Elena Galiabovitch

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.

Elena 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 m pistol gold at the Oceania Championships.

A member of Victoria’s Oakleigh Pistol Club, Elena 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, Elena 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, Elena 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, Elena achieved a personal best 296 score over China’s Lin Yuemei. She won the title in a shoot-off, three hits against two.

Elena 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.
In Tokyo, Elena had the honour of being one of six COVID-19 frontline medical workers to carry the Olympic flag into Opening Ceremony representing Oceania.

Elena, a doctor who is studying to become a urological surgeon, spent much of the pandemic caring for patients on COVID wards.

“I greatly appreciated the recognition given to healthcare and essential workers in the Opening Ceremony by the Tokyo 2020 organising committee,” she said. “I felt great pride in being chosen to represent and gratitude, because without the healthcare workers around the globe the event would not have been possible.”

Elena continues to compete around the world and is currently ranked inside the top 45 in world in the 25m pistol and top 70 in the 10m air pistol.