Hoang Xuan Vinh makes history for Vietnam with Olympic gold

The 41-year-old military officer returned to the world’s largest sporting event determined to redeem himself after narrowly missing out on the bronze medal at the previous Games in London four years ago.

Vinh booked a place in the finals for the first time after finishing fourth in the preliminary round with 581 points, behind Pang Wei (China), Jin Jong-oh (Republic of Korea) and Tuzinsky Juraj (Slovakia). Meanwhile, his teammate Tran Quoc Cuong failed to break through settling for 26th position with just 575 points.

In the finals competition, the Vietnamese history-maker performed brilliantly to claim the overall title scoring202.5 points in 20 shots, just 0.4 of a point ahead of Sao Paulo-born Felipe Almeida Wu, a 24-year-old who is competing in his first Olympics.

China’s Pang Wei took the bronze with 180.4 points, while 2012 champion Jin Jong-oh could not defend his crown finishing fifth overall with 139.8 points.

It was the first Olympic gold medal in Vinh’s shooting career and also the first gold of Vietnam at the world’s largest sporting event.

Vietnam has won three Olympic medals so far thanks to taekwondo artist Tran Hieu Ngan (silver medal, Sydney Olympics 2000), weightlifter Hoang Anh Tuan (silver medal, Beijing Olympics 2008) and shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh (gold medal, Rio Olympics 2016).

Hoang Xuan Vinh celebrates after winning the 10m air pistol gold medal.