Diamond’s father Constantine introduced him to shooting as a six-year-old and his father attended all major championships throughout his career. He was Diamond’s coach, mentor and support person throughout his career culminating in winning the trap gold medal four years earlier at the Atlanta Olympics.

But four months prior to the Sydney Olympics while Diamond was competing overseas, Constantine passed away after a lengthy battle with poor health.

Steeled by his father’s memories and his advice ‘don’t move the gun before you see the target. When you see the target, shoot it with a controlled amount of aggression. Don’t back off. You’re in the final now, go and finish it off’, Diamond was peerless hitting all final 75 targets to claim the gold medal.

Watching in the grandstand was his mother Afrothiti and together with her gold medal winning son, there were tears of unbridled joy tinged with deep sadness that Constantine was absent. “But his spirit is here with us,” said Afrothiti.

There was further emotional celebration among the Australian shooting ranks when Annemarie Forder claimed an unexpected bronze medal in the women’s 10m Air Pistol.

Like Diamond, Forder also overcame personal heartache when her grandmother died shortly before the Games which delayed her arrival into the Athletes Village.

Forder’s build-up to the Games was also hampered when she damaged her hand in a car door six months earlier and then she was involved in a car accident three weeks prior to the Olympics. But life’s rollercoaster saw her overcome these multiple setbacks when she experienced the thrill of Olympic medal success on home soil.

Australia’s medal tally also increased further thanks to two medals at the velodrome when the Men’s Olympic Sprint team and Brad McGee both earned bronze medals.

In one of the greatest and most courageous rides of his life, McGee captured the bronze medal in the 4000m individual pursuit clocking a personal best 4min 19.250sec to finish 0.363s ahead of Great Britain’s Rob Hayles in a ride-off for the medal.

McGee, who also won bronze in the event at the Atlanta Games four years earlier, became the first rider in 28 years to win a medal in the pursuit at two Olympic Games.

McGee also had to overcome adversity to get to Sydney. His preparation was seriously interrupted when he broke his collarbone in a training crash on August 31 and he defied the pain from the injury.

The Olympic Sprint medal was a reward for years of hard work. Standing on the medal dais were Sean Eadie, Gary Neiwand and Darryn Hill, after coach Charlie Walsh made the difficult decision to omit Shane Kelly from the final team 30 minutes before the qualifying races.

The Australians dared to dream of the gold medal but were unable to overcome France and Great Britain.

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