2024-05-13 22:54:30
There are 77 days left until the start of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, which opens on July 26.
İdman.biz continues a series of articles dedicated to the most prestigious multi-sport competition of the quadrennial, which starts on Friday in 11 weeks.
In the period before Paris 2024, we remember the Summer Olympic Games, in which Azerbaijani athletes participated during the years of independence. The Azerbaijani national team made its debut in Atlanta in 1996 and made its third attempt in Athens.
The Olympics have returned to their homeland
The dream of Athens, which could not host the modern Olympic Games on its 100th anniversary, came true later. The first Summer Olympic Games of the 3rd millennium of the 21st century, organized 8 years later, returned to their historical homeland. 201 countries have already taken part in the multi-sport event in the land of Zeus. In 17 days, from August 13 to August 29, the owners of 301 sets of medals were determined.
With new records and views into the new millennium
This time the number of Olympians of the Azerbaijani team has also increased. This time, unlike the previous tournament, when our team went to Sydney with 31 athletes, 38 athletes took part in the Olympics – 32 men and 6 women. The number of sports in which we were represented reached 10 for the first time. Our team made its debut at the rhythmic gymnastics and taekwondo competitions in Athens. Since then, our athletes of these two types have become permanent participants in the Olympic Games. After 4 years, fencing joined the list of sports.
Fell into the water
Our athlete did not go to Athens in diving, in which we were represented at the first two Olympics. This sport remained for our team in the last millennium. At the next Games we also had no jumpers. In a word, the jumpers seemed to fall into the water themselves.
The sadness of the standard bearer, the mystery of the difference in numbers
Although 38 athletes were sent to Athens, only 36 of them took part in the competition. Freestyle wrestler Arif Abdullayev fell ill, and our athlete Sergei Bochkov was injured and therefore could not participate in the competition. It is for this reason that various sources indicate the number of Azerbaijani representatives in Athens 2004 as 38, 37 and 36.
The performance of our standard-bearer Nizami Pashayev, who went to Greece with high hopes, was sad. Our weightlifter was unable to handle the first weight ordered and ended the tournament unranked.
“5” of our team: Again in the same events
Our team broke the four-year-old record for the number of medals. This time our team was represented on the podium 5 times. But this time only one gold was won, and the rest of the awards were bronze. As four years ago, medals were won in the same categories – wrestling, shooting and boxing. As a result, our team returned from Hellas in 50th place in the medal standings.
Continuing the tradition: achieving the “classics”
Wrestling, the only sport in which we have won medals at every Olympic Games, also delighted the fans in Athens. As at the previous Olympics, this time the wrestlers won a medal. But this golden award is remembered as the greatest success in the land of Hellas. Unlike the two previous competitions, this time it was not a freestyle wrestler who distinguished himself, but a Greco-Roman wrestler. Farid Mansurov won an Olympic medal for the first time in the classics wrestling, defeating all his rivals. Rustam Agayev, another of our wrestlers, was one step away from a medal. Namik Abdullayev, who returned with an award from two Olympics in a row, failed in his third attempt.
“Two birds with one stone”
Although our shooters were unable to hit two birds with one stone, they won two medals at one Olympics. Both awards were bronze. Zemfira Meftakhetdinova went down in history as the second athlete to win medals at two Olympic Games in a row. Our skeet shooter traded gold from four years ago for bronze. The bronze won by Irada Ashumova in one of the two events in Athens also went down in history. Although she managed to reach the final stage in another competition, she was satisfied with 8th place. This was the first medal for our athletes not in the skeet, but in shooting.
They were better fighters
Like shooters, boxers also increased their medal count. Our team, which was content with one bronze in Sydney, this time won two awards of the same standard. This time Fuad Aslanov and Agasi Mamedov distinguished themselves. Three of our boxers stopped in the 1/4 finals, one step away from a medal. Four years ago, Vugar Alekperov, who took third place, was one step away from a second bronze medal in a row. At the same stage, Rovshan Huseynov and Ruslan Khairov stumbled. But our boxing team, which went to Greece with 9 people, became the first team to outnumber the wrestling team. A similar event occurred at Tokyo 2020. In Japan, judokas dominated our Olympic team.
Those who cannot break the spell
The Azerbaijani team, which won medals in three of the 10 sports presented in Athens, was close to doing so for the first time in four. Rashad Akhmedov stopped one step away from Olympic bronze. He left Athens in 4th place. Elana Dzhemaeva took 7th place in fencing. Our judokas tried to overcome the spell twice. Mehman Azizov and Mevlud Miraliev returned home empty-handed, having lost in the bronze medal bouts. Turan Mirzaev, who took 4th place, and Alan Naniev, who finished the competition in 7th place, were quite a bit away from the Athens medal. A few years later, one of the good performers was caught for doping, and Naniev moved to 6th place.
N | Athlete | Kind | Place |
1 | Agasi Mamedov | Boxing, 54 kg | 3 |
2 | Alan Naniev | Weightlifting, 105 kg | 7 (then 6th) |
3 | Anna Gurbanova | Gymnastics | 14 |
4 | Arif Abdullaev | Freestyle wrestling, 60 kg | Couldn’t go to fight due to illness |
5 | Asif Melikov | Weightlifting, 62 kg | 12 |
6 | Javid Tagiev | Boxing, 75 kg | 9 |
7 | Jayzun Abyev | Boxing, 48 kg | 9 |
8 | Dadash Ibragimov | Athletics, 200 m | 7 (qualification stage) |
9 | Elchin Ismailov | Judo, 66 kg | Lost in the first match |
10 | Elman Askerov | Freestyle wrestling, 66 kg | 12 |
11 | Elnur Aslanov | Freestyle wrestling, 74 kg | 15 |
12 | Ali Ismailov | Boxing, 81 kg | 9 |
13 | Alibey Samedov | Weightlifting, 94 kg | 15 |
14 | Alibey Shukyurov | Athletics, 800 m | 7 (qualification stage) |
15 | Farid Mansurov | Greco-Roman wrestling, 66 kg | 1 |
16 | Fuad Aslanov | Boxing, 51 kg | 3 |
17 | Irada Ashumova | Shooting (bullet) 25 m 10 m | 3 8 |
18 | Marina Lapina | Athletics, hammer throw | 46 |
19 | Mehman Azizov | Judo, 81 kg | 5 |
20 | Movlud Miraliev | Judo, 100 kg | 5 |
21 | Namik Abdullaev | Freestyle wrestling, 55 kg | 14 |
22 | Natalia Filina | Swimming, breaststroke, 100 m | 44 |
23 | Niameddin Pashaev | Taekwondo, 68 kg | 11 |
24 | Nizami Pashayev | Weightlifting, 94 kg | Couldn’t finish the show |
25 | Rashad Akhmedov | Taekwondo, 80 kg | 4 |
26 | Rovshan Huseynov | Boxing, 60 kg | 5 |
27 | Ruslan Khairov | Boxing, 69 kg | 5 |
28 | Rustam Agayev | Freestyle wrestling, 96 kg | 5 |
29 | Sergey Bochkov | Athletics, triple jump | Couldn’t take part due to injury |
30 | Sergey Dyachkov | Swimming, free, 100 m | 67 |
31 | Shahin Imranov | Boxing, 57 kg | 9 |
32 | Teymur Gasimov | Athletics, 100 m | 8 (qualification stage) |
33 | Turan Mirzaev | Weightlifting, 69 kg | 4 |
34 | Vitalia Ragimov | Greco-Roman wrestling, 60 kg | 14 |
35 | Vugar Aslanov | Greco-Roman wrestling, 74 kg | 17 |
36 | Vugar Alekperov | Boxing, 91 kg | 5 |
37 | Elena Zhemaeva | Fencing, saber | 7 |
38 | Zemfira Meftakhetdinova | Shooting (skeet) | 3 |
Vugar Khairullaev
İdman.biz