By Paul Daugherty
Enquirer staff writer

Jason Parker's trigger broke Monday. His heart wasn't far behind.

The Xavier graduate finished eighth in the Olympic 10-meter air rifle competition, after his rifle's trigger malfunctioned early in the qualifying round.

Parker's total of 694.5 points left him 2.9 points short of a bronze medal and 8.2 points from the gold. He had finished fifth in the same event in the 2000 Olympics.

Sometime during Parker's second set of 20 shots - the qualifying round is 60 shots - Parker felt the trigger malfunction. He squeezed off two rounds with the bad trigger, scoring 9s on each shot. A 9 is considered a low score at this level of competition.

Parker paused, had the trigger replaced, calmed himself and resumed shooting. He finished the qualifying round in seventh place, thanks to bull's-eyes on each of his last 10 shots of the round.

"Seventh was a pretty good position for me at that point," Parker said. "Being 1, 2 or 3 (heading into the finals) is usually pretty stressful."

Parker's first three shots of the 10-shot final all were bull's-eyes. But he faded after that.

"I wish I had four shots back (in the qualifying round)," he said.

Still, he wasn't making excuses.

"I got it fixed," Parker said of the rifle. "No excuses . . . It takes just the right person, the right day. I just didn't do it."

What Parker wouldn't say, teammate Matt Emmons would.

"He had trigger problems," said Emmons, who finished ninth. "To still hang in there and make the finals is tough."

Parker, 30, also lost his world record. Gold medalist Qinan Zhu of China scored 702.7 points; Parker's world record had been 702.5.

"It just comes down to a mental game, really," said Parker, who was a psychology student at Xavier. "I had big expectations for myself. I really wanted to come back from here with a medal and this is a big disappointment right now."

Knight Ridder News Service and Gannett News Service contributed to this report.