Maria Grozdeva

At a glance

Quelle: Wikipedia: Maria Grozdeva¹

Life and career

Maria Zdravkova Grozdeva was born in Sofia on 23. Juni 1972. She began shooting at the age of 11 and graduated in sports shooting from the National Sports Academy. Her events were the 25 metre pistol and the 10 metre air pistol.¹

Grozdeva competed at the Summer Olympics in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2020. She won bronze in the 10 metre air pistol in 1992 and 1996, and gold in the 25 metre pistol in 2000 and 2004. She added a third air-pistol bronze in 2004.¹

Olympic achievements

Her Olympic record includes five medals: two gold and three bronze. Grozdeva is the only woman to have successfully defended the Olympic 25 metre pistol title. She won the event in 2000 and again in 2004.¹

Grozdeva is among the women’s CISM individual 25 metre pistol world-record holders, with a score of 590. She holds the final world record in the event. She also achieved results at CISM World Championships and ISSF World Cups.¹

Later roles

Grozdeva announced her retirement from professional sport after competing at the 2020 Summer Olympics. At those Games, she took part in both the women’s 25 metre pistol and women’s 10 metre air pistol events.¹

She was among the founders of the Bulgarian Shooting Union and served as its president from 2012 to 2022. Vesela Letcheva succeeded her. Grozdeva is married to her coach, Valeri Grigorov, and they have three children. In 2009, she took part in the third season of the reality show VIP Brother and finished as runner-up.¹

Her term as president of the Bulgarian Shooting Union ended in 2022.¹