Tokyo Olympics: China’s Qian Yang claims first gold medal

China’s Qian Yang claimed gold in the women’s 10-meter air rifle to take home the long-awaited first medal on Saturday morning.

Yang narrowly beat out Russia’s Anastasiia Galashina and set an Olympic record. The bronze medal went to Swiss shooter Nina Christen.

Yang jubilantly held up her medal during the ceremony, along with a small bouquet.

The Tokyo Olympics, delayed for a year due to the Covid restriction, will run until Sunday, August 8. A record of 339 medals is expected to be awarded in 33 different sports.

The highest number of gold medals won by a single nation at the Olympics was 83 by the United States at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games, which were boycotted by 14 Eastern Bloc countries ruled by the Soviet Union.