China Wins its First Olympic Gold Medal in Paris

China became the first country to top the Olympic podium in history when Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao’s 10m air rifle team won the first gold medal of the Paris Games. The gold medal match was won by Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao over Republic of Korea’s Keum Jihyeon and Park Jahun, 16–12.

Kazakhstan, meanwhile, won the first medal at Paris 2024. With this victory, Kazakhstan won its first shooting medal at the Olympics since 1996! The first medals of Paris 2024 were won by Islam Satpayev and Alexandre Le in the mixed 10m rifle division!

At the Chateauroux shooting range on Saturday, the mixed team of Ramita Jindal and Arjun Babuta from India and Sandeep Singh and Elavenil Valarivan from the same country were unable to advance to the medal rounds of their respective events. Sandeep Singh and Elavenil Valarivan finished in 12th place, while Ramita and Arjun finished in sixth place.

The defending world champions, Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao of People’s Republic of China team 1, advanced to the 10m air rifle mixed team qualification final. The South Korean duo of Keum Jihyeon and Park Jahun finished second in qualifying with a score of 631.4, while the Chinese pair advanced to the gold medal match with a top score of 632.2.

Maximilian Ulbrich and Anna Janssen of Germany were defeated 17–5 by Le and Satpayev of Kazakhstan.

Following a glamorous but rain-soaked Opening Ceremony on Saturday, the medal events marked the start of the Paris Olympics in earnest on Saturday.