24th January 1990

Guernsey wins gold at the Commonwealth Games

The 1990 Commonwealth Games opened in Auckland, New Zealand on 24 January. Guernsey competed in athletics, road cycle racing, lawn bowls, swimming and shooting, in the latter of which it won a gold medal.

Adrian Breton came first in the Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol shooting with 583 points, which put him one point ahead of Australia’s Patrick Brian Murray, and four ahead of Michael Jay, representing Wales.

Breton’s gold was the only medal Guernsey brought home from the two-week event, but this still put it in joint 19th position among the 55 nations that took part.

Previous wins

It wasn’t the first time the marksman had won a Commonwealth medal. Breton had been competing at the Games since the 1982 event in Brisbane, where he came seventh in his field. He took silver at Edinburgh 1986 and bronze for the Men’s pairs 25m Rapid Fire Pistol shooting in Victoria in 1994. Breton’s last games were the 1998 event at Kuala Lumpur from which the Guernsey team returned empty handed.

Adrian also competed in the Summer Olympics of 1988 (in Seoul) and 1992 (in Barcelona), as well as the Island Games of 1987 in which he won two gold medals.