Matthew K. Emmons, an American sport shooter, was born on 15 April, 1981 in Mount Holly located in New Jersey, the United States of America. Known as “Matt” in the sporting world, Matt Emmons married Czech sport shooter and Olympic champion Katerina Kurkova in Pilsen, Czech Republic on June 30, 2007. They live in Colorado Springs and are a part of the Colorado Olympic Training Center.
Matt Emmons went to the University of Alaska, in Fairbanks and graduated with a degree in management and finance. He is also a graduate from the University of Colorado located in Colorado Springs.
When Matt Emmons was in high school, the Federal Bureau of Investigations firearms instructor Paul Adamowski invited him to try shooting, after which he started to shoot competitively. He was successful at the junior level and holds the Junior World Record in 50 metre rifle three positions. Among all three Olympic disciplines in shooting, Matt Emmons was interested in the rifle event.
He had caught the attention of the U.S.A Shooting team when he won both the prone and 3 x 40 events in a 1997 international match. After a year, Matt Emmons went on to win the prone competition at the National Championships and was included in the National Rifle team, when he was seventeen.
He was a four-time NCAA Rifle Championship National Champion with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks from 2000 to 2004. His successes at the championships have come in the prone event. Matt Emmons won both the 2002 ISSF World Shooting Championships and the 2004 Summer Olympics in this event. He has also won both the 2002 ISSF World Cup Final and the 2004 ISSF World Cup Final in 50 m rifle three positions. Matt Emmons also won a bronze medal in the air event at the 2004 World Cup Final.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Matt Emmons won the gold medal by playing with a borrowed rifle, because his rifle was severely sabotaged in the secure locker. He ended up borrowing a .22 rifle from his former University of Alaska Fairbanks teammate, Amber Darland.
He won the gold medal in the prone event at the World Cup USA 2007. Following this, he also performed well in the three position event at the 2007 World Cup Final and became the gold medalist. The latest addition to his medals tally was at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where Matt Emmons won the silver medal in the final of the Men's 50m Rifle Prone event. Following this, he finished fourth in the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Final event.
When he is not busy sport-shooting, he has been known to go cross-country skiing, camping, hiking, and fishing. He is also trying his hand at the biathlon, because that would combine his passion for skiing and shooting. Matt Emmons had once pitched a perfect game in baseball while playing in high school. He enjoys baseball and claims that shooting had taught him lessons which had helped him in pitching well. Matt Emmons owns an electric guitar and plays it very often. He had purchased a book and taught himself to play the guitar, which he did at the athletic dorms
