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 Potent clinched Australia's first Olympic medal in a rifle
shooting event with bronze at the 2008 Games and embellished his
'late bloomer' status with a first individual world title in 2014, a
trifling 28 years after winning the team crown in 1986.
As he prepares for a fifth Olympic campaign, Potent now sits atop a
world rankings dominated by men half his age.
"I'm pinching myself. I'm 54 now and I'm currently ranked number one
in the world," the Sydney marksman told Reuters in an interview.
"I'm still doing really well in competition where a lot of people
lean towards it being a younger person's sport now.
"I am excited. But at the same time not too excited because I know I
have a job to do."
As both an elite shooter and a full-time worker for a global engine
manufacturer, Potent generally has his hands full.
 He enjoys sponsorship from a gun-maker, but has earned more respect
than money from the sport and has only a few minutes to chat during
his lunch-break before returning to his post in spare parts
distribution.
His company affords him the flexibility to tour, however, and his
decades of experience means he has little need to spend countless
hours firing away at training.
"When I do train, I don't go out to the range to fire hundreds and
hundreds of shots," he said.
"I try to shoot as perfect a shot as I can. And I think that's what
keeps me in the game. It's basically keeping the whole thing simple,
literally lining up three circles and pulling the trigger."
PHYSICAL TOLL
Potent's event may be the 'lying down' category of shooting yet it's
anything but relaxed.
Toting a gun weighing more than 6 kg and trying to remain dead still
for 60 shots in a 75-minute match exacts a big mental and physical
toll.
Potent regularly does light weights to try to minimize the nagging
of tired muscles but has little need to exercise his mind with
mental gymnastics.
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Being 'in the zone' seems to come easily and naturally for Potent
who first started sport shooting when a high school teenager and was
immediately hooked.
"Right down to the last couple of seconds of aiming, I could not
tell you what I'm thinking of. No idea," he said.
"I think I'm just concentrating on the actual aim, and when the
aim's correct, the finger automatically fires the shots."
Australia's oldest confirmed Olympian at Rio, Potent is also on the
same team as the youngest in 16-year-old Aislin Jones who has booked
her ticket in the women's skeet.
Jones, her country's youngest ever Olympic shooter, was born just
seven months before Potent's maiden Games appearance at the Sydney
2000 Olympics.
Potent will inevitably be tapped for advice by rookies urged to ask
questions first and shoot later.
"The best advice is to tell them to try to have as much fun as they
can," said Potent, who dug himself out of a crisis of confidence
before and after the London Games in 2012.
"I think I just got into a situation where I was just trying too
hard (in 2011-12). You can try too hard in sport instead of just
letting it happen.
"When the fun disappears, your performance tends to follow."
(Editing by John O'Brien)
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