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Recovering Diamond targets Olympic return

3 minute read

Two-time Olympic champion Michael Diamond, who is recovering from heart failure, says he has been sober since September and is serious about a comeback.

Two-time Olympic champion Michael Diamond hasn't given up hope of shooting at a seventh Olympics, suggesting he is "serious about coming back providing my health permits".

Diamond won gold at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, while he loomed as a potential flag bearer for Australia at the 2016 Games in Rio.

But it all went pear-shaped for the veteran; he was booted off the 2016 Olympic team and found guilty of firearms and drink-driving offences.

Diamond successfully appealed against the firearm convictions in 2017, but health issues prevented him from trying to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

The 48-year-old continues to recover from heart failure, a condition in which the heart fails to pump blood around the body efficiently, thanks to medication and is upbeat he won't need a transplant.

Diamond, who sold his two Olympic gold medals for "legal fees and living expenses", says he has been sober since September.

There is no prospect of Diamond competing in Tokyo as Australia has already named its 15-strong team for the 2021 Games, but Paris 2024 is on his radar.

"Shooting is the kind of sport where we can keep going until - I've competed against people in their 60s, if that's any kind of yardstick then there could be a possible comeback," Diamond said in a video on Shooting Australia's website.

"I know what it takes at an elite level to be able to be a performer.

"I don't want to have any hindrances. If I come back and give it all I've got, I want to be able to shake the world again."

Diamond is yet to return to shooting, noting that "doctors are telling me to avoid any kind of stress right now".

"The heart is coming back to normal, which is great, but at any given time it can take a downward spiral," he said.

"So I'm trying to safeguard it."

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