot the Prone final, moved up from 7th to third, a Bronze and a Quota slot

That's true, but his 10th shot ( a 9.8 if memory serves), was once again the worst of the set.

He does however look supremely confident and was happy enough to both win individual bronze, and of course team gold. He is also happily walking around the range complex, chatting to the stallholders etc.

I watched him setting up for his kneeling in the 3p eliminator yesterday and he was very calm, methodical and confident.

He has of course already won a quota slot for USA by virtue of his 3rd place in prone. And I don't doubt he'll be top of the list of candidates to take it when USA divide them out amongst their athletes.

Rob.

Rob.

How many others had 'bad' shots during the final, lets not jump on the band wagon and say he can't hack it at the top, I think his list of wins say more about his ability.Apparently he closed the bolt and the shot went off,now I have watched Matt shoot and he sure does not slam the bolt on closing it.To end up with that score with a miss shows he has what it takes.
How many of us would have gone to pieces if that happened in a competition.
Colin

I aggree, he could have thrown the towel in but he didn't, he just carried on as if nothing had happend.
If you look at the kneeling score, had that "shot" been a 10 he would have had the same score for kneeling as Sidi and would of been in 3rd place going into the final as well

Off Topic

Fabio wrote:I am from Brazil. Sorry for the bad english.

Fabio,
I would never make fun of anyone that speaks or writes in broken english. That person is smarter than I for knowing multiple languages.

Jim

Back to Matt.