LONDON (AP) -- South Korean marksman Jin Jong-oh survived a late surge by his closest competitors to win the 10-meter air pistol gold medal Saturday and improve on his Olympic silver from Beijing.
Jin, who took a two-point lead into the last round, appeared set to cruise to victory as he increased his lead to four halfway through the 10-shot final.
But his lead was cut to less than two before he pulled off the best score of the final, a near-perfect 10.8, to leave no doubt. He raised his arms in celebration as others were yet to finish.
"I was very nervous," Jin said. "I did my best to overcome my anxiety."
Jin totaled 688.2 for his second Olympic gold. He will defend his 50-meter title on Aug. 5 at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
Italian police officer Luca Tesconi, who has family with him but told them not to watch, rose from fifth for the silver medal in his first games.
"It's the best day of my life," he said. "I closed into a bubble of concentration and relived the experience of training at home."
In that "bubble" he didn't realize he'd finished.
"I thought I had another shot, then I looked at the screen and I saw my name, Luca Tesconi, silver."
Andrija Zlatic of Serbia won the bronze, scoring 685.2, just six-tenths of a point from matching Tesconi.
Defending champion Pang Wei of China finished fourth. Pang went into the final in second but dropped out of the medal spots.
"The Chinese guy won the gold last time. I promised myself that I would not let it happen this time," Jin said.
Oleh Omelchuk of Ukraine also fell out of the medal positions after being the only shooter to hit 10s with his first seven shots. Then he made an 8.5.
European champion Pablo Carrera of Spain was sixth.
The anticipated showdown between top-ranked Tan Zongliang of China and world champion Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan never happened. They failed to reach the final, with Tan finishing 12th and Matsuda 13th, both two points shy of the top eight. They still have medal chances in the 50.
