Elena Galiabovitch

Fast Facts

Sport: Shooting
Event: 25m Sports Pistol, 10m Air Pistol
Olympic History: Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020
Highlights: 1 of 6 athletes to carry the Olympic Flag into the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony
Coach: Vladimir Galiabovitch
Year Born: 1989
Place Born: Minsk, Belarus

About Elena

Elena Galiabovitch was born in Belarus, moved to Australia when she was four and decided to try shooting after her parents met through the sport.

She competed on and off for a decade and began to knuckle down in 2014, initially to spend time with her dad, but then "found the desire and drive to be selected for teams and started taking it more seriously,” she explained.

Galiabovitch is coached by her father Vladimir who is also Australia’s national pistol coach. In 2015 she claimed her first international title when she won women’s 25 metres Pistol gold at the Oceania Championships.

A member of Victoria’s Oakleigh Pistol Club, Galiabovitch was selected to make her Olympic debut at the Rio 2016 Games where she lined up in both the women’s 25m Pistol and women’s 10m Air Pistol events finishing 32nd and 43rd respectively.

At the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, Galiabovitch claimed silver in the women’s 25m Pistol and bronze in the women’s 10m Air Pistol. The Melbourne doctor took three months off work to prepare for her Commonwealth Games debut.

In the same year, Galiabovitch achieved a career first when she won women’s 25m Pistol gold at a World Cup event in Changwon, Korea. As well as it being the first World Cup medal of her career, Galiabovitch achieved a personal best 296 score over China’s Lin Yuemei. She won the title in a shoot-off, three hits against two.

Galiabovitch won the women’s 25m Pistol gold at the 2019 Oceania Championships to secure Australia a quota position at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. She went on to book her ticket to Tokyo after winning all four of Australia’s women’s 25m Pistol Olympic selection events.

In Tokyo, Elena narrowly missed qualifying for the women’s 25m Pistol final when placed 11th and finished 27th in the women’s 10m Air Pistol.

At the Tokyo 2020 Games, Galiabovitch had the honour being one of six frontline medical workers to carry the Olympic flag into Opening Ceremony representing Oceania.