Beijing - Chinese shooter Du Li staged a comeback after a failure on Saturday to smash the Olympic record in the women's 50-meter rifle three positions at the Beijing Shooting Range on Thursday.

Her total score, 690.3 points or 1.9 points higher than the previous one held by Russian shooter Lioubov Galkina, ensured her a hard-won Olympic gold medal in her own country.

Du Li of China waves to the audience after winning the gold in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions at the Beijing Olympics, August 14, 2008. [Sohu.com]

Katerina Emmons from the Czech Republic nailed down the silver with 687.7 points after a hot pursuit. Cuban shooter Eglis Yaima Cruz won the bronze with a slim disadvantage of 0.1 point.

Du, 26 years' old from the eastern Shandong province, advanced to the final with an Olympic record-equaling 589 points, one point higher than Cruz, while Emmons was ranked sixth with 586 points.

Competition in the final was so fierce that each shot changed positions of the shooters.

In the first shot, the Chinese who made a late firing scored only 8.7 points, losing the starting advantage and slipped to the third. The leading position was taken by her 28-year-old Cuban rival who collected a 10.3.

In the second shot, Du seemed to regain her sharpness a bit amid cries of "Du, come on" from spectators, and climbed to the second with a 10.3.

The third shot saw her further mustering up her strength to make a 10.4. She then shared the No. 1 position with surging Olga Dovgun from Kazakhstan.

Cruz plunged to the third with a 9.3, 0.7 point behind the leading pair.

Olympic 10-meter air rifle champion Emmons, with the staggering 10.7, 10.1 and 10.7, mounted to the fourth, 0.2 points behind Cruz and 0.9 behind Du.

However, Du didn't seem to hold her nerves in the following two shots, collecting a 9.8 and a 9.9. With the scores she dropped to the second and was 0.1 point behind Cruz, but 0.3 points before the fourth-placer Emmons who made a 9.7 in her fifth shot.

Burying her head in the right arm for quite a while after each shot, Du managed to delight spectators with a 10.8 point in the six shot, and hence pulled away to secure her leading position in the following shots.

After the final, Du forced a smile to spectators, before sobbing in joy.

"My tears today are definitely not shed for the same reason as on Saturday," she said. With lots of international title, Du was crowned on the same day, August 14, in 2004 in women's 10-meter air rifle at Athens Olympics. But she lost her nerves out of jitters in the same event five days ago and finished only as fifth.

"The five days seemed to me longer than four years. But many people offered me their support and encouragement, some volunteers sent me cards, which made me realize that I couldn't give up, and I have no reason to give up," added the girl.

She admitted being nervous in the first shot.

"But after that, I kept telling myself that I can't make the same mistake twice. I must carry on."

The slender girl with shining hair-pin expressed her gratitude to Emmons.

"After my failure on Saturday, she gave me a hug. I was really touched at that moment."

Emmons, who rose to the second after the sixth shot, also kept her sharpness to the end, while Cruz was out of gear in the last shot, a 9.5, finishing her performance as the third.

"I can't speak anything now," said the excited 25-year-old Czech blonde, "I was...a surprise."

"This isn't my best event, so I was happy to just make it to the final. I thought I was going to finish around fourth," she beamed, noting that with a gold already in pocket, she wasn't nervous this time at all.

But her husband, American shooter Matthew Emmons who had been watching her performance at behind, was not that calm.

"The competition is so breath-taking. I've got to retire from the sport," he joked.

Cruz was dissatisfied with her final performance.

"My qualification round was good, but the final wasn't," she said, "I could have been better to win silver."

"This medal is for all of Cuba," she said. Her medal is the second bronze for the country at the Beijing Olympics, Cuba also won two silver medals here.

Dovgun, who was seventh in the event at the Sydney Olympic and fourth in Athens, swooped to the sixth this time with 686.3 points.

Galkina was ranked eighth in the qualification with 585 points but ascended to the fourth with 687.4 points at last.

The 35-year-old defending champion who just clinched a silver in 10-meter air rifle in Beijing, said she had tried her best.

Talking about her qualification round which comprises prone, kneeling and standing parts, she said, "I could have done better in he kneeling series. I've just given birth so I am not in very good shape." The markswoman withdrew from all competitions in 2007 and gave birth to a boy last November.

Another Chinese shooter, 24-year-old Olympic debutant Wu Liuxi chalked up 685.9 points to finish the eighth.