Australia will send its youngest ever shooter to an Olympic Games, with 16-year-old Aislin Jones chosen to go to Rio.
The Victorian skeet shooter was among a team of 16 announced in Sydney on Friday, with two men's trap athletes yet to be confirmed.
Olympic medallists Michael Diamond and Adam Vella were initially chosen, but their selections are now subject to a Court of Arbitration for Sport appeal by teenager Mitchell Iles.
Born seven months before the Sydney Olympics, Jones is a year younger than Peter Papps was when he represented Australia in the men's rapid-fire 25m pistol at the 1956 Melbourne Games aged 17.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," Jones said after her historic selection.
"It's pretty exciting to know that I'll be the youngest Olympic shooter for Australia.
"I've been dreaming of going to an Olympics for a few years now and to have the words written down on paper `you've been selected for Rio' is amazing."
Jones will join one of Australia's oldest athletes in Brazil, 54-year-old Warren Potent, who his heading to his fifth Olympics.
He won a bronze medal in the 50m rifle prone at the Beijing Games in 2008 and is hoping for more success in 2016.
"I'm obviously hoping to get on the podium," Potent said.
"I certainly think I have what it takes to win and, if all goes well, I could walk away with a medal like I did in Beijing."
Rio will be Lalita Yauhleuskaya's sixth Games and fourth for Australia, having represented Belarus at Atlanta 1996 and at Sydney 2000 - where she won a bronze medal in the women's 25m pistol.
Australian chef de mission Kitty Chiller admitted it wasn't ideal that she couldn't announce the full 18-strong team on Friday due to Iles' appeal.
"But it doesn't take the gloss off anything," Chiller told AAP.
"Anyone who feels that they deserve a spot or that are aggrieved in any way, shape or form, they have absolutely every right to appeal.
"That's why the process is in place."
Chiller said there was no time frame for when the final decision will be made as Diamond anxiously awaits whether or not he will be able to attend a seventh Olympics.
"My understanding is that there's five days to put an appeal in and CAS will determine how that will be arbitrated, whether it's an individual or a panel (decision)," she said.
"It could be days. It could be weeks."
Australian shooting team: Paul Adam, Blake Blackburn, David Chapman, Keith Ferguson, Elena Galiabovitch, William Godward, Jennifer Hens, Aislin Jones, Warren Potent, Daniel Repacholi, Jack Rossiter, Dane Sampson, Laetisha Scanlan, Catherine Skinner, James Willett, Lalita Yauhleuskaya.
Share
