The women's 10 metre air rifle competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on August 14 at the Markópoulo Olympic Shooting Centre near Athens, Greece.

In the qualifier, each shooter fired 40 shots with an air rifle at 10 metres distance from the standing position.

China's world record holder Du Li outscored a host of elite markswomen in the air rifle shooting final to notch the first gold medal at these Games, smashing a new Olympic record score of 502.0 points.

[1][2] Russia's Lioubov Galkina, who led the field by a full point into the final with 399, had to settle for the silver with a total score of 501.5 points, while Czech Republic's Kateřina Kůrková held off a daunting challenge from Zhao Yinghui (500.8) to rule out the Chinese supremacy in the medal haul for a bronze at 501.1, falling Zhao to a disappointing fourth by a 0.3-point deficit.

[1] Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.