3 minute read
Russell Mark and Michael Diamond are part of Australia's shooting team for London 2012, the Australian Olympic Committee said on Thursday.
Veteran shooters Russell Mark and Michael Diamond have joined a select club after winning selection for their sixth Olympics.
The pair was part of a 17-strong shooting squad named on Thursday that featured three Olympic gold medallists, an 18-year-old and the first father-daughter combination to compete for Australia at an Olympics in any sport.
Diamond, a two-time Olympic gold medallist, and Mark, who won gold at Atlanta 1996, will equal the achievements of equestrian rider Andrew Hoy, sailor Colin Beashel and rower James Tomkins as Australians who have competed at six summer Games.
Those three men each had the honour of carrying the Australian flag at an opening ceremony.
Diamond will compete in the men's trap alongside compatriot Adam Vella and says the team being taken to London was "as strong as any other around the world".
"If we are in the right frame of mind we can move mountains," Diamond said in a statement on Thursday.
"Personally I have started ramping up my preparation and will be ready to peak in two months time when I need to be at my best. I am quietly confident in myself."
Vella's selection will go some way to erase the disappointment from missing out on Beijing four years ago.
Mark, who competes in the double trap, is armed with a new shotgun that he helped design and used to set a new Australian record in March. His wife Lauryn Mark was selected in the skeet event.
Elsewhere, Athens gold medallist Suzy Balogh has bounced back after missing selection for the Beijing Games and will line up in the women's trap.
South Australian Hayley Chapman said it was a dream come true to be heading to London with her father and fellow pistol shooter David Chapman.
"There's no better picture in my mind then representing Australia alongside the man I look up to most, I cannot describe in words the amount of excitement," Hayley said.
Australia's only medallist from Beijing, Warren Potent, gets the opportunity to improve on his bronze in the men's 50m rifle prone four years ago.
And teenager Alethea Sedgman, who won gold at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games, will make her Olympic debut in the 10m air rifle and 50m three position rifle events.