Aleksey Alipov

Who is Aleksey Alipov?

Aleksei Aleksandrovich Alipov is a Russian Olympic Trap shooter. He is the 2004 Olympic champion in that discipline.

Born in Moscow, he started the sport at age 13 and was eventually trained at the Russian Academy of Sport. He participates for the Russian Army Sports Club, based in Moscow, and has been coached by Oleg Kulakov since 1998.

It was one of his greatest ambitions to win an Olympic gold medal. He competed at the 2000 Sydney Games where he finished ninth, but he achieved his ambition on August 15, 2004 at the Athens Olympics after a flawless final round in which he was on target with all 25 shots to finish with an overall score of 149 out of 150, beating Italy's Giovanni Pellielo into the silver medal position, while Australia's Adam Vella took bronze. During the qualifying rounds he had equalled the Olympic record.

Alipov's gold medal was furthermore notable in that it was the first Russian gold medal of the Athens Olympics, and also the 500th gold medal in the history of Russian, Soviet Union and Unified Team participation at the Olympic Games.