To the Chinese shooter, this medal seemed too late.

Tan Zongliang has been shooting for over two decades and competed in four Olympic Games.

But for the first time, the 37-year-old veteran saw the national flag hoisted on the Olympic arena for him.

"I have trained for 23 years, 16 of which I spent on the national team. I devoted all my best years to the sport. This time, I felt myself closest to the gold," said the man from east China's Shandong Province who seized a bronze medal in men's 50-meter pistol.

"It is a little embarrassing and cruel that I only got a bronze. But if this Olympics is my last...I have no regret," said the normally jocose man who suddenly became emotional.

Tan Zongliang waves to the audience after winning a bronze medal in men's 50m pistol of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games shooting event in Beijing, August 12, 2008. [Li Ga/Xinhua]

Four-time Olympian

Coming from the kite-making city of Weifang, Tan started practicing shooting when he was in middle school and entered the Shandong provincial team two years later.

In 1993, he was selected into the national shooting squad and snatched the gold medal in the 50-meter pistol and silver of the air pistol at the National Games in the same year.

Recognized as one of China's ace shooters, he had won numerous gold medals. Even in the 2002 World Cup Final when he had a fever at 39.5 degrees Centigrade, the marksman still was crowned in the 50-meter pistol.

But he could never break the spell casted on his Olympic dream.

In 1996, the then 25-year-old Tan competed in the 10-meter air pistol at Atlanta Olympics, but just ended up sixth.

Four years later, he rallied to Sydney, finishing 11th in the qualification round of air pistol event and was shut out of the final.

In Athens, the scholarly man with glasses vied in both air pistol and 50-meter pistol events. His places were ninth and tenth.

"I was the Monkey King," he smiled bitterly.

In the classic Chinese fiction, the omnipotent Monkey King could never broke a spell that made his head ache from time to time.

Indeed. In the competition of men's 10-meter air pistol on Saturday, when the 22-year-old fledging shooter Pang Wei surprised the field by winning the gold, nobody noticed the disappointment written on the face of this heartbroken shooter, who once again stopped in the qualification round.

"It was the heaviest blow to me. I asked myself, 'why are you always letting everybody down'?"