Matthew Emmons

Matthew Emmons

Personal information
Nationality	United States
Born	(1981-04-05) April 5, 1981 Mount Holly Township, New Jersey, United States
Medal record Men's shooting Representing the  United States Summer Olympics 2004 Athens 50 m rifle prone 2008 Beijing 50 m rifle prone 2012 London 50 m rifle three positions

Matthew D. Emmons (born April 5, 1981 in Mount Holly Township, New Jersey) is an American sport shooter.

Career

Emmons started out as a successful junior and has been a holder of the junior world record in 50 metre rifle three positions. He won both the 2002 ISSF World Cup Final and the 2004 ISSF World Cup Final in this event.

At the great championships however, his successes have come in another event: that of the prone position. He won both the 2002 ISSF World Shooting Championships and the 2004 Summer Olympics in this event. In Athens, he was very close to winning a historic double, but in the three positions competition, he accidentally cross-fired his last shot and finished eighth.

Emmons's gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the prone position came while using a borrowed rifle. In April 2004, just prior to the Olympic Team Trials, Emmons discovered his rifle had been severely sabotaged in the supposedly secure locker room at the United States Olympic Training Center.^[1] The precisely tuned barrel and action were heavily damaged by what appeared to be a screwdriver.^[1] "I unpacked my gun and I noticed that something wasn't right," Emmons said. "Sure enough, somebody had done something to it. I shot it and I couldn't get the shell out. I said, 'Something's wrong here'."^[1] Emmons said it could not have been an accident: "Oh no, no," Emmons said. "Somebody took a screwdriver and went in." ^[1] Emmons went on to the 2004 Summer Olympics, and his gold medal in the prone position event, using his former University of Alaska Fairbanks teammate, Amber Darland's, .22 rifle. He never found out who the saboteur was, but said "I'd like to know so I could shake their hand and say thanks."^[1]

In the 2008 Summer Olympics, Emmons won the silver medal in the prone competition. In his second event, men's 50 metre rifle three positions, Emmons finished the qualification round in second place, 1 point behind the leader. In the ten shot final, Emmons overtook the leader after just the first shot. Over the next eight shots, Emmons extended his lead to 3.3 points. Then, in a shocking turn of events, his 3.3 point lead vanished when he posted a 4.4 on his final shot. He finished off the podium in 4th place. Emmons called the last shot a "freak of nature." ^[2] "The way I come into a target is I start above the target and come down from 12 o'clock and get into the bullseye," he told reporters. "And as I get down into the bullseye is when I start to get on the trigger (with my finger) and as I was starting to get on the trigger, the gun just went off. I guess I just set it off. I got on the trigger a little too hard. I didn't feel my trigger finger shaking but I guess it was. It just hit the trigger, the gun went off and I was like 'uh, that's not going to be good - I hope it hit the black'. It hit the black, but a little high," he said.^[3]

"It's just not meant to be," said Kateřina Emmons, laughing. "He's definitely the best standing shooter out there. If he can still end up fourth with a 4.4 on the last shot, that's a hell of a shooter." ^[4] "He smoked everybody else [until the last shot]," Kateřina Emmons said.^[4]

"Things happen for a reason," Emmons said. "I said that last time, and it's the truth. Maybe last time, the reason was Katy. This time I don't know yet, but I'm sure something good's going to come from it." ^[4]

In the 2012 Summer Olympics, Emmons won the bronze medal in the three positions.^[5][6]

Personal life

Emmons has been a resident of Mount Holly Township, New Jersey.^[7] He holds a degree in management and finance from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and is a graduate at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs.^[1]

Emmons married Czech sport shooter and Olympic champion Kateřina Kůrková.^[8] in Pilsen, Czech Republic on June 30, 2007. They met at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens when Kateřina came to console Matt after his gold medal blunder. They both live and train at the Colorado Springs, Colo. Olympic Training Center. Their daughter, Julia, was born in 2009. Matthew Emmons was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2010.^[9]

Current world records held in 50 metre rifle prone
Men	Qualification	600	Viatcheslav Botchkarev (URS)  Stevan Pletikosić (YUG)  Jean-Pierre Amat (FRA)  Christian Klees (GER)  Sergei Martynov (BLR)  Thomas Tamas (USA)  Sergei Martynov (BLR)  Sergei Martynov (BLR)  Petr Litvinchuk (BLR)  Wolfram Waibel Jr. (AUT)  Wolfram Waibel Jr. (AUT)  Christian Lusch (GER)  Eric Uptagrafft (USA)  Valérian Sauveplane (FRA)  Sergei Martynov (BLR)  Sergei Martynov (BLR)  Matthew Emmons (USA)  Guy Starik (ISR)  Sergei Martynov (BLR)	13 July 1989 29 August 1991 27 April 1994 25 July 1996 23 May 1997 28 July 1998 4 September 1998 8 June 2000 11 June 2003 18 July 2003 3 March 2004 27 October 2004 11 May 2005 11 May 2005 26 August 2005 29 March 2006 9 May 2007 18 May 2008 3 August 2012	Zagreb (YUG) Munich (GER) Havana (CUB) Atlanta (USA) Munich (GER) Barcelona (ESP) Buenos Aires (ARG) Munich (GER) Munich (GER) Plzeň (CZE) Sydney (AUS) Bangkok (THA) Fort Benning (USA) Fort Benning (USA) Munich (GER) Guangzhou (CHN) Bangkok (THA) Munich (GER) London (ENG)

References

External links

• Emmons's profile at ISSF NEWS
• Emmons's profile at USA Shooting
• Matthew Emmons at TeamUSA.org