Italy Wins Olympic Men's Team Archery with a Perfect Ten

| Mon, 07/30/2012 - 04:28
Italy Wins Olympic Men's Team Archery with a Perfect Ten

In the last few seconds of the Olympic men's archery finals on Saturday the 28th of July at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London, the Italian teams' final shot clinched their 219-218 victory over the Americans.

After the U.S. knocked out the South Korean team, which had set two world records during Friday's ranking round, they seemed to have a clear path to victory, but in the end, they only earned the silver—the first medal for the U.S. in this year's games.

Michele Frangilli, Marco Galiazzo and Mauro Nespoli of the Italian team kept the score close throughout the competition, but Galiazzo's final 8-point shot left the team in need of a perfect 10.

With just a few seconds remaining on the clock, Michele Frangilli hit the bulls eye dead on, securing Italy's first ever gold medal in the event.

Frangilli has previously taken the bronze in Atlanta in 1996 and the silver in Sydney in 2000 in team archery and said after his win that he "has been chasing this medal for 16 years".