Faulds triumphed in the double trap event in Sydney eight years ago in dramatic fashion after a shoot-off with home favourite and defending champion Russell Mark. 

 

Faulds had been fourth going into the final round but produced a superb performance to force a shoot off.

 

He hit three of the four shoot off targets and Mark could only manage two.

 

It was Britain's first gold medal in trap shooting since Bob Braithwaite in 1968.

 

He had trained with Mark and the pair had bet $10 (£5) on the outcome.

 

World junior champion at 16, his Olympic debut had come as a 19-year-old when he reached the final in Atlanta.

 

On that occasion he finished fifth.

 

His third Olympic appearance in Athens was less rewarding as he failed to qualify for the final.

 

But there are high hopes for the 31-year-old from Southampton in Beijing.

 

John Leighton-Dyson, the shooting team leader for Beijing, said: "Richard Faulds has been shooting exceptionally well and he is an excellent medal prospect going into this fourth Olympics."

 

Simon Clegg, Britain's Chef de Mission for Beijing, said: “I am delighted to welcome these shooting athletes in to Team GB, especially Richard who has been so successful for Team GB in the past.

 

"I am sure that his experience added with the blend of exciting young talent here is an exciting prospect for Beijing this summer."

 

Faulds will be accompanied by Steve Scott, a 22-year-old who lives in Battle near Hastings, making his Olympic debut, although he did travel to Athens as the reserve.

 

Scott, a member of the teams that won world and European titles in 2003, said: "Obviously I am chuffed to take part in the greatest sporting event in the world.

 

"It hasn’t really sunk in yet that I am going to Beijing . 

 

"When I get on the plane, that’s when I will get nervous, until then I will continue my preparations to get myself in to the best possible shape."

 

The men's team is completed by Jon Hammond, a 27-year-old from Aberdeen, who will be competing in the  50 metre rifle prone, 50m rifle three positions and 10m air rifle.

 

The women's squad is led in the trap by Charlotte Kerwood, a 20-year-old from Cuckfield in Sussex who started shooting when she was 12 at her parents shooting ground in Sussex. 

 

She went to the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester aged 15, where she won gold in the double trap.

 

Kerwood will be accompanied by Russian-born Elena Little in the skeet.

 

Little was 14 when she started shooting the trap discipline in her native Moscow after her mother pursuaded her to try the sport.

 

Her mother, Tatiana Bogdanova, competed internationally for the Soviet Union in skeet in the 1970's.

 

Little, who set a world record in 2005 in Belgrade and is now based in Newport, said: “I am ectastic and over the moon to be selected for the team and it’s great to be going to Beijing as I have been working very hard towards this goal.  

 

"My preparations have been going really well and I look forward to getting on the plane and heading off”.