Such was the emotion that poured out of 19-year-old Oh Ye Jin after she beat her Republic of Korea team-mate Kim Yeji to 10m air pistol women gold in her first Games that you began to wonder if the medal ceremony would have to be delayed.
Not only had Oh kept her nerve in a final where 22-year-old bronze medallist Manu Bhaker became the first woman to win an Olympic shooting medal for India, but she had also broken the Olympic record of 240.3 points set at the Tokyo 2020 Games by the Russian Olympic Committee athlete Vitalina Batsarashkina with a total of 243.2.
Yeji, 31, who will also contest the 25m pistol event in which she set a world record of 42 this season, led for much of the final before being overtaken by her team-mate in the fourth of the knock-out stages, also bettered the old Olympic record with a total of 241.3.
For Oh, who won gold at the Jakarta World Cup and the Asian Championships last year, this was a momentous step up to the peak of the sport. She had given notice of her potential by finishing second in the previous day’s qualification behind Hungary’s Veronika Major after both had scored 582.
As the two Republic of Korea athletes disappeared into a joyous, tearful huddle of celebration with their coaches and supporters, Oh could be seen waving the breeze towards her flushed face as the magnitude of her achievement in her first Games began to be register.
There was huge support too from Indian officials and supporters as Bhaker, who is also selected for the 25m pistol event, moved steadily closer to the two leaders in the closing stages to the point where her penultimate shot – a raucously hailed 10.1 – moved her into silver-medal position ahead of Kim, who had slipped to a 9.4.
Bhaker, who won the Youth Olympic Games in this event in 2018 and finished 12th at the Tokyo 2020 Games, did even better with her next effort as she scored 10.3.
But Kim also rallied to produce a 10.5 that saw her move just 0.1 ahead of her Indian rival, who accepted bronze with a graceful but somewhat rueful smile…
“It was my first Olympics, and I felt big pressure, but I tried to enjoy it and relax,” said Oh. “I think I did a good result, so I am very happy about it.”
Asked how she stayed calm in such a tense contest with Kim she responded: "I wasn't thinking about my teammate, I just tried to focus on myself.
“I still cannot believe I’m wearing a gold medal on my neck right now, but maybe if time goes by, I will believe I have a gold medal. This medal is very heavy, by the way!
“Because I was standing on the podium by my colleague of the same nation, I’m more happy and proud to be Korean.”
Kim commented: “I believed I could have got the gold, but I am still happy I got a silver. I didn't feel any pressure. I had a lot of fun out there.
“I was very heartfelt to hear our national anthem on the podium, and there were two flags from our country coming up side by side. It was an amazing moment for us.
“My competition is not over yet. I have one more event left, the 25m pistol, so please be aware of Kim Yeji! We’ll see what happens in the next event.”
Bhaker proudly added her name to the list of India's Olympic shooting sport medallists as she followed Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, men's double trap silver medallist at Athens 2004, Abhinav Bindra, who won India's first ever individual Olympic gold when he earned victory in the 10m air rifle men at the Beijing 2008 Games, Vijay Kumar, who won 25m rapid-fire pistol men silver at London 2012 and Gagan Harang, who won 10m air rifle men's bronze at the same Games.
She was enthused afterwards by the support she had received.
“I’m so grateful for that, especially Indians living in France coming to watch,” she said. “I’m so thankful they came to cheer for me and so thankful I could give something back to them.
“I just put all my effort into staying in the moment until the last second, just not giving up and keep trying harder and harder.
“You have to hold yourself together, because that’s what all the hard work is for. Although the competition was neck-and-neck and I lost silver by 0.1, I’m still very grateful to win bronze for my country.”
“The entire final was nerve-racking, and I knew I had to pull myself together and not do anything I normally wouldn’t do. Just go with the flow, try my best and leave everything out there.”
Bhaker had secured bronze at least by finishing comfortably clear of Vietnam’s 23-year-old Trinh Thu Vinh, for whom fourth place was an outstanding achievement given that she only took up the sport two years ago.
After earning gold in the first two finals of the Paris 2024 shooting sport programme China had a less happy experience in this final as their Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist and world champion Jiang Ranxin exited in sixth place and looked, momentarily, devastated.
Her team-mate Li Xue went out in the next round, taking fifth place despite finishing with a 10.6 and a 10.7.
Seventh place went to Turkey’s 24-year-old Sevval Tarhan, the 2018 world junior champion, while Major was the first to leave in eighth place.