Elizabeth Kosmala - Competitive Career

Competitive Career

Kosmala was introduced to wheelchair sport by a patient at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, a few months before starting work at the Adelaide Botanic Garden. She first competed nationally at the 1966 National Wheelchair Games in Brisbane. She competed in foil fencing, swimming, wheelchair racing, field events, and archery. In a 2011 interview, she said that the organiser who picked the team for the 1968 Tel Aviv Paralympics forgot to include her, so she worked as a secretary at the games instead. She won two gold medals in archery and foil fencing, a silver medal in the pentathlon, and four bronze medals in swimming and wheelchair racing events at the 1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Edinburgh, in her first international event. She initially had to raise all her own money for the games, but after a radio interview and a newspaper article about her plight, John Eustice Motors gave her a cheque with all the money required for the games.

At the 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics, she won a bronze medal in swimming in the Women's 3x50 m Medley Relay 2–4 event, and participated in other swimming and athletics events. She was introduced to rifle shooting in the early 1970s, and consistently hit the target on her first try at the sport. At the 1976 Toronto Games, she won a gold medal in the Mixed Rifle Shooting 2–5 event, and participated in archery and dartchery events.

At the 1980 Arnhem Games, she won a gold medal in the Mixed Air Rifle Prone 2–5 event, and two silver medals in the Mixed Air Rifle 3 Positions 2–5 and Mixed Air Rifle Kneeling 2–5 events. At the 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville Games, she won four gold medals and broke four world records in the Women's Air Rifle 3 Positions 2–6, Women's Air Rifle Kneeling 2–6, Women's Air Rifle Prone 2–6, and Women's Air Rifle Standing 2–6 events. At the 1988 Seoul Games, she won three gold medals in the Women's Air Rifle 3 Positions 2–6, Women's Air Rifle Kneeling 2–6, and Women's Air Rifle Prone 2–6 events, and a silver medal in the Women's Air Rifle Standing 2–6 event. She has participated in every Paralympics since then without winning medals, though her scores have gradually improved. She was the Australian flag bearer for the opening ceremony at the 1996 Atlanta Games. At the 2000 Sydney Games, she competed against her husband in the preliminary round of the Mixed Air Rifle Prone SH1- event, and came eighth just in front of him. She achieved her best ever result in the Women's Air Rifle Standing SH1- event at the 2008 Beijing Games, where she narrowly missed out on a medal. She was Australia's oldest representative at the Beijing Games and the oldest Paralympian overall at the 2012 London Games, her last Paralympic competition. She has been coached by Yvonne Hill since she began shooting, and also works with National Rifle Shooting Coach Miro Sepic. She has received a scholarship from the South Australian Institute of Sport every year since 1985.

In 1994, she was initially barred from participating in an air rifle shooting state championship, even though she was the club champion, because she was in a wheelchair. She eventually won the competition but the trophy was awarded to the person who came second rather than her. The case was eventually reconciled in court. In 2003, she had both her everyday and sporting wheelchairs stolen while on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Germany to compete in the national games. She used borrowed wheelchairs while in Germany, and when she arrived home with no wheelchair to return to, she said that it was the first time in her life that she really felt "disabled". The airline company gave her 2,000 dollars towards the cost of replacement wheelchairs, which were worth 5,000 dollars each.