ATHENS,AUGUST 18: As the final two birds fell victims to the shots from his rifle, Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore turned towards the stands and pumped his fist. That simple gesture of celebration meant the world for India, languishing without a medal till the fifth day of the Games of the 28th Olympiad. Not anymore, for the 34-year-old Armyman’s nerves of steel ensured that August 17, 2004, will be a day to remember for the country at the Olympic Games. On a hot and windy afternoon at the Markopoulo Shooting Range, Rathore shot down the silver medal in men’s double trap, the country’s first individual medal of that hue in Olympics history. In over a hundred years, India had only three bronze medallists in Olympics – K D Jadhav, Leander Paes and Karnam Malleswari – if one exclude the two silver medals won in 1900 by Norman Pritchard, who is not considered an Indian any longer. Rathore changed all that with a final performance that was simply magnificent. Lying in fifth position after the qualifying rounds, he inched his way up, shooting with tremendous precision and poise. With China’s Wang Zheng just a point behind, Rathore needed to shoot down the last two targets to ensure the silver, and he did just that.