Thurgau woman scores Switzerland’s first Olympic medal in Rio

It is a sweet victory for Gerber, who has only been competing at the national level for eight years. Keystone

Heidi Diethelm Gerber, a 47-year-old native of Thurgau, is the first athlete to win a medal – a bronze – for Switzerland this summer in Rio.

Gerber will take home the bronze medal in the 25 metre pistol shooting event, having beaten out Chinese competitor Zhang Jianjian 8-4 for the third place honour on Tuesday.

She just made it to the finals, slipping into the seventh spot of the top eight in the qualifying round. She went on to place fourth out of the eight finalists to secure her spot in the semi-final round.

The medal is the first won by a Swiss woman in Olympic shooting. Twenty medals in the event have been obtained by male competitors in the past, with the most recent having been won in Sydney in 2000 by Michel Ansermet of Obwalden.

For the summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Switzerland has sent a delegation of 105 athletes, and the national committee Swiss Olympic has said it hopes to secure at least five medals overall.