SYDNEY, 15 June 2004 — As a double Olympic trap shooting champion, Australian Michael Diamond has long had Athens in his sights but controversy over his selection has only sharpened his aim.
He almost missed his chance to try to become the first shooter to win gold medals at three Olympics after a drawn-out battle that ended up in the Australian law courts.
The drama began almost a year ago when Diamond, champion in the trap — or clay pigeon — event in Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000, was charged with assaulting his girlfriend and failing to safely store his firearms.
His shooting license was revoked and his guns confiscated, preventing him from competing at the first leg of the Australian Olympic trials for the Aug. 13-29 Games.
Police returned his license earlier this year when Diamond was found not guilty of the charges but his absence from the first round of trials meant he had missed selection for Athens.
The Australian Olympic Committee, concerned that the 32-year-old Diamond had not been given a fair chance to qualify, recommended he be given a second opportunity and the Australian Shooting Association (ASA) agreed.
A shoot-off, staged over three legs in Sydney, Cairo and Athens, was arranged between Diamond and Nathan Cassells, a meat worker and former junior world champion who had finished second in the trials.
Diamond won but Cassells lodged an appeal, saying the ASA had bent its own selection rules by ordering the shoot-off.
Cassells threatened to take further legal action when the appeal was dismissed but later changed his mind, finally clearing the way for Diamond to defend his title in Athens.
“It’s obviously been a big, long, hard road,” Diamond said.
“The last 12 months of my life are probably something I’d really like to erase completely and pretend was never, ever there.”
Shooting rarely makes headlines in Australia but the saga over Diamond’s bid for a place in Olympic history thrust the sport into the public eye.
A rift developed in the Australian squad when Diamond suggested that Adam Vella, who won the initial trial, also be made to enter the shoot-off while the ASA was criticized for its actions.
In Sydney, Diamond dedicated his gold medal to his father Con, who had taught him to shoot as a child and who died four months before the Games.
In Athens, the stakes will be high for Diamond but he says the pressures of the past year will ultimately serve him well. If he is on target he could join swimmer Dawn Fraser, hockey player Rechelle Hawkes and equestrian Andrew Hoy as the only Australians to win gold medals at three Olympics.
Hoy’s golds came in the three-day team event in 1992, 1996 and 2000. No Australian man has achieved the feat in an individual sport.
“The only man in Australia in the position to win three (individual) Olympic gold medals in a row — that to me goes down in the record books and it’s very humbling to know I’ve got that opportunity,” Diamond said.
