Los Angeles 1984 Olympian Leonel Martinez set to end 40-year wait for second Games appearance

The 60-year-old trap shooter will become the athlete with the second longest gap between two Olympic Games in history, behind Japan's equestrian veteran Hoketsu Hiroshi.

2 minBy Olympics.com
A male sports shooter looks down the barrel of his rifle.

(Buda Mendes/Getty Images)

How long would you wait to relive your dream day? Four years, 10, 20, 30?

Come Paris 2024, Venezuelan sports shooter Leonel Martinez would have waited 40 years to return to the Olympic stage after making his debut at Los Angeles 1984 where he competed in the mixed trap event. 

The 60-year-old obtained an Olympic quota by taking silver in the men's trap final at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile and the Venezuelan Olympic Committee has already confirmed Martinez will be included on the national shooting team at Paris 2024.

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The 40-year gap between the shooter's two Olympic appearances is the second longest in history. Only Japan's dressage rider Hoketsu Hiroshi has had a longer wait with 44 years passing between his home debut at Tokyo 1964 and comeback at Beijing 2008 at the age of 67.

Fellow equestrian rider Mario Deslauriers of Canada is third on the list with a 33-year gap between Seoul 1988 and Tokyo 2020, according to Olympedia.org editor-in-chief Bill Mallon.

Unless there is an older athlete included on his country's Paris 2024 delegation, Martinez also looks set to become the oldest ever Olympian from Venezuela when the next Games begin on 26 July.

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