The first Gold Medal awarded in the 2008 Olympics has gone to Czech 10m air-rifle shooter Katerina Emmons.
Congratulations, Mrs. Emmons! 
I thought the first Gold was Chen Xiexia’s in the 48kg weightlifting competition.
This says she is the first.
Ah, okay. I take it they’ve just started showing this morning’s events in the US?
Funny, I ALWAYS hit the target with my “air” rifle. 
NBC show guns? :eek: Just reading the news.
Women’s Beach Volleyball is on CBC now. USA vs The Netherlands. The American station has Women’s Volleyball USA vs. Japan.
The women beach volleyball players are umm in really good shape.
Yep. Nice functional uniforms too. 
NBC Olympics does have the competition available to watch on demand. Nice to be able to see some of the non marquee events.
The shooting competition that is. I don’t think anyone will complain about the lack of beach volleyball being broadcast.
Thanks for the link! 
I have to disagree on the Women’s Beach Volleyball though. I haven’t really played volleyball since jr. high, but I think it’s fun to watch.
CBC went to boxing after the volleyball, so I’m watching USA vs. Japan now.
OK…were these targets a whole hell of a lot smaller than they looked? The air rifles a whole lot less accurate?
It seems to me that ANYBODY with a bit of rifle experience should be able to pick up an off the shelf Ruger 22/10 and hit a couple of bullseyes at 10M. 
Ha ha, at least one CCTV (the national Chinese TV network) station has been reporting that China got the first medal.
I suspect the issue may be: first medal awarded (actually hung around a neck) vs. first medal won (the competition completed, the results final).
Unfortunately I’ve discovered that NBC videos will not play on Safari, Firefox or Opera. 
??? I’m playing them on Firefox.
In Olympic air rifle shooting, the target is indeed very small: 45.5 millimeters:
http://www.nbcolympics.com/shooting/insidethissport/field/newsid=101848.html#field+play+rifle
Obviously it would make no sense to have a sport in which most of the top competitors could be expected to make a perfect score.
Ed
I recall from another discussion that the 10 is the size if a pencil lead.
This time instead of the text being superimposed on the rest of the article a separate window opened. I got this message (my emphasis):
My computer was made the year before they started using the Intel chip.
Holy shit.
Converting that for those who use Neanderthal forms of measurement, that’s 4.55 centimeters, which converts at 2.54 centimeters per inch, meaning we are talking a target of 1.8 inches across. Call it not quite the length of your thumb.
With ten rings on it. :eek: