USA TODAY Sports 
 
 Ginny Thrasher (USA) celebrates winning the gold medal in the 10-meter air rifle competition at Olympic Shooting Centre on Aug, 6, (Photo: Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports) 
 
 RIO DE JANEIRO — American shooter Ginny Thrasher won the first gold medal of the Rio Olympics, pulling off an upset in the women's 10-meter air rifle event Saturday morning. WVU shooter and new Olympic gold medalist Ginny Thrasher's medal bonus will increase from $55K if U.S. shooting team wins more medals in Rio — Steve Berkowitz (@ByBerkowitz) August 6, 2016 
 
 Thrasher, who was on her high school rifle team, will also compete in the three-position event Aug. 11. She added top 10 finishes at World Cup shooting events in Munich and Rio as a tune up for the Olympics. I’m actually really excited after that to start my second collegiate season.” 
 
 Thrasher will shoot Saturday morning in the women’s air rifle event, the first competition of the Olympic Games. “I’ll return home and 20 hours later I’ll start my sophomore year at WVU.” 
 
 Thrasher will forgo opening ceremonies on Friday night with an early wake up call for Saturday morning’s air rifle event. "I think I knew it was realistic for me to make finals, but I was not focused on that," she said. “It’s just about being able to go there and no matter how big the competition, perform the best that I can.
– The first gold medal of the Rio Olympics went to a 19-year-old college sophomore from Virginia. Ginny Thrasher placed first in the women's 10-meter air rifle, the first event of these games, on Saturday, USA Today reports. Thrasher is competing in her first Olympics and—according to West Virginia MetroNews—only started shooting five years ago after asking her father and grandfather to take her deer hunting. To get the gold, Thrasher beat out two Chinese competitors, including defending champion Yi Siling, the BBC reports. It's the first major international win for Thrasher, who also won the NCAA title this year competing for West Virginia University. The Olympic champion will be home in less than a week to start her sophomore year of college.