The Paris-2024 Summer Olympic Games will be extraordinarily significant for Azerbaijan.
As Idman.biz reports, the multi-sport event in the French capital will start one day earlier for Azerbaijan.
The opening ceremony of the competition will be held on July 26. But the Olympic excitement for Azerbaijan will start sooner.
Yaylagul Ramazanova will start fighting on the 25th of the month. She will try herself in the qualification round in archery. 64 athletes will compete for the numbers to determine the 1/32 final pairs.
This will be the first competition that an Azerbaijani athlete starts at the Olympics a day before the opening ceremony. Until now, none of our representatives has experienced this excitement one or two days before the Games.
But there was also an Azerbaijani athlete who participated in the competition before the opening ceremony. At that time, our representative joined the fight on the same day as the opening ceremony, shortly before the ceremonial event.
Eight years ago in Rio, our archer was tested like this. Then Olga Senyuk took the 37th place in the qualifying round. Later, our female athlete lost in the 1/32 final and said goodbye to Brazil.
If we approach the issue in general, it has already become a tradition to start the competitions before the opening in some sports. But Azerbaijani Olympians were left out of it. The reason is that the types of teams that we are not usually represented in are given an early start.
Let's take a look at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics with the participation of Azerbaijani athletes and previous competitions.
The history of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics attended by Azerbaijan:
Atlanta-1996: July 19
Sydney-2000: September 15
Athens-2004: August 13
Beijing-2008: August 8
London-2012: July 27
Rio-2016: August 5
Tokyo-2020: July 23 ( Postponed to 2021)
Paris-2024: 26 July
The first races in Atlanta-1996 took place the day after the opening ceremony. This is the only such event at the Olympics with the participation of our national team.
Football was the only exception in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2004. In all three Olympics, football players played on the two days before the opening, but no competition took place on the day of the event.
The next two Olympics were marked by a different start. The players who played in London 2012 and Rio 2016 on the two days before the opening again rested on the day of the event. But this time, archery competitions were started on the opening day. It was at that time that our representative Olga Senyuk joined the struggle.
The start of Tokyo 2020 has been slightly changed. In the two days before the opening, not only football, but also softball games have been organized. On the day of the solemn ceremony, not only archery but also rowing was started. However, we did not have representatives of these types in Japan.
A different change was made in the schedule of this year's competition. It has been decided that no competition will be held on the day of the opening ceremony. Therefore, archery and handball competitions will be started one day earlier. As a result, Yaylagul will start the Olympics a day earlier for Azerbaijan. Football, as well as rugby sevens, will start earlier - on July 24, and there will be two match days until the opening.
The qualifying round of women's archery will start on July 25 at 11:30 Baku time and will last for three hours. When the Olympics will start for the Azerbaijani national team, Yaylagul will also be in front of the goal.
Vugar Kheyrullayev
Idman.biz
