BEIJING • Winning Olympic gold isn’t easy, even when you hit all the right targets.

Olympic Training Center shooter Matt Emmons learned that the hard way Thursday, taking a silver medal in 50-meter rifle prone four years after he gave away rifle 3-position gold by firing at the wrong target.

Slowed by a mediocre 10-shot final, Emmons, 27, couldn’t repeat as Olympic champion in rifle prone, where shooters aim for bull’s-eyes 10.4 millimeters in diameter – smaller than a dime – while lying on their stomachs.

Three-time Olympian Artur Ayvazian of the Ukraine won gold by one point over Emmons, benefiting from a two-point cushion following a 60-shot qualification round. Three-time World Cup champion Warren Potent of Australia won bronze.

“You’re walking into a final that’s indoors, and you’re two points behind,” said Emmons, whose three 10.8 scores were negated by a 10.0 on his first shot and a 9.8 on his fourth. “That’s a lot of ground to make up. I wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but it’s very difficult. Artur had a great match, and I couldn’t catch him.”

At the 2004 Athens Games, Emmons made one of the biggest blunders in Olympic shooting history.

He held a comfortable lead in 3-position – that’s Emmons’ other Beijing event, set for Sunday – when his last shot nailed his competitor’s target. He received no points and wasn’t allowed to re-do his shot as a gold turned into an eighth-place finish.

Being the runner-up is new for Emmons, who has one world title, nine World Cup medals and five World Cup Final medals in the past six years.

After he learned how to shoot at a New Jersey military base, Emmons excelled at Alaska-Fairbanks, becoming the first college marksman to win three straight national titles in smallbore and the first to record a perfect score in air rifle.

“Any time you’re in the medals at the Olympics, you’ve got to be happy,” said Emmons, whose wife, Katerina, a part-time OTC resident, won gold in 10-meter air rifle Saturday for the Czech Republic.

“I would have been happy with anything. Gold is nice, and silver is great. I’ll take anything.”

American Michael Phelps celebrated after winning the men’s 200-meter individual medley final Thursday night in Beijing. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS