he charming smile of the Chinese girl with a pony-tail and shining hairpin was unchanged Thursday from four years ago, when she posed under limelight after grabbing the first Athens Olympic gold medal in women's 10-meter air rifle.
Having raked in a pile of medals in that discipline and renewed the world record, 26-year-old Du Li expects more.
"I have never given up the small-bore rifle event. I've already got a gold medal for the air rifle, so I am more eager for one of the small bore. I want to prove that I can perform excellently in this event as well."
Normally appeared modest, Du has hope sparkling in her eyes talking about women's 50-meter rifle three position event.
Less people could still remember that Du made her name in the Busan Asian Games in 2002, when the young shooter snatched the gold in three positions.
Later, she concentrated in 10-meter air rifle and competed less in the three position events.
Among the two world cups she attended as three-position shooter, she grabbed a bronze in the South Korea stop 2005 and failed to edge into the final in the other.
"I am a little weak in this event," she admitted. "So I am not confident enough in this event as in the former one (10-meter air rifle)."
At the Asian Shooting Championships, the slender girl was closest to realizing her dream for another gold in the event.
Three points behind in the qualification round, Du pulled up her socks to catch up with the leading finalist, Uzbekstan debutant Elena Kuznetsova, and ended in a draw with the latter after the ninth shot in the ten-shot final.
Opportunity slipped away at the last moment, when the Uzbek scored a 10.1 and Du, who seemed to be out of gear, collected only 9.4.
"I spent too much time on the prone and standing parts, leaving no time for the kneeling, which I am in fact good at," she frowned after that competition.
This time the ambitious girl seemed determined to make a breakthrough. She put on her earplugs, which she deliberately took off in the 10-meter air rifle event on Saturday to "adapt to the surroundings".
Ranked as the second among all eight finalists with 590 points, one point less than German shooter, world record holder Sonja Pfeilschifter, Du mustered up her strength to achieve a 10.4, surpassing her 37-year-old German rival, who collected a 9.1, with a narrow advantage.
The following three shots saw Pfeilschifter regaining her sharpness, especially after the fourth shot. The Chinese girl was lagged behind.
However, Du managed to hold her nerves and fired a 10.3 point in the fifth shot, one point higher than the German.
She further pulled away in the following shots to expand her advantage, and finally won with a 1.9-point margin.
"She shot her best level and it is beyond our expectation," said Wang Yifu, head coach of the Chinese national shooting squad, who was delighted at Du's performance. "she performed a world-class shot."
But the shooter from eastern China's Shandong Province remained cool-headed. "I was so lucky," she said, noting that her main rivals, Pfeilschifter and famous Russian sharpshooter Lioubov Galkina, didn't do well in their final and qualification rounds.
Talking about the Olympic Games that is to be held on her own soil, Du was frank, "Maybe this will be the only chance for me to compete in the Olympic Games hosted by my own country, and I enjoy pressure."
Du Li's boyfriend Zhang Fu was a shooter in the Chinese national shooting squad as well, who snatched the gold in the men's 50-meter rifle three positions at the Doha Asian Games.
In fact, many famous shooters are known as couples, like American Olympic champion Matthew Emmons and Czech Katerina Emmons, and Russian Yuliya Alipava and Alexey Alipov.
When asked if they would also make a famous pair like their foreign counterparts, the girl made a face. "We will do as you wish," she beamed.
(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2008)