First gold medalist Nancy Johnson

Nancy Jonhson, who became the first gold medalist in the 2000 Sydney Olympics by winning the women¡¯s 10m air rifle event, is a housewife with five years of career as the national player who competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

However, Johnson, 26, did not show good performances that could match with her career and no one expected she would become an Olympic gold medalist.

Her best-ever performances include the seventh place in the 1998 World Shooting Championship, second place in the 1999 Pan-Am Games and fourth place in the 2000 Milan Shooting Championship.

But Johnson stood on the summit of the world in Sydney against all odds in the event which produced "Cinderellas" such as Irina Chilrova of the Soviet Union in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Yeo Kap-Soon of Korea in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and Lenata Mauer of Poland in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics since it was adopted as an official Olympic sport in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

She is known as an all-round sportswoman enjoying running and mountain biking. She majored in horticulture at university.