Tokyo bronze medallist Matt Coward-Holley’s post-Games blues were so bad that he wasn’t sure he’d seen another Olympics.

The Chelmsford shooter came away with a bronze medal on Olympic debut in the men's trap discipline.

He heads into Paris with a fresh perspective, relieved to have qualified and looking forward to the summer and beyond, with plans to get married to his fiancé, Puerto Rican Olympic shooter Augusta Campos-Martyn, after the Games.

“It was really hard to keep going after Tokyo,” the 29-year-old said. “I struggled with motivation and had a serious case of post-games ‘don’t know what to do.’”

“I felt a real mixture of emotions because I was over the moon to achieve bronze, but also extremely disappointed to not win gold. I felt like I should have won.

“I just didn’t know how to feel - I had just won an Olympic medal, which is so many people’s life dream, but all I could think of was that it wasn’t enough.

“I wanted to prove that I’ve still got it and I’m not a one-shot wonder. I hold myself to extremely high standards.”

Coward-Holley struggled to motivate himself to shoot and train himself to the standard he knew he needed to in order to make another Games, so took some away from competing.

“When I took time off, I stopped stressing about it, and that was what made me get better and better,” he added.

“Without my fiancé's support and her understanding of what it takes to get to a Games, I definitely wouldn’t be sat here.

“I’d have stopped or eased off my shooting if it wasn’t for her motivating me to get back on track again.”

Coward-Holley’s journey in shooting has clearly been a family affair and he will benefit from Aldi’s Nearest & Dearest programme in Paris. The programme helps maximise support and minimise potential distractions for athletes so that they can focus on their performance and make the most of the unique opportunity to compete on one of the world’s largest stages.

Things could have been very different for Coward-Holley, currently ranked number three in the world. He suffered two serious back injuries while playing rugby growing up.

“My passion was always rugby,” he said. “But after the second break, I was told I had to stop playing rugby if I valued being able to walk.

“There were two years where I didn’t play any sport. I lost all competitive edge completely but then that niggle came back to compete.

“I had shot with my father when I was younger so started shooting competitively and got that itch back. The adrenaline of turning up on match day and knowing you have a job to do.

“And I also met my fiancé shooting as we have the same coach.”

Team GB are fielding a team of six shooters at the Games, with Seonaid McIntosh, Amber Rutter, Lucy Hall, Michael Bargeron and Nathan Hales joining Coward-Holley at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre, 140 miles south of Paris.

Shooting Team Leader, Steven Seligmann, said: "I am delighted that the British Olympic Association have confirmed the selection of our six shooting athletes to represent Team GB at Paris 2024.

“All six athletes continue to go on their own incredible journeys, and we are excited to see our team, which is full of potential, perform at the Games.”

Team GB Chef de Mission Mark England, OBE said: “We are thrilled to have such an impressive team of shooters representing Team GB in Paris this summer.  It is brilliant to have Matt, Seonaid and Amber with us for their second Olympic Games, and we welcome Mike, Nathan and Lucy to Team GB, all of whom bring a tremendous wealth of quality into this squad.

“This group of athletes are truly remarkable, both in and out of competition, and we have great confidence they can demonstrate their quality once again in Paris.”

Aldi are proud Official Partners of Team GB & ParalympicsGB, supporting all athletes through to Paris 2024