Jonas Jacobsson of Sweden reacts in the men's R1-10m air rifle standing SH1 final of shooting event during Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, Sept. 8, 2008. Jonas Jacobsson won the gold with a total score of 700.5. (Xinhua/Ren Yong)
BEIJING, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Like Michael Phelps, the name Jonas Jacobsson itself means medal and record on Paralympic shooting ranges in Beijing.
Previously holding seven world records, the
43-year-old left-handed riflist just expanded his extraordinary Paralympic gold
collection on Monday to 14 without so much suspension, bettering one of his own
records and setting another.
Always smiling on the wheelchair, the handsome
shooter scored 100 points in three of the six qualification series in men's
10-meter air rifle standing. He finished with a new world record of 596 points,
which enabled him to top the finalists' list.
In the ten-shot final, the man, who was three shots
ahead of the second-placer, appeared cautious and always being the next-to-last
one to open fire. But his scores, all above 10 with six higher than or equalling
10.5 points, incurred cheers and thunderous applauses, especially the 10.9 in
the seventh shot.
His winning seemed to be without doubts. But
Jacobsson managed to bring an surprise to ebullient spectators by improving his
own record of the discipline by 3.2 points to a stunning 700.5.
Coincidentally, his scores in both qualification and
fianl were the same as those achieved by Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra, who won
the 10-meter air rifle gold medal at the Beijing Olympics less than a month ago
at the very same venue, the Beijing Shooting Range Hall.
After the competition, however, the champion appeared
calm and cool-headed.
"The main thing was to continue the streak. I've now won eight Paralympics in a row. That was the main goal, and hopefully I can get another good result here," he said.