In an interesting turn of events, Olympic pistol shooter Kim Jong Su of North Korea was stripped of his two Olympic medals (Men's 10m Air Pistol and Men's 50m Pistol) after testing positive for Propranolol. Say huh?

Yep, I reckon there will always be some folks who are willing to cheat, no matter what the competition may be. Propranolol is a beta-blocker, which helps the heart beat more regularly and reduces shaking or trembling. Serious competitive shooters know the value of controlling one's heartbeat (non-medicinally, of course) and/or shooting between heartbeats.

When Kim vacated third place in Men's 10m Air Pistol, American Jason Turner suddenly became a medalist, receiving Bronze in that event. This is great news for Jason, who was only one point shy of Bronze at the end of the match. And I believe this makes him the first shooter from the USA to earn an Olympic medal for pistol shooting since 1988. Very nice work indeed.

In Men's 50m Pistol (60 shots), Kim's Silver medal went to China's Tan Zongliang, the original Bronze medalist in that event. The Bronze then went to Russian shooter Vladimir Isakov.

Shame on anyone who uses drugs in the Olympics. Apparently Kim was not the first athlete to test positive for a banned substance at the 2008 games, but he was the first medalist to do so. It's been reported that in Kim's case, the International Olympic Committee believes he is guilty of "a deliberate intake" of the drug, as opposed to accidentally taking a medication containing a banned substance.

Well, hell.

USA's Matt Emmons held a commanding lead in Men's 50m 3-Position Rifle (3P), the final shooting event of the 2008 Olympic Games, just as he did in 2004 in the same event. And, just as in 2004, he blew it on his final shot.

In 2004, Matt shot the wrong target with his final shot, which cost him the Gold medal and gave it to China. In 2008, Matt accidentally fired his rifle too soon on the last shot, scoring a pathetic 4.4 points (his lowest-scoring previous shot was a 9.7) and putting him in fourth place. And guess what? That meant the Gold medal went to China. Again.

Kinda makes you wonder about this guy. Anytime he has the chance to hand a medal over to the Chinese, he does it. Hmmm. At any rate, he was calm and collected after the flub, consoled by his wife Katerina and announcing his belief that something good will come of this mistake yet.

Gold went to China's Qiu Jian, Silver to Yuriy Sukhorukov of Ukraine, and Slovakian Rajmond Debevec took Bronze.

I made a mistake in yesterday's blog post... Apparently Mike Anti, though he won Men's 3P Silver in 2004, didn't shoot in this event this year. No, the only other American competing along with Emmons was Jason Parker, who placed 22nd. Jason placed 23rd in his other 2008 event, Men's 10m Air Rifle.

So much for tying or exceeding the number of shooting medals won by the Chinese this year. China ended up with eight of the 45 Olympic medals awarded for shooting at the 2008 games. The USA followed with six. Tied behind the USA for third place are the Russian Federation and Germany, both with four Olympic Shooting medals apiece.

Yeeee-haw! Vincent Hancock pulled through in Men's Skeet, winning a Gold medal for the USA at the age of 19. This is a very good thing, for several reasons... the most important of which is, I was rooting for him! Also, it helps bring the USA closer to the top spot in shooting medals. Vince won medal number six for the USA Shooting team, but China still looms above, with a total of seven.

Here's hoping that the USA comes through tomorrow, with their last chance at a medal in Olympic Shooting. The final event will be Men's 50m Rifle 3-Positions, and we have a couple American riflemen, namely Mike Anti and Matt Emmons, that have a pretty good shot at winning.

But back to Vince Hancock - he led the way into the final with a one-point lead (121 vs. a 3-way tie for second at 120). In the final, the only shooter of the six to shoot better than 24 was Tore Brovold of Norway, who shot 25, tying Vince's total of 145.

During a shoot-off for Gold, Vince busted four targets and Brovold broke three, leaving Vince standing proud and tall at the top of the heap. Bronze went to France's Anthony Terras, who was tied with Antonis Nikolaidis of Cyprus at 144 after the finals. Terras won that shoot-off 3-2.

The only other American shooter in Men's Skeet was Randal McLelland, who placed 11th.

In Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, American soldier Keith Sanderson, who made history by winning the USA's first chance to compete in this event since 1996, led the pack after qualifying but then failed to keep his momentum, ending up in fifth place. Not bad, but it sure would have made a better story if he had won the Gold!

Gold went to Oleksandr Petriv of the Ukraine. It's no surprise that German shooters won the other two medals, with Ralf Schumann winning Silver and the much younger Christian Reitz winning Bronze.

Matthew Emmons of the USA won the Silver medal in Men's 50m Rifle Prone during the wee hours of my morning here in Florida. This is the third Olympic medal of 2008 for the Emmons couple (his wife Katerina already has a Gold and a Silver) and Matt will be looking for another one, come Sunday, when the Men's 3-Position Rifle event comes up.

Artur Ayvazian of the Ukraine won Gold, Emmons took Silver, and Australia's Warren Potent glommed the Bronze.

Emmons shot a better final round than the winner (104.7 vs. 103.7), but Ayvazian's 599 qualifying points to Emmons' 597 kept him on top. The Australian Potent did even better than Emmons in the final (105.5), but was just a tad weaker in his qualification scores.

American shooter Mike Anti placed 9th, with 594 out of a possible 600 in his qualifying round. His 594 total actually tied with five other shooters. Mike won Silver in Men's 3-Position Rifle in 2004, and will be looking to win another medal when it comes up on Sunday.

Shotgunner Vincent Hancock, who was 2005 World Champion in men's skeet at the tender age of 16, was at the top of the heap after the first day of Men's Skeet qualifications with a score of 73. His competition is really nipping at his heels, though... there's a four-way tie for both second and third places!

I don't know who the "talking heads" are expecting to win, but my money's on Hancock. I've been looking forward to this guy's Olympic performance for weeks. I only wish I could find some TV coverage so I could watch the action from home!