Olympic gold for Wilson

Olympic shooting sensation Peter Wilson believes his magnificent Double Trap victory last week at London 2012 will inspire a new generation to take up the sport.

For half an hour last Thursday, the country was captivated as the 25-year-old 6ft 6in farmer?s son from Dorset took gold by two shots from Sweden?s Hakan Dahlby in a nail-biting final.

He said: ?The most important thing I have done by winning is to bring more attention to shooting. It?s a wonderful sport, and I would urge anyone at any age, to take it up.?

Wilson?s path to gold medal glory was not simple ? he was without UK Sport funding for two years following Team GB?s dismal showing at the 2008 Games, and kept going only after the intervention of Sheikh Ahmed Al-Maktoum, Double Trap gold medallist at Athens in 2004.

Speaking after his victory, Wilson said: ?It?s tough to be an athlete with no funding. I was hugely fortunate that Ahmed stepped in after the Beijing Games and agreed to coach me for free. My journey to this point has been a very lucky one.? The Sheikh said he was delighted after watching Peter?s triumph from the stands.

?I looked at him and thought he had something,? the Sheikh said about his first meeting with Wilson. ?And what he had is the most important quality of all ? the desire to get to the top.?

The rest of this article appears in the 8th August issue of Shooting Times.

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The rest of this article appears in the 4th July issue of Shooting Times.

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