2012 Olympics: Weho Resident Finishes Fourth

West Hollywood resident Khatuna Lorig finished fourth in the Olympic women's archery individual competition today, losing the bronze medal match to Mariana Avitia of Mexico, 6-2, at Lord's Cricket Ground in London.

Lorig, who shot first in each set, lost the first set, 30-27, as Avitia had 10s on all three of her arrows. Avitia also had a 10 on her first arrow of the second set, which she won 24-22.

Lorig won the third set, 25-24, with a nine and a 10 on her final two arrows. She had a six on her final shot and Avitia a nine to clinch the match.

"I had to fight with the wind over there and unfortunately, it didn't go as I expected," Lorig said with tears in her eyes. "You cannot read the wind and that's not helping. You're blocked... and you can't tell which way the wind is going. The wind was shifting left and right at my time."

The 38-year-old Lorig was trying to give the United States its first medal in women's archery since 1988 and first in individual competition since 1976.

This is the second consecutive Olympics where Lorig has been the top U.S. finisher, male or female. She was fifth in the individual event in the 2008 Olympics.

Lorig said she will continue to train, hoping to qualify for the Olympics in 2016.

Lorig was relegated to the bronze medal match because of a 6-2 semifinal loss to Bo Bae Ki of South Korea, the eventual gold medalist.

Lorig had 10s on each of her first two arrows of the first set, but an eight on the third and had to settle for a 28-28 tie.

Lorig had a 10 on her first arrow of the second set, followed by two nines, but it was not enough as Ki had two 10s sandwiched around a nine for a 29-28 victory.

The third set ended in a 23-23 tie. Ki had nines on each of her arrows in the fourth set for a 27-26 victory, clinching the match.

Lorig advanced to the semifinals by defeating Berengere Schuh of France, 6-2, in a quarterfinal match. She began competition today by defeating Ming Cheng of China, 7-3, in a round of 16 match.

Each match is the best of five sets, with each set consisting of three arrows per archer. The winner of each set receives two points. If a set is tied, each archer receives one point.

This was the fifth Olympics for Lorig, who won a bronze medal in the team event in 1992, competing for the Unified Team, as the team representing 12 of the republics of the former Soviet Union was known.

Lorig competed for her native Georgia in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and became a U.S. citizen in 2007.

Lorig taught actress Jennifer Lawrence how to shoot for the film The Hunger Games.