Career
Natalia Valeeva is the top female archer in Italy. She is a five-time Olympian and former world number one, and a native of Moldova, having represented the Unified Team, Moldova and Italy, at the Olympic Games of 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012. Valeeva represented Moldova at the, where she was defeated in the third round.
Valeeva represented Italy at the, gaining seventh place in both the individual and the team event.
In her next Olympic appearance, Valeeva represented Italy at the where she placed 9th in the women"s individual ranking round with a 72-arrow score of 650. In the first round of elimination in high winds and difficult conditions, she faced 56th-ranked Jasmin Figueroa of the Philippines.
The biggest upset of the round, this match saw Valeeva lose to Figueroa 132–130 in the 18-arrow match, dropping all the way to 53rd overall in women"s individual archery. This was the second gold medal in the outdoor World Championships for Valeeva, the first one in 1995.
At the in Beijing Valeeva finished her ranking round with a total of 634 points.
This gave her the 30th seed for the final competition bracket in which she faced Anastassiya Bannova in the first round, beating the archer from Kazakhstan with 107–105. In the second round she came close, but was eliminated by third seed Joo Hyun-Jung with 110–108. Together with Pia Carmen Maria Lionetti and Elena Tonetta she also took part in the team event.
With her 634 score from the ranking round combined with the 613 of Lionetti and the 595 of Tonetta the Italian team was in 9th position after the ranking round.
In the first round they were too strong for the team from Chinese Taipei, beating them with 215–211. However, in the quarter final they were eliminated by the eventual gold medalists from South of Korea, despite a 217 points score.
The Koreans managed to shoot a new World Record of 231 points to advance to the semi final. At the, she reached the last 32 before being knocked out by Ksenia Perova, and was part of the Italian team that was knocked out by China in the first round.
