Australian marksmen Russell Mark and Michael Diamond are looking forward to repeating the glory at the 1996 Olympic Games in Beijing, as they became roommates in the Athletes' Village again, a happy coincidence with their experience in Atlanta.
"I think that is a good thing...a lot of similarities between what's happening here this time and what happened at Atlanta and Sydney, and I'm glad to say Michael is part of it," said Russell Mark here on Tuesday, who was crowned in the men's double trap event at the 1996 Olympics where his roommate Michael Diamond also won a gold medal.
"Michael has been a great inspiration for me and if he should win a gold medal again just a couple of days before I compete, it would be a big bonus," he added.
Diamond, who won back-to-back Olympic trap titles in 1996 and 2000, is widely considered as a strong medal contender here in Beijing.
"I am feeling pretty good leading to the Olympics. I have had a good preparation," said Diamond, a double world cup winner this year.
The 36-year-old Diamond did not compete in the test event at the Olympic range of Beijing this April, first encountering a visa bungle and then failing to catch the rescheduled flight on the following day because of a major traffic delay on a major expressway.
"I just can't believe I could have such rotten luck...The whole sorry experience has doubled my determination to chase that gold medal at the Olympic Games. I'm now due for some good luck," Diamond was quoted as saying by Fox Sports in April.
The fourth-time Olympic competitor, arriving on Monday night, just five days before the start of the competition scheduled for Saturday, does not worry about competing at a totally unacquainted range at all.
"The boys told me the visibility of the target is fantastic," said Diamond. "I really cannot wait to have a shot. (Any Worry?) Not necessarily."
His fellow Mark, on the other hand, didn't expect to be able to compete at the Olympics again eight years after the Sydney Games.
"I wasn't planning on coming here the start of the year as an athlete. I was originally coming as a commentator for (the Australian television broadcaster) Channel 7."
Mark finished with a silver medal in 2000 and missed the Athens Games in 2004.
"I suppose after I left Sydney it was probably the end of the road and this is something untouched from Sydney," said the 44-year-old. "I guess something (is) not finished. I didn't really want to finish with a silver medal."
Though getting onto the Olympic bus at the last minute, Mark is quite ambitious:"I have shot some scores recently. If I can do it again here I will get a medal, maybe a gold one again."
(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2008)