Alethea Sedgman is a shooter who was awarded a Scholarship within the 2012 Sport Australia Scholarship and Mentoring Program she was paired with Judith Trim as her Mentor.
Alethea was born in Carlton, in 1994, and grew up in Natimuk near Mount Arapiles in rural Victoria. She started shooting after visiting a range with her father and lived so far from training and competition venues as a child that her family built their own shooting range on the property.
The home-made training ground, as well as tuition at the Horsham Smallbore Club, proved a winning move for Alethea, and she achieved consistently strong results as a junior in Victoria and throughout Australia. In 2009, the youngster joined the senior shooting ranks and was competing regularly on the World Cup circuit in 2010.
Pitting herself against the best in the world improved Alethea’s skills and results, and in 2010 she was selected to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, where she won the gold medal with a score of 676.0 in the 50m rifle event as a sixteen-year-old.
Alethea successfully juggled training and competition with VCE studies at Horsham Secondary College, and still managed to reach podiums throughout 2010 and 2011. She competed at the World Championships in 2010 and finished within the top 5 on numerous occasions at the Oceania Championships and Australia Cup throughout 2011 and 2012 in the 10m air rifle and 10m prone.
In 2012, Alethea faced a dilemma. The 18-year-old was in contention for a place at the London Olympic Games, but so was her boyfriend. Ultimately, selectors decided to send one shooter from Australia, and Alethea’s boyfriend had to miss out as Australian International Shooting chose to send only a female competitor.
Honours & Achievements
- 2010: Commonwealth Games, gold.
- 2011: Oceania Championships, top 5.
- 2012: Australia Cup, top 5.
- 2012: London Olympic Games, represented.
- 2012: Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship Holder.
