Rooney, who only just secured her placed at the Games after collecting the final Oceania quota spot, was defeated by Australia's Catherine Skinner 12-11 in the gold medal match this morning.
In a tightly fought contest, Skinner missed her opening two shots of the shoot-off, giving Rooney the early advantage. But the Kiwi faltered through the middle stages, missing her sixth and seventh shots to bring it back to parity. Rooney then dropped her ninth shot to hand the Australian the lead.
From there Skinner, who Rooney beat at the Oceania Championships to qualify, held her nerve to claim the gold.
Rooney, competing in her first Olympics, showed impressive composure through the finals to secure her place in the gold medal match, guaranteeing New Zealand's first Olympic medal.
She qualified fifth for this morning's finals, but soon found herself leading the way after the top qualifiers faltered in the early rounds. After 15 shots she was tied in second place with Italian Jessica Rossi, forcing a shoot-off for a place in the gold medal match.
Rossi blinked on her opening shot, before a composed Rooney stepped up to nail the first attempt.
Rooney had few expectations heading into the event, with the competitors forced to adjust to new equipment.She told reporters on the eve of the Games the traps and targets were completely new to what they have experienced before.
"They're brand new so no one else has got them, so you can't really practice on them. As for the targets, I think after April most people complained about them, so they've been changed which will be good," she said.
"The flight of the targets is a lot different with the new traps and apparently we're using different targets for the actual competition, which I didn't know until yesterday, so just adjusting to that new flight and how the target moves."
