Tiny San Marino — Population 34,000 — Just Won Its First Ever Olympic Medal

By Joe Hernandez

Published July 29, 2021 at 10:49 AM EDT

San Marino's Alessandra Perilli competes in the women's trap qualification during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Asaka Shooting Range in the Nerima district of Tokyo on July 29, 2021.

For a microstate, it was no small feat.

San Marino, a landlocked country entirely hemmed in by Italy, just became the least populous nation ever to nab a medal at the Olympics, according to the organizing committee for the Tokyo games.

On Thursday Alessandra Perilli won the bronze medal in the women's trap shooting final, a first for the country of roughly 34,000 residents.

Perilli previously finished fourth in women's trap shooting during the 2012 Olympics in London, which was at the time the best Olympic finish ever by a competitor from San Marino.

Slovakia's Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova took gold in the women's trap shooting final while Kayle Browning, of the United States, won silver.

Trap shooting is a kind of clay pigeon shooting where athletes use a shotgun to fire at targets launched from a single location.

San Marino, also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino, is the third-smallest independent state in Europe after Vatican City and Monaco, according to Reuters.

One of the world's oldest republics, San Marino is located near Italy's eastern coastline about 150 miles from Florence.