• “Oops” of the Olympics • Hawai‘i product stopped short of gold • Biffle wins at Michigan “Oops” of the Olympics ATHENS — American shooter Matt Emmons fired at the wrong target on his final shot, blowing a commanding lead
• “Oops” of the Olympics
• Hawai‘i product stopped short of gold
• Biffle wins at Michigan
“Oops” of the Olympics
ATHENS — American shooter Matt Emmons fired at the wrong target on his final shot, blowing a commanding lead in the 50-meter three-position rifle event and allowing Jia Zhanbo of China to take the gold medal.
Leading by three points and needing only to get near the bull’s-eye to win, Emmons fired at the target in lane three while shooting in lane two. He had cross-fired — an extremely rare mistake in elite competition and giving him a score of zero.
The mistake dropped Emmons into eighth place.
Jia won, with, Michael Anti of the United States moving into second. Christian Planer of Austria took the bronze at 1,262.8.
Had Emmons fired at the right target, he would have needed only an 8 to win gold. His shot on the wrong target was an 8.1, but it didn’t count, of course.
Hawai‘i product stopped short of gold
ATHENS — Dax Holdren and Stein Metzger lost to Swiss Patrick Heuscher and Stefan Kobel 21-16, 21-19, ending U.S. hopes of a third straight gold medal in men’s beach volleyball.
“It’s a bummer,” said Metzger, a former standout at Punahou School in Honolulu. “But in a few hours, I’ll recover and I’ll go enjoy Athens.”
On match point, Metzger made a desperate dive, but couldn’t reach a Kobel spike that Holdren tipped at the net. The Americans embraced at the end, discouraged with their performance, but gratified by their unlikely run.
“We had the best time of our lives and we probably shouldn’t have even been here,” Holdren said.
A year ago, the two were dumped by their partners within hours of each other. They decided to team up, even though their 6-foot-3 frames and similar playing styles made them less-than-ideal partners.
The sweltering heat, 107 degrees on the sand, drained both teams mentally and physically. Early in the second set, the teams played a rally that lasted nearly a minute — a marathon in beach volleyball. When Kobel ended the point with a spike to open sand, all four players collapsed in the sand, exhausted.
“We killed each other,” Heuscher said. “It’s impossible to play in this heat.”
Biffle wins at Michigan
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Greg Biffle drove to an easy victory, pulling away from gambling teammate Mark Martin at the end of the NASCAR Nextel Cup race Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.
There are only three more races remaining before the field is set for the “Chase for the Cup,” with the top 10 drivers in the standings racing over the last 10 events for the title. After the race Sept. 11 in Richmond, Va., NASCAR will reset the points, with the leader only five ahead of the runner-up and 45 in front of the 10th-place driver.
The whole points race tightened up Sunday when Jimmie Johnson — who took the lead with a fourth-place run here in June and led by 232 just three weeks ago — had an engine failure for the third straight week and finished 40th. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon moved to the top, 68 ahead of Johnson.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., 21st Sunday, is 139 behind.
