Shooting is a sport of the finest margins and Australia’s Elena Galiabovitch experienced its painful torment when she narrowly missed the women’s 25m Pistol final today.
Placed 31st on 287 points after the first day Precision stage yesterday, Galiabovitch produced an outstanding second stage Rapid Fire round today to narrowly miss the final.
Galiabovitch fired three impressive Rapid Fire shot strings of 99, 99 and 98 out of a possible 100 points for a tally of 296 to soar up the leaderboard where she was ultimately placed 11th on countback.
Galiabovitch’s final combined score was 583 with five of the eight finalists all recording a combined score of 584.
It was a bitter pill for the Melbourne doctor to swallow and a berth in the final and a crack at the medals would have rounded off an unforgettable Olympics after she received the rare honour to be one of six athletes chosen to carry the Olympic flag into the Opening Ceremony.
Earlier, Galiabovitch finished 27th in the women’s 10m Air Pistol.
“It’s sad that it’s over. This was a great competition,” said Galiabovitch.
“It was so nice to come together with all the nations and I hope that it gave the rest of the world some hope.
“Tokyo was able to pull this event off, of course with a lot of help, and were able to do so in a COVID safe way and still celebrate what sport brings to the world. So, it was a remarkable thing to be a part of,” she added.
Galiabovitch, who is coached by her father Vladimir, said she will take massive positives out of the Games and is likely to seek her third Olympic Games at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It will take a little more reflection but ultimately (I know) that I belong here, and I can do this, and that I can compete with the rest of the world,” she said.
“I really enjoyed this experience and I’d like more of it,” she added.
“It is tough from Australia because we don’t have easy access to a lot of the competitions around Europe and they do have a lot more events than we do.”
For Galiabovitch, tomorrow is a new dawn now that her Games have concluded.
So, what are her immediate plans?
“I’m going to get up and see the Tokyo sunrise,” she said with a smile.
