Italy took their first medal of the London Olympics on Saturday, beating the United States 219-218 in a nail-biting final.
On the final shot, Italy’s Michele Frangilli was left needing to shoot at least a nine to keep his team’s hopes of victory alive, but he sealed the gold medal with the maximum score of 10.
Italy had opened a narrow lead early on at Lord’s cricket ground and led by four points at the half-way stage, but the US cut it back to one point ahead of the final end.
The United States, chasing their first Olympic gold since the Atlanta Games in 1996, had earlier beaten favorites South Korea in the semifinals, even though the Koreans had broken the world record Friday.
South Korea claimed the bronze medal after overcoming Mexico 224-219 in a playoff.
Italy had twice been losing finalists in the men’s team competition, most recently in Beijing in 2008, but had never won the gold.
The women’s team competition is Sunday, with the women’s individual final Thursday and men’s Friday.
