Phenomenal shooter Jonas Jacobsson wins his 16th Paralympic gold

Source: Xinhua | 09-12-2008 17:31

By sportswriter Bai Xu

BEIJING, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The phenomenal Swedish shooter Jonas Jacobsson rocked the Beijing Shooting Range Hall once again on Friday by grasping his third gold at the Paralympics here, which was his personal 16th.

As always, his Jacobsson-styled victory seemed not too difficult, as the 43-year-old left-handed riflist on wheelchair topped throughout the final of mixed 50-meter free rifle prone SH1, after acquiring a leading 592 points from the qualification round.

With five of the ten shots above or equalling 10 point, the eight-time Paralympian achieved a highest 103.8 points from the final. His total score was 695.8 points, about three points ahead of the silver medalist, Chinese Zhang Cuiping, and 6.5 points more than Dong Chao, another Chinese who nailed down the bronze.

"I had some difficulties in the qualification round, but in the final I did a good job," said the man who waved both fists to cheering and flag-wielding spectators after the competition as his own brand of celebration.

His coach Anders Sundell said, "He is super. He is probably the best disabled shooter in the world."

The old man made no efforts to conceal his pride. "He knows more about shooting than most of the people. He came here to take part in four events and got three gold medals. It is amazing."

On Monday, the shooter who raked in all four gold he was after in Athens started his gold spree by winning the men's 10-meter air rifle standing competition, improving both the qualification record and the total with 596 and 700.5 points.

Two days later, he once again stunned spectators by improving two more world records in men's 50-meter free rifle three positions, with 1163 points from the qualification round and 1264.3 in total.