China’s Guo retains Olympic 10m air pistol title

China’s Guo Wenjun reacts during qualifiers for the women’s 10-meter air pistol event at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday in London. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

LONDON  — Guo Wenjun successfully defended her Olympic 10-meter air pistol title by producing a stunning near-perfect last shot in the final on Sunday.

It’s the second shooting gold in two days for China, a day after Yi Siling won the opening 10-meter air rifle at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Celine Goberville of France, who blew the gold with an 8.8 on her last shot, won a one-shot shootoff against Olena Kostevych of Ukraine to win the silver medal. Kostevych, the 2004 Olympic champion, settled for bronze.

Guo scored 10.8 out of 10.9 with her 10th and last shot to rise from second, causing the Chinese team to cheer her surprisi

ng victory. Despite being ranked second in the world, she hadn’t reached a final, let alone won anything, in two years.

But she topped qualifying by one point from gold-medal favorite Kostevych and Goberville, and the trio shot well enough to stay in the medal positions ahead of the other five finalists in a dramatic final.