akysonova's olympic debut came as a 21-year-old at the 2000 summer olympics in sydney. there, she finished in a massive eight-way tie for twentieth place in the 10 m air rifle with a qualifying score of 391, just three points below the olympic final cutoff. akysonova also competed in the 50 m rifle 3 positions, but plummeted to a thirtieth-place tie with cuba's eunice caballero and fellow markswoman yuliya shakhova at 567 points (194 in prone, 185 in standing, and 188 in the kneeling series) in the prelims.