Dina Aspandiyarova’s remarkable story from a Kazakhstan shooting range cellar to five Olympic Games

Australian Olympic shooter Dina Aspandiyarova is on a rollercoaster ride which started in a cellar gun range in her native Kazakhstan as a child and will end almost four decades later at the Olympic Games. Read her remarkable story here.

Andrew Dawson, Albert & Logan News

Dina Aspandiyarova competing at the nomination trials at the Sydney International Shooting Centre in March. (AAP Image/Supplied by Shooting Australia)

Australian Olympic shooter Dina Aspandiyarova is on a rollercoaster ride which started in a cellar gun range in her native Kazakhstan as a child and will end almost four decades later at the Tokyo Olympic Games

It has been an amazing journey, taking her up and down and all around, in a sport she fell into by accident as a child.

“It has never been about going to Olympics,’’ said Aspandiyarova, who attended her first Olympians in 1996 as a substitute (reserve) shooter and has been to three others since.

“It was a journey to see how far I can go in this.

“Now another turn on the roller coaster – it goes in circles and turns,’’ she said in reference to the Olympics being delayed 12 months due to the coronavirus crisis.

Aspandiyarova’s remarkable sporting story started as a schoolgirl in Kazakhstan when, as a requirement of school, she did an after school hours activity.

“One day a friend of mine asked me to try out shooting,’’ Aspandiyarova said.

“I agreed because I was considered to be too old for popular girls sports like ice skating or

“I thought it (shooting) was the same as . I did not suspect it was gun shooting.

“We went to an under ground cellar range and I was surprised to see a real pistol. “I had dreamt of becoming a detective so I thought that this will come in handy (learning to shoot a gun).

“Over the years my desire to become a detective dissolved, but my desire in the sport remained and I have dedicated my life to the sport,’’ the 43-year-old said.

And she has been very good at it.

Ironically her first international competition was a medal winning effort at the 1994 in, of all places, . So 27 years later she will return to Japan for her swan song in the sport as an Olympian – again.

“It is nice to start in Japan and finish for me in Japan,’’ the Ormeau resident said.

Aussie pair Lalita Yauhleuskaya and Dina Aspandiyarova before winnings Commonwealth Games Gold in 2006.

She attended the ‘96 Games as a reserve but at the Sydney 2000 Olympics she went close to winning a medal, finishing sixth in the 10m air pistol.

She made her Olympic debut for Australia in 2008, competing in the 10m air pistol and 25m Pistol where she finished 36th and 33rd respectively, and competed again at the London 2012 Games where she finished in 14th position in the 10m air pistol.

Australian Pistol Shooter Dina Aspandiyarova in 2012 at the AIS in Canberra. She also claimed four medals across two Commonwealth Games before breaking from the sport after following her family to Singapore to work.

“It (Singapore) was a totally different chapter of my life. It was the only time I could call my husband a colleague,’’ she laughed in reference to working together.

While abroad, she did online coaching and it was while keeping her shooting expertise sharp for coaching purposes, that her desire for another tilt at a fifth Olympic Games was sparked.

“We had to come back to Australia in 2016 because my husband’s health started to deteriorate,’’ she said.

“We moved to Queensland in 2016 and I was trying to find another job and couldn’t.

“I did not have experience other than shooting.

“So I resumed training and starting online coaching via Skype.

“I felt I needed to keep my shooting fresh (to coach) and month after month of training, I got inspired and participated in competition again.

“That gave me confidence to keep going – it was a roller coaster along the way.

“I retired three times between 2017 and 2020 but I couldn’t stop.’’

Dina Aspandiyarova, middle, meets PM John Howard after winning gold at the Commonwealth Games Melbourne.

Aspandiyarova is now employed by AOC under its Olympics’ Unleashed program and travels Queensland inspiring schoolchildren.

“It is an initiative of the AOC but originally came from the QAS. Olympians travel around schools and hear their stories and encourage children to discover and unleash their talents – which does not have to be sport.

“It is a great initiative – I share my story and I see the kids’ eyes. It is very, very inspiring.

“They tell me what they do and they inspire me as well.’’ Over the last 12 months Aspandiyarova had been telling children she was aspiring to attend a fifth Olympic Games.

And following last week’s AOC announcement of the Australian shooting team, she can tell her next class she will indeed be a five-time Olympian.

“Now I feel I have kept my promise to the kids,’’ she said.