AUBURN — Ed Stanhope of Auburn, who left a full-time job five years ago to train for the Olympics in air rifle events, got to see a friend win a gold medal Thursday, at Mollet Del Valles, Spain.

Launi Meili of Cheney, Wash., got the USA’s first Olympic gold medal in history in women’s three-position rifle and fired a near-world-record score of 684.3.

She was followed in competition by shooters from Bulgaria and Poland.

“You can say she’s a personal friend of Maine’s future Olympian,” Stanhope said. “The thing is the USA won a medal in shooting, and shooting is so under-reported.” Stanhope said that shooting sports are the third-largest events in Olympic competition, drawing the greatest number of competitors’ and nations’ participation.

Stanhope was among those shooters working toward a spot on the 1996 Olympic team in China, Calif. and he placed well in those events. Two Augusta shooters, Ken and Kevin Smith succeeded in winning berths on the senior and junior Olympic teams, respectively, in air rifle, during the same competition, Stanhope said Thursday.

The USA team press office release said that Meili had led during the competition, firing 587 of 600 points in the match, plus 97.3 in the final for an Olympic record aggregate score of 684.3. Her total score fell only 0.6 short of the world record. Bulgarian Nonka Matova took the silver medal 1.6 points behind Meili and Malgorzata Ksiazkiewicz of Poland took the bronze with 681.5 points.

Meili lost in women’s air rifle at the 1988 Olympics when she fell from first to sixth place during her final 10 shots, the USA press office reported.

The competition will continue Friday with finals in men’s three-position rifle, the first day of running target competition, and the first in trap.