British Shooters at the Olympic Games (Part 4)

Part 4 of our history of British clay target shooters at the Olympics focuses on the years 1984 - 1996.

1984

Peter Boden reappears after a lack of placing in the 1980 Olympics, achieving 14th equal, and Peter Croft 17th equal in the Mixed Trap. The highest British performer was Wallace Sykes, who came in 11th equal in the Mixed Skeet event. Paul Bentley finished at 24th equal in the same event.

1988 

South Korea hosted the 1988 games in which a young Ian Peel came in 25th in the Mixed Trap event.

Ken Harman wasn’t far behind Ian as he ranked equal 27th in the Skeet event.

As one of GB’s most successful Trap shooters ever, Ian Peel needs no introduction. An Olympic medallist and a European Olympic Trap Champion, for more than 20 years he has represented his country at the highest levels of competition. Respected as a formidable competitor both in the UK and around the world, more recently he was the representative for the shotgun disciplines on the Olympic Performance Group prior to the London Games. 

1992

For the Barcelona event it was Kevin Gill’s turn to come in 25th in the Trap event. Andrew Austin achieved 23th place in the Skeet event followed by Pinky Le Grelle at 59th. 

1996

In 1996 Peter Boden was back and came in ninth equal, shooting 121 over two days in Atlanta, Georgia. Kevin Gill came in 37th. 
Double Trap had been introduced as a new discipline to the games and a young Richard Faulds was just denied the podium, coming in fifth in the Double Trap event. Kevin came in at 27th.

Surrey’s Richard Faulds competed internationally for Britain at the age of 13, and was a world junior champion when he was only 16. Three years later, he was at the Olympics. While he finished fifth in the USA he became the 1997 European champion. 

To read part 5 covering clay pigeon disciplines at the Olympics from 2000 - 2012, click here.