Chen ying wins the gold. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(BEIJING, August 13) -- Despite being five points behind Mongolia's Gundegmaa Otryad after qualification, China's Chen Ying today won the gold medal in the Women's 25m Pistol, with her final score of 590 points equaling the Olympic record.

Chen's first round of five rapid shots in the final scored 52.5 points, which cut the deficit down to 3.6 after Otryad shot 51.1. Otryad's lead was further decreased to 1.6 after the second round of five shots when Chen scored 53.1 and Otryad scored two full points less.

Drama ensued when Otryad's pistol locked up after she scored a disappointing 9.0 on the 11th shot. Oblivious to Otryad's problems, Chen marched past the Mongolian shooter on the leader board with 52.5 points from the third round of five shots (including 10.8 and 10.7 on the last two shots), and never looked back. After fixing her pistol, Otryad scored only 49 in the third round of five shots, trailing behind Chen by 1.9 points.

Chen scored 50.3 on her last five shots, with her final score of 793.4 breaking the Olympic record. Otryad scored 51.0 and held onto second place with 792.2. Dorjsuren Munkhbayar of Germany, who won a bronze medal in the same event shooting for Mongolia at Barcelona 1992, finished third with 789.2.

Bulgarian Maria Grozdeva, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the event at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, came fifth with 786.6 following China's Fei Fengji who finished fourth with 787.9.