Rio 2016: veteran Aussie shooter Michael Diamond making late run to appear in seventh Olympics

A CLUTCH shooting performance from dual gold medallist Michael Diamond has kept alive his hopes of a remarkable seventh Olympic Games.

Shooter Michael Diamond is attempting to make his 7th Olympics. Chasing the record set by Andrew Hoy. Pictured at a park in Surry Hills.

A CLUTCH shooting performance from dual gold medallist Michael Diamond has kept alive his hopes of a remarkable seventh Olympic Games.

The 43-year-old Sydney and Athens gold medallist won last weekend’s second Olympic qualifier in the trap event to put himself back in the frame for Rio.

Diamond had failed to finish February’s first selection event, and with a batch of young stars emerging would have put himself at serious risk with another poor meet.

But he pulled out a win over young NSW shooter Thomas Grice to thrust him name forward ahead of Friday’s official selection meeting.

Diamond fell three shots short of the 122-target total needed for automatic Olympic selection but seems set to be chosen for Rio.

That milestone would put him on par with equestrian Andrew Hoy as the only two athletes to represent Australia at seven Olympic Games.

Diamond’s stated aim is to carry the Australian flag into the Rio opening ceremony to continue his amazing Olympic career.

In Beijing in 2008 and London four years later he finished agonising short of a third Olympic medal, both times finishing fourth.

In that London meet he had posted a perfect Olympic record of 125 shots hit, but lost a bronze medal shoot-out.

Diamond won a highly-cherished Rio quota spot for Australia with his recent international results but this weekend’s qualifying performance was a huge individual step.

Shooting high performance manager Tim Mahon said all domestic and international competitions would be taken into account at selection.

“We select the team this Friday then athletes will be informed on Monday and then we go through the appeals process before the AOC (Australian Olympic Committee) unveils the team on April 8,’’ he said.

“Only two athletes are automatically qualified by winning a selection trial and achieving a benchmark score and it is up to the selectors to decide who else is best qualified.

“We will choose the best athletes irrespective of who they are. Their age doesn’t worry us, we just want to know what they are capable of.”

There are two trap spots for men, with men’s skeet shooter Paul Adams and pistol shooter Lalita Yauhleuskaya automatically qualified.

Australian sports shooting is ushering a new era with Olympic gold medallist Russell Mark retiring and his wife Lauren not having competed since the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Originally published as Rio 2016: veteran Aussie shooter Michael Diamond making late run to appear in seventh Olympics