BEIJING – In a stunningly similar collapse, the final shot doomed Matt Emmons again.

The Olympic Training Center shooter gave away a gold medal Sunday in 50-meter rifle 3-position at the Beijing Games, four years after he lost gold in the same event by firing at the wrong target.

Emmons, 27, led by 3.3 points after a 120-shot qualification round and nine attempts in a 10-shot final when he pulled the trigger too early on his last shot, causing it to nearly miss the target.

The bullet grazed the upper part of the target for a 4.4, and Emmons dropped to fourth as pandemonium erupted for a 10.0 that provided Qiu Jian of China with the gold. Jury Sukhorukov of the Ukraine was the silver medalist, and Slovenia’s Rajmond Debevec finished 1.4 points ahead of Emmons for bronze.

“If it’s something this crazy, there has to be a good reason for it,” said Emmons, who won a silver Friday in rifle prone. “For a crazy thing like that to happen two times in a row, there has got to be something. And I’m sure it will show itself with time.”

At the 2004 Athens Games, Emmons carried a comfortable lead in 3-position into his final shot, which nailed his competitor’s target. He didn’t receive any points and wasn’t allowed to re-do his shot, falling to eighth.

Moments after the mishap, he sought refuge in a nearby beer garden, where he struck a conversation with Katerina Kurkova, a Czech Republic shooter. They hit it off and married last summer.

Chances are there’s no silver lining that momentous this time.

While preparing to shoot, Emmons aimed at the top of the target. As he slowly lowered his right hand to center on a bull’s-eye that’s 10.4 millimeters in diameter – smaller than a dime – the rifle discharged.

“The gun just went off,” Emmons said. “My first thought was, ‘That’s not good. I hope that’s in the black.’ I looked down, and it was in the black, but it was a very bad shot.

“I was a little bit more nervous than some of the previous shots. But I was really in control. I felt good about it. I’m sure had it made it down into the bull’s-eye, it would have been a pretty good shot.”

Emmons plans to compete through the 2012 London Games, not content with a resume that includes four NCAA rifle titles at Alaska-Fairbanks, one world title, nine World Cup medals and five World Cup Final medals to go with two Olympic medals.

He chastised a Chinese reporter who asked about his mental state, telling him, “I’ve got an Olympic silver medal, an Olympic gold medal, and I should have two more gold medals. There is nothing wrong with my mind.”

Singles at the 15c cocktail hour. Photo by