David Calvert (sport shooter)
Northern Irish sports shooter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Peter Calvert (born 24 March 1951) is a former sports shooter from Northern Ireland, who competed at eleven Commonwealth Games and holds the record for Northern Ireland's most Commonwealth Games appearances from 1978 to 2018, winning eight medals.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British (Northern Irish) |
| Born | 24 March 1951 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Sports shooting |
Event | Fullbore rifle |
| Club | Comber Rifle Club |
Medal record | |
Biography
Calvert built a miniature rifle range in his Belfast home attic.[1] He was educated at Campbell College, where he began full bore target rifle shooting in 1965.[2] He left Belfast in 1969 to go to Southampton for flying training and became a pilot in the Royal Air Force.[3]
He represented Ireland and the RAF before being named in the Great Britain team in 1975.[1] He represented Northern Ireland at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, just missing out on a medal after a fourth-place finish in the Full bore rifle Queens Prize Pair.[4]
Four years later at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia, he won a bronze medal in the fullbore fifle pairs, with Hazel Mackintosh.[5] This was followed by further medal successes at the 1986 Commonwealth Games (bronze with Martin Millar), a gold and bronze at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, a gold with Millar at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, double gold at the 2002 Manchester Games and finally a bronze at the 2010 Delhi.[6]
Calvert was a member of the Comber Rifle Club and with Martin Millar, opened their new club house in 2003.[7]
In 2018, he became Northern Ireland's most decorated Commonwealth Games athlete.[3]
In 2019, at the age of 68, he was once again named in the British team for the World Championships.[2]