BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : DAILY REPORT : SHOOTING : Yeo Proves Quick Study in Air Rifle Competition

Yeo Kab Soon, an 18-year-old South Korean, won the first gold medal of the Games, and Yugoslavia’s Aranka Binder won the bronze at the air rifle competition in Mollet Del Valles.

Yeo, who took up Olympic-style shooting three years ago, said she hoped simply for a top-eight finish to reach the final.

“I thought I’d need more international experience to get so far,” she said. “I had no feeling of anything when I won. I was so overcome with joy.”

Bulgaria’s Vesela Letcheva, who was 17th in the event at the 1988 Olympics, finished in second place. Two Americans, Launi Meili, 29, of Cheney, Wash., and Debbie Sinclair, 23, of Tigard, Ore., tied for 11th.

Konstantine Loukachik, 16, of the Unified Team won the men’s free pistol competition. Finishing second was Wang Yifu of China, and Sweden’s Ragnar Skanaker took third. American Darius (Doc) Young, a teacher at the University of Alberta, finished fourth.