Sport, us and the Olympics: Hail, Zeus - ANALYSIS

There are 77 days left until the start of the Paris-2024 Summer Olympic Games, which will be held on July 26.

Idman.biz continues the series of articles dedicated to the most prestigious multi-sport competition of the quadrennial, which will start on Friday after 11 weeks.

In the period until Paris-2024, we remember the summer Olympics in which Azerbaijani athletes participated in the years of independence. The Azerbaijan national team made its debut in Atlanta in 1996 and made its third attempt in Athens.

Olympics Returned Home

In 1996, on the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympics, the dream of Athens, which did not come true, came true. The first Summer Olympic Games of the 3rd millennium, 21st century, organized 8 years later, returned to the historical homeland of the competition. 201 countries have already participated in the multi-sport event in the land of Zeus. During the 17 days from August 13 to 29, the owners of 301 sets of medals were determined.

New Millennium, New Records and Branches

The number of Olympians of the Azerbaijani national team has increased this time. Four years ago, 38 athletes took part in our team that went to Sydney with 31 athletes. 32 of them were men and 6 were women. The number of sports represented by us has reached 10 for the first time. Our national team made its debut in rhythmic gymnastics and taekwondo competitions in Athens. Since then, our athletes of these two types have become permanent participants of the Olympics. After 4 years, fencing joined the list of represented sports.

No ticket from Baku to Athens.
Azerbaijan's team sports debut at the Olympics could have taken place in Athens. Our women's volleyball team has gained a real opportunity for this. At that time, our team, which stood out not only in Europe, but all over the world, had a magnificent, perhaps the strongest team in its history. Yelena Shabovta, Alla Hasanova also took part in the qualification tournament in Baku under the leadership of Faig Garayev. Hopes and confidence in the team were high between the native walls. But our team could not get a ticket from Baku to Athens.

Fell into the water
In diving, which we represented in the first two Olympics, our athlete did not go to Athens. This sport was left for our national team in the last millennium. We didn't have any divers in the next Games either. In short, diving is like falling into water.

Sadness of the Flag Bearer, Secret of the Margin

Although 38 athletes were sent to Athens, only 36 of them joined the fight. Freestyle wrestler Arif Abdullayev was sick, and Sergey Bochkov was injured, so he could not participate in the competition. It is for this reason that the number of representatives of Azerbaijan in Athens-2004 is shown as 38, 37 and 36 in various sources.
The speech of our flag bearer, Nizami Pashayev, who went to Greece with great hopes, was received pitifully. Our weightlifter could not handle the first weight he ordered, so he finished the race out of the ranking.

Good Job, Guys: Again, in the same categories

Azerbaijan broke the record of four years ago in the number of medals. This time, our team was represented on the podium 5 times. But this time only one gold was won, while other awards were bronze. As four years ago, medals were won again in the same categories - wrestling, shooting and boxing. As a result, our team returned in the 50th place in the medal standings.

Continuing the Tradition: Classic; Debut
Wrestling, the only sport in which we have won a medal at every Olympics, delighted the fans in Athens as well. As in 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 previous two competitions, this time our Greco-Roman wrestler stood out, not in freestyle. Farid Mansurov won the Olympic "class" of "classics" by defeating all his opponents. Rustam Aghayev, one of our other wrestlers, was one step away from the medal. Namig Abdullayev, who returned with an award from two consecutive Olympics, failed in his third attempt.

"Hitting two birds with one bullet"

Although our shooters did not shoot two birds with one bullet, they won two medals in one Olympics. Both awards were bronze. Zemfira Meftahatdinova went down in history as our second athlete who won medals in two consecutive Olympic Games. Our stand shooter changed the gold of four years ago to bronze. The bronze won by Irada Ashumova in one of the two categories in Athens also went down in history. Although he managed to reach the final stage in the other category, he was satisfied with the 8th place. This was the first medal of our athletes not in the stand, but in shooting.

Finally, Someone Gets Ahead of Wrestling

Boxers, like shooters, have increased their number of medals . Our team, which was satisfied with one bronze in Sydney, won two prizes of the same caliber this time. This time, Fuad Aslanov and Agasi Mammadov stood out. Three of our boxers are in the quarter-finals, one step away from the medal. Vugar Alakbarov, who was 3rd four years ago, was one victory away from the second consecutive bronze medal. Rovshan Huseynov and Ruslan Khairov also stumbled at the same stage. But our boxing team has signed another first in Athens. Our national team, which went to Greece with a team of 9 people, was the first team to surpass our wrestling team in terms of numbers. Such an event happened in Tokyo-2020. In Japan, judokas dominated our Olympic national team.

Theye Could Not Break the Spell

The Azerbaijani national team, which won medals in three of the 10 sports represented in Athens, was close to the debut in four. Rashad Ahmadov is one step away from painting the Olympic debut of our Taekwondo team in bronze colors. He left Athens with the 4th place. Yelana Jemayeva took 7th place in fencing. Our judokas made two attempts to break the spell of no medals. Mehman Azizov and Mevlud Miraliyev returned home empty-handed after losing the match for bronze. Turan Mirzayev, who took the 4th place, and Alan Naniyev, who finished the race in the 7th place, were very little separated from the Athens medal. A few years later, one of the award winners was involved in doping, and Naniyev moved to the 6th place.

Vugar Kheyrullayev
Idman.biz