US Gets First Shooting Medal as Maddalena Wins Silver in 50M Smallbore

America has finally reached the podium with Sagen Maddalena taking silver in the Women’s 50m rifle three-position event. It had been a difficult Olympics for USA Shooting, with a medal-less week in Chateauroux, 169 miles south of Paris.

After finishing just off the Air Rifle podium earlier this week, Maddalena knew she had another chance to do better in 50 meter 3-position.

On Friday, the 30-year-old started the medal round leading after the qualifying round. But after the kneeling and prone positions, Maddalena had fallen to fourth place, and the final standing position became an immediate problem, scoring an 8.1 and an 8.8 in the second and fourth shots.

The misses, which are dramatic for a contest that usually records scores in the 10’s, put Maddalena in a precarious position in her attempt to win her first Olympic medal.

“Training and acceptance – of that was a mistake and knowing that if I dwell on those mistakes, they’re more likely to happen again,” That is how Maddalena explained how she regrouped. “Then if I trust my process, and trust myself, then I can get back on track.”

Which she did, securing a silver medal, the first for the USA Shooting team. Maddalena becomes the fifth woman since Margaret Murdock in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal to win a medal for the U.S. in smallbore.

“I think from an athlete perspective she’s the hardest worker I’ve ever met, Matt Emmons, a bronze medalist in 2012 London and Maddalena’s part-time coach said. “You can’t challenge her enough. She will do everything you ask and more. That’s exactly why she was up there today. She’s done the work.

Emmons told his 30-year-old student after Thursday’s qualifying round that her performance was one of the finest examples of shooting he’d ever seen.

“Today, it was just a matter of just remind (yourself), okay, go out, do the work, that’s it,” Emmons said he advised Maddelena about her approach to the finals.

Though she’s a slight 5’4”, Maddalena is mentally tough, which is what is what’s required to compete successfully at this level.

The topsy-turvy nature of Olympic shooting makes the need to focus and believe in yourself the primary aspect of a successful equation, which Maddalena showed on Friday when her game went a little awry. Her ability to pick herself up and reengage is why she’s bringing home a silver medal.

“I’ve learned and it’s been an ongoing learning experience of, when that happens, to let it go,” Maddalena said of dealing with the bad shot. “Because there’s two things you can do — dwell on it, that’s what I used to do. In the shot, make corrections and analyze and now it’s like, that happened. I made a mistake. It costs me. Boom…gone.

“Alright, next shot, do the process do the work.”