Tomorrow at Tokyo’s Asaka Shooting Range, 51-year-old Derek Burnett  from Kenagh, Co Longford will compete in his fifth summer Olympics.

The only other Irish athletes who have made five appearances at the Summer Games are race walker Rob Heffernan and sailor David Wilkins.

Burnett is already Ireland’s most decorated shooter. He made his debut at the Sydney Games in 2000 where he finished 18th. Subsequently he competed in Athens (2004), Beijing (2008) and London (2012).

He missed out on qualifying for the Rio Games in 2016 by a margin of just one target after being temporarily distracted by the San Marino shooter beside him breaking his gun.

His highest finish came in Athens in 2004 when he was joint ninth in the trap qualification, missing a place among the top six, who progressed to the final.

Attached to the Lakeland Shooting Club in Mullingar and coached by Jeffrey McCready, he has competed for Ireland since 1997.

During a distinguished career he has had three top ten finishes in the World Championships including a fifth place in 2002.

He has won two World Cup medals, bronze in 1998 and silver two years later and made two European Championship podiums in 2010 and 2013.

Burnett has achieved the elusive perfect 125 score in training but the closest in competition were scores of 123 in Granada (2013) and Tuscan (2014).

He qualified for Tokyo by shooting 121 in a World Cup event in the UAE in 2019.

His full Olympic record is 2000 score 111 (18th); 2004 119 (9th), 2008 110 (29th) and 2012 116 (27th).

He will be in action in the qualification event tomorrow beginning at 1am (Irish time).