Kenneth ‘Ken’ Stanford became the first Irish competitor ever to compete in Olympic pistol shooting when he appeared in the men’s free pistol and rapid-fire pistol events at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games – in a discipline that was no longer possible in the Republic of Ireland due to the Temporary Custody Order of 1972 which had withdrawn all licensed target pistols.

A 42-year-old RUC Inspector from Belfast whose grandfather came from Gorey, Co. Wexford, Stanford made a significant personal sacrifice to compete: Margaret Thatcher’s government refused him special leave because of their support of the Moscow boycott, and he was required to exchange his overtime allowances for leave-of-absence and return to service before the Games ended.

A defective Hämmerli Free Pistol – whose trigger had not been properly secured after final adjustments – caused him to underperform in the opening rounds of the free pistol, but in the final series of 60 shots, once the defect was remedied, he achieved his best-ever score.

He finished 25th in the free pistol (545 points) and 33rd in the rapid-fire pistol. In July 2012 he revealed for the first time the considerable hostility he faced from some RUC colleagues for his decision to represent ‘a foreign country’, including one officer who wrote to the chief constable demanding his dismissal ‘for being in breach of his oath of allegiance to the Queen.’