Longford native Derek Burnett will become only the third Irish athlete in history to compete at five summer Olympic Games later this month.

Burnett (51) has been selected to compete in the men’s trap in Tokyo on July 29-30. Previously he competed in Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008) and London (2012). He missed out on the Rio Games in 2016. His highest Olympic finish was joint ninth in Athens.

The only other Irish athletes to compete in five summer Olympics were Rob Heffernan (race walking) and David Wilkins (sailing)

Team Ireland has also officially named the Show Jumping, Eventing and dressage riders and horses who will be travelling to Tokyo.

Ireland had qualified teams in all three disciplines but there was controversy over the decision not to send a full dressage team. Horse Sport Ireland decided not to nominate a team after a couple of horses and one rider were no longer available to compete.

The decision was challenged in the High Court but Ireland's place in the team event was allocated to Belgium earlier this week.

However, Heiki Holstein, who previously represented Ireland at the Atlanta, Sydney and Athens Games as an individual, will again take part in the individual competition riding her own Irish-bred mare Sambuca.

The majority of the Equestrian events take place in the original arena that hosted the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Equestrian Park, with the Eventing Cross-Country taking place on the Sea Forest Cross-Country Course.

The team of Show Jumping riders includes London Olympics bronze medallist Cian O’Connor, Ireland’s top-ranked rider Darragh Kenny, and European Championship team gold medal winner Bertram Allen.

Shane Sweetnam, who is also a European Championship gold medal winner, has been selected to travel to the Games as an alternate rider and can be called upon to jump if required at different stages of the competition.

"All our horses and riders are in great form and at the moment at the shows we are competing at, there is a great buzz and hype around Tokyo coming up, We are heading there quietly confident and looking forward to catching up with the rest of Team Ireland," said O’Connor.

The Show Jumping competition takes place in the Equestrian Park and runs from the August 3-7 2021. Ireland’s Show Jumping riders will compete for medals in the individual competition first, followed by a second set of medals in the team competition.

The Irish Eventing team selected for the Games includes three members of the team that secured Olympic qualification when winning the team silver medal at the 2018 World Championships – becoming the first Irish team in any sport to qualify for Tokyo.

The team includes Ireland's top-ranked eventing rider Cathal Daniels, Sam Watson who has competed at three World Championships and Sarah Ennis who finished fifth individually at the 2018 World Championships.

Austin O’Connor, who represented Ireland at two previous Olympic Games, at Sydney in 2000 and Beijing in 2008, has also been selected as an alternate rider.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen has be drawn in the same group as the world number ten seed in the men’s singles badminton at the Tokyo Olympics.

The 21-year old will feature in Group F alongside Wang Tzu Wei from Taiwan, who is currently ranked ten in the world. Nguyen, who will be making his Olympic debut, is ranked 60th while the other player in the group Niluka Karunaratne from Sri Lanka is ranked 99th.

Only the group winner advances to the last 16. The group stages of the singles competitions begins on Saturday July 24 in the Musashine Forest Sport Plaza.

The draw took place this afternoon at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes, England.

A total of 173 athletes - 87 men and 86 women - from 50 National Olympic Committees have qualified to compete in badminton at the Games. Nhat is the only Irish player in this group.