Smith's fork in the road came when she was on the wrong end of a gut-feel selection two years ago, having finished second in Shooting Australia (SA) trials for the Gold Coast Games.

The governing body's policy dictates the top-ranked shooter in trials is guaranteed selection, whereas a number of factors decides who receives the second quota spot.

SA backed reigning Olympic champion Catherine Skinner on that occasion, overlooking Smith despite a superb 2017 which resulted in her being named SA's athlete of the year.

Smith, who turns 25 on Tuesday, epitomised the 'don't get bitter - get better' mantra as she quickly reset and targeted Tokyo.

The Victorian secured an Olympic quota spot last year, edging 2008 Olympic champion Satu Makela-Nummela in terrible conditions to win a World Cup event.

Smith then dominated Australia's four-event selection process, sealing her Olympic debut by finishing above Skinner and three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Laetisha Scanlan on the leaderboard.

"The Commonwealth Games was a pretty big setback. I made it a positive though, I worked twice as hard and set a lot of practical goals," Smith told AAP.

"Out of all bad comes some good. I am really thankful about that; it made me knuckle down. It made me become more structured in training and I matured as an athlete and a person.

"I didn't want to leave it in selectors' hands again."

Smith was formally named on Friday in Australia's 15-strong Olympic shooting team, almost four weeks after the final selection trial in Sydney.

The wait was longer than SA intended.

The postponement of the Olympics raised the obvious question as to whether the governing body should stick with the original selection process or stage more trials closer to the Games.

"When they told us the team was being pushed back, a lot of doubt started to cross my mind. It was quite stressful, nerve racking," Smith said.

Smith suggested she would not carry any burden of expectation in Tokyo in the absence of Skinner, who won gold at Rio 2016.

"It was fantastic she won a gold medal but that was part of her journey. I'm on my own journey," she said, having continued to train on her family farm during the COVID-19 lockdown.

"I know I'll do my country proud. It's a lifelong dream and big thanks to my parents and brother."

Smith's mum Kim was a groom for seven-time Olympian Andrew Hoy at the 1984 Olympics. Equestrian was her first passion before she took up shooting as a teenager.

Australian Associated Press