U.S. wins first gold of the Rio Olympics in an event that stokes Twitter snark
The United States just won the first gold medal of the Rio Olympic games.
Unfortunately, as fate would have it, one of the most high-profile wins of the games indirectly relates to one of the controversial parts of American life in recent months and years: guns.
Awarded to 19-year-old U.S. shooter Ginny (Virginia) Thrasher, the gold win came after the U.S. shooter beat out Chinese competitors Yi Siling and Du Li (who took the silver and bronze) in the Women’s 10-meter air rifle competition.
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And while kicking off the games with gold is a great start for the US, a number of fans on social media couldn't help but point out the grim irony given the country's international reputation when it comes to gun ownership.
It probably doesn't help that the recent spate of gun violence in the country has pushed the controversial issue of gun ownership even further into the spotlight.
However, there were just as many Olympics fans using the gold win as a way to, apparently, cheer, with no less irony, for U.S. gun rights.
But social media snark aside, let's not take anything away from this first gold of the games by a sharpshooting master with perhaps the coolest name of all Olympics athletes.
No matter what you think about the issue in terms of American laws, it's an incredibly difficult skill to master, and Thrasher just did her country proud.
