Olympics-Shooting-Martinez eyes LA return to where it all started

CHATEAUROUX, France (Reuters) – For each of the 40 years since Leonel Martinez competed in the 1984 Olympics, his memories of Los Angeles have got sweeter. His photographs faded and his exploits became an ever more distant memory as he founded a business and started a family back in his Venezuelan home of Ciudad Ojeda.

What the trap shooter had always assumed was a highlight of his past, however, now looms large in his future as four decades the 60-year-old is back in the Olympics — and gunning for a place at the LA2028 Olympics.

“Of course, Los Angeles 2028!” Martinez grinned when asked what was next for him.

“I started my Olympic career at LA and it’s obvious I’d like to go there again. Paris showed me I can do it. I’ll work hard to win a quota for the LA Games.”

Martinez was a bright-eyed 20-year-old when he competed at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, taking pictures with the likes of athletics great Carl Lewis before turning his back on elite sport.

“I was very young, and everything was so new to me. I remember Carl Lewis, meeting him and taking photos with him. I still have some of those photos with him and some basketballers and shooters. That was a great experience.”

Work commitments and family responsibilities meant Martinez stopped competing in the subsequent 15 years. Watching the 2011 Pan American Games and 2012 London Olympics rekindled his passion for shooting.

An offer from his brother, wife and children to run his business also helped.

“They pushed me and said ‘you love it, we are with you,” he said. “Please go ahead and try and win a quota’. It allowed me to focus on shooting without worrying about my business. I’m grateful to them.”

“MY SWEET GIRL”

Nine Olympics later he was back, finishing 28th and missing just nine of the 125 targets at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre. Only Japanese equestrian rider Hoketsu Hiroshi had a longer wait of 44 years between two Games appearance.

“I’m very proud and happy that god gave me the opportunity to be an example to people who love sports, particularly shooting,” Martinez told Reuters.

By 2028, Martinez will be 64.

“For me, age is only a number – you can reach wherever you want to go, you can achieve whatever you believe in,” he said.

“Some need specs at four, I needed them at 50. “I believe your body always responds to what you truly believe in. When you push your body, it responds.”

For now, Martinez wants to take a break before working out his plans for Los Angeles albeit without a trusted friend.

“It’s a Perazzi MX8 shotgun, and I call her ‘My Sweet Girl’,” he said of his current weapon.

“I talk to her all the time, she gives me good vibes. But for LA Games, I’ll get the Perazzi Hi-Tech.

“I’m very confident I’ll first take a quota and then a medal with the new gun.”

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in Chateauroux; editing by Ed Osmond)