Rhona Barry competed in the women’s 10 metres air rifle event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games at the Wolf Creek Shooting Complex.

Barry was the first Irish woman to compete in Olympic shooting – a landmark achievement in the history of Irish sport.

From Carlanstown in Kells, Co. Meath, she came to competitive shooting from involvement in the Meath Pony Club and tetrathlon, where she had been encouraged to specialise in air pistol shooting.

She was employed by the National Blood Transfusion Service, where working with mobile blood collection units was hardly ideal preparation for elite competition, yet she competed in European and World Championships before earning her wild card invitation to Atlanta – secured on the basis of a score of 386 out of 400 at a pre-Olympic tournament in Atlanta itself.