EVERY THIRD ATHLETE IS A MEDALIST

The 31^st Summer Olympic Games held in Brazil are inscribed in the history of Azerbaijani sport in golden letters. Our athletes have set a new record by winning 18 medals in total.

At the end of 17 days of competition, the juries have identified the holders of 307 gold, 307 silver, and 361 bronze medals, the athletes competing in 28 sports.

Medal standings

The medals were awarded to representatives of 87 of 207 countries participating in the event. 59 of them had experienced the joy of the championship. Azerbaijan was among the countries, which had a privilege of playing the hymn of the country in Rio. The patriotic Olympic team had travelled to South America with 56 athletes, won 1 gold, 7 silver, and 10 bronze medals. In fact, every third athlete representing the country at the Olympics won a medal, which is the best result in the world.

Radik Isayev (+80 kg) won the first place in taekwondo, judoists Rustam Orujov (73 kg) and Elmar Gasimov (100 kg), the wrestlers Togrul Asgarov (65 kg), Khetag Gazyumov (97 kg) and Maria Stadnik (48 kg ), the boxer Lorenzo Sotomayor (64 kg), canoeist Valentin Demyanenko (200 m) - the second, the taekwondokas Patimat Abakarova (49 kg) and Milad Beigi Harchegani (80 kg), the boxer Kamran Shahsuvarly (75 kg), the wrestlers Rasul Junaev (66 kg), Sabah Shariati (130 kg), Natalia Sinishin (53 kg), Haji Aliyev (57 kg), Jabrail Hasanov (74 kg), and Sharif Sharifov (86 kg) and the kayak-rower Inna Osypenko-Radomska (200 m) - the third place.

This is a new record for Azerbaijan. Although the team has not improved the equity of medals since the London Olympics, it has set a record in the number of medals in the sports represented. Four years ago in the UK, Azerbaijan had won 10 medals (2-2-6) in three sports. This time, however, we have 18 medals in five sports. For the first time in history, the national athletes had topped the podium in taekwondo, canoeing, and kayaking.

Azerbaijan took the 39^th place in general medal standings lagging behind the following post-Soviet countries in the quality of medals: Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Georgia. But Azerbaijan is only behind Russia according to the number of medals won – the 15^th place.

The USA finished the competition in the first place. Having won 46 gold, 37 silver, and 38 bronze medals, the American athletes are ahead of everyone in the overall medal standings and are far ahead of the closest runner, the UK, which has a total of 54 medals. China was the third leading country.

Judo rising

The national judokas were our first successful athletes in Rio winning 2 silver medals. Rustam Orujov (73 kg) and Elmar Gasimov (100 kg) reached the finals, losing only in the playoffs.

The Japanese athlete was better in the finals and had won away the gold medal from our European champion Rustam Orujov. But it is worth noting that Orujov had selflessly fought to the very end of the competition. The same is true for Elmar Gasimov. Knocking out four strong contenders before the finals, the European champion lost to the Czech athlete Krpálek in the final battle. Although both athletes were equally strong, Gasimov was thrown on ippon having satisfied with a silver award.

The national judo team had the 12^th place in the Olympics with these two silver medals. Only 26 of 136 participating countries won medals in the competition. Among the countries of the former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan was the second country behind only Russia. The fact that the national team was represented by men judokas only (6^th place) had influences the overall results. The Japanese athletes were the best the same as in the overall standings. In total, the Japanese won 12 medals (men 7 and women 5 medals). The two silver medals won in Rio are a great success since our team was left without medals in the 2012 London Olympics.

The best team

One of the best in Rio in 2016 was Azerbaijan's taekwondo team, which has won an Olympic medal first time in the country’s history. The team was represented by 4 athletes in Brazil and won 3 medals, having written a new page in the history of national taekwondo.

Our first Olympic taekwondo medalist with a bronze medal is Patimat Abakarova. Later, Milad Beigi Harchegani has also took the third place in the competition.

Radik Isayev, who won the only gold medal of Azerbaijan at the 31^st Summer Olympic Games, achieved the highest result. The only taekwondoka left without a medal was only Farid Azizov (67 kg), who lost the victory at the last moment, taking the 5^th place.

Radik Isayev’s victory in the finals over the Nigerien athlete is a significant event in the history of the national sport. For the first time, the Azerbaijani taekwondoka has reached the finals winning the gold medal in taekwondo. Radik Isayev is a world and European champion, who has added yet another award to his collection.

Our taekwondo team ranked the 4^th in Rio 2016 lagging behind only the national teams of South Korea, China, and the UK. The national team, which is ranked the 2^nd in Europe, has attracted worldwide attention being ahead of all the teams from the former Soviet Union.

The Asian athletes won 2 gold medals. The Chinese team, which has fewer medals than the Azerbaijani national team and the British team with the same number of medals, were ahead only by the equity of medals. The taekwondo competitions had 128 athletes (64 men and 64 women) from 63 countries.

Boxing

The national boxing team was one of the 12 countries, which contended at the finals of the 31^st Olympic Games. One of our 11 boxers contending for 13 sets of medals, Lorenzo Sotomayor (64 kg), has reached the final stage of the competition for the first time in the history of the Azerbaijani boxing. He, however, lost to the boxer from Uzbekistan and was awarded a silver medal.

The boxer Kamran Shahsuvarly (75 kg) returned from Brazil with a bronze medal.

With 1 silver and 1 bronze medals, our boxers shared the 10th place with the team of Colombia. Among the European teams, our team was ranked the 4^th, behind only France, Russia, and the UK. Uzbekistan was ranked the first in overall standings. Having won an equal number of gold medals with the renowned Cuban boxers, the Uzbek athletes were ahead of them by the quality of medals. France was ranked the third best boxing team. In total, 19 countries won Olympic medals.

Our boxers Albert Salimov and Teymur Mammadov performed less than expected. They both stopped the competition at early stage.

Wrestles’ medal record

The Rio Summer Olympic Games opened a new page in the history of Azerbaijani wrestling. The national athletes have won the largest number of medals. Of the 14 wrestlers, nine returned home as Olympics medalists: 3 silver and 6 bronze medals.

Greco-Roman wrestlers Rasul Chunaev (66 kg) and Sabah Shariati (130 kg) won the bronze medals during the first 3 days of competition. With two bronze medals, our national team of 5 athletes coached by Jamshid Heyrabadi, Nuraddin Rajabov, and Akif Aliyev was ranked the third in the traditional ranking of the Union of World Wrestling.

As for the female wrestlers, our team was represented by three athletes, two of whom have won medals. Losing only in the finals, Mariya Stadnik (48 kg) won the silver medal of the Olympics, and Natalia Sinishin (53 kg) won the bronze medal. It should be noted that Stadnik lost just 3 seconds before the end of the round to her Japanese rival. During the awarding ceremony, Maria could not hold back her tears and was comforted by the President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach.

The overall performance of the national women's team was successful. It was ranked the 4^th in the traditional ranking of the Union of World Wrestling.

Freestylers also achieved good results at the Olympics. Azerbaijan was represented by a team of six athletes coached by Shaypulla Absaidov and Firdovsi Umudov. As a result, our wrestlers won 2 silver and 3 bronze medals. Silver winners were Togrul Asgarov (65 kg) and Khetag Gazyumov (97 kg); our bronze medalists were Haji Aliyev (57 kg), Dzhabrail Hasanov (74 kg), and Sharif Sharifov (86 kg). In the ranking of the Union of World Wrestlers, our team was the best by the numbers of medals won.

With 9 medals, our wrestlers shared the first place with the wrestlers from Russia.

Our fans were disappointed fans that two-time Olympic medalist Rovshan Bayramov was not able to get any award. Having won all of his competitors before going to the semi-finals, our world champion could not the final stage of competition. He could not forget his defeat and failed the battle for the bronze medal. It is necessary to mention that Togrul Asgarov won his second medals at the Olympic Games. Although the native of Ganja, Asgarov, received two injuries in the last 4 years, he was able to become one of the winners of the Rio Games.

In 1996, our wrestlers won 1 silver medal in Atlanta, 1 gold medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and the 2004 Games held in Athens, respectively, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals in Beijing in 2008, and 2 gold, 2 silver, and 3 bronze medals (7 medals) at the 2012 Olympics in London. Thus, with 9 medals (3 silver and 6 bronze) awarded at the Rio Olympic Games, they have written a new page in the history of national wrestling.

If we look at the statistics, it becomes clear that at the most prestigious quadrennial competitions, our athletes have increased the number of medals won from one competition to another. This time we won only one gold medal. We believe that in the future our wrestlers will show even greater urgency to enhance the quality of medals in order to elevate our flag and thus please all of us.

Rowing Sports

Our athletes won the first medal in a new kind of sports, the rowing. Our sprint-kayaker Inna Osypenko-Radomska came to finish the third (200 m) winning the bronze medal. The race was won by Carrington, who, like 4 years ago, became the champion. The representative of New Zealand has completed a distance of 200 meters setting a new Olympic record - 39.864 seconds. Inna was behind her by 0.537 seconds.

In canoeing (200 m), one of the leaders of the Azerbaijani national team Valentin Demyanenko was ranked the second. The decisive stage was won by the Ukrainian Yuri Cheban, who crossed the finish line with a record time of 39.279 seconds. Our canoeist was behind Cheban to 0,214 seconds. The Brazilian Queiroz Dos Santos was the third with a score of 39.628 seconds.

Olympic Records

The Olympic Games held in Brazil will be remembered for a number of interesting facts.

The legendary swimmer Michael Phelps has made an official announcement about his retirement after the Olympics. Although Phelps made a similar statement 4 years ago, he has later changed his mind. This time, however, the 31-year-old swimmer said that he would no longer appear on the water path. Now, he is going to play golf. "That’s a happy end for my career. Now I will play golf spending more time with my family and enjoying the sun", said Phelps.

Note that Phelps, who won 5 gold and 1 silver medals at the Rio Games, won 23 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze Olympic medals. He is also a 27-time world champion.

The US tops the charts as the second-time consecutive winner by the number of medals, the 17-time winner in the history of Olympics.

For the US, the Rio 2016 is significant since they won the 1000^th gold medal and the 2500^th medal in the overall standings.

With 9 Olympic champion titles, the Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt has repeated the achievement of Paavo Nurmi of Finland and Carl Lewis of USA.

Three countries won medals for the first time in their history: the Fiji national rugby team, the Jordanian taekwondoka Ahmad Abugaush (68 kg), and the judoka Maylinda Kelmendi (52 kg) from Kosovo won the gold medals.

27 world records were officially registered in Rio. 8 records in swimming and weightlifting, 7 in cycling, 3 in athletics, and 1 in archery.

Almaz Ayana broke the 23-year-old world record in the women's run for 10,000 meters.

The Chinese Wu Minxia became the most titled athlete in diving. In Rio, he secured this achievement by winning his fifth gold medal.

The British women’s cycling team has updated the world record three times during the same competition.

The progress of the 31^st Olympic Games was actively watched by 3.7 billion people worldwide, which is almost half the world's population. 

The 32^nd Summer Olympic Games will take place in Tokyo, Japan in 2020.