OLYMPIC FINISH

2008 has come to an end and it is high time to summarize its results. If we think about Azerbaijan's achievements in sport this year, we should recall first the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing. Azerbaijani sportsmen were no strangers to this festival of life and won one gold, two silvers and four bronzes. As a result, our national team took 39th place overall.

By comparison, we should point out that in Atlanta 1996, Azerbaijan took 61st place with one "silver"; in Sydney 2000, 34th place with two gold medals and one bronze medal and in Athens 2004, 50th place with one gold and four bronze medals. So in Beijing, we finished higher than in Atlanta and Athens, but lower than in Sydney. By the number of medals, Olympics 2008 was the best in the history of Azerbaijan. By this criterion, our country took 27th place in China.

Our main hero at the Games was judoka Elnur Mammadli, who performed in the 73 kg division. Having beaten his rivals hands down, he won the first - gold - medal for Azerbaijan at the 29th Olympic Games. Incidentally, this was the first "gold" not just for us, but also for all countries of the former USSR, as well as for Muslim countries.

Greco-Roman wrestlers Rovsan Bayramov (55 kg) and Vitaliy Rahimov (60 kg) won silver medals. While Vitaliy's entry into the final was a great surprise, and he lost to his opponent in the final bout, Rovsan had every chance of victory, but did not make it.

Our representatives in martial arts also won bronze medals. Judoka Movlud Miraliyev (100 kg), boxer Sahin Imranov (57 kg) and freestyle wrestlers Khetag Gazyumov (96 kg) and Maria Stadnik (48 kg) all stood on the lowest step of the podium.

While discussing the Olympics, we cannot ignore the successful performances of our gymnasts, the relative success of our athletes and our debut in the equestrian arena.

Rhythmic gymnast Aliya Qarayeva took 6th place, which was a historic result for the Azerbaijani gymnast and may even be surpassed at the next Olympic Games in London. Nor did the team let us down. The girls made their way into the final, which can already be regarded as a significant achievement. What is more, the Azerbaijani national team beat the strong Ukrainian team in crucial contests, taking 7th place.

Athlete Ramil Quliyev was also quite successful. He was the first Azerbaijani sprinter to win an Olympic place in Beijing and proved that he was not there to be a spectator. In the 200 metres sprint, Ramil got through the preliminary stage for the first time in the history of Azerbaijani participation in track events at the Olympic Games. The young athlete's time was 20.78 seconds, which allowed him to run in the quarterfinals, where Quliyev did even better. He sprinted in 20.66 seconds, which was a record for Azerbaijan. However, unfortunately, he came only 24th of the 32 participants in the quarterfinals. Only 16 sprinters made it to the semi-finals.

Azerbaijan also made its Olympic debut in the equestrian arena. Jockey Camal Rahimov took part in the show jumping competition. Although his result was not outstanding (having performed successfully in the first qualifier, he fell off the horse in the second qualifier and was taken to hospital with a leg injury) we must admit that Camal has the ability to participate in an Olympic Games and perform successfully.

In considering the achievements of Azerbaijani sportsmen over the past year, judo certainly takes pride of place. The two Olympic medals, one of them gold, came at a price. Critics of Agayar Axundzada, chief coach of the Azerbaijani national team, immediately fell silent. In the next four years, the voices of the ill-wishers who call for the resignation of this experienced specialist are unlikely to be heard.

As for the wrestling coaches, especially in freestyle wrestling, there were plenty of questions for them. The men's freestyle wrestling team went to Beijing with a full complement and was represented in all seven weight categories. However, we have to say that five of them were 'imports' who had been recruited from abroad. We expected a barrage of medals from our freestylers, but they achieved just a drop in the ocean - a single bronze medal, won by Khetag Gazyumov. Nevertheless, the coach of our national team, Magomedkhan Aratsilov, was invited to continue working with the team.

There have been plenty of questions for our boxers as well over the past year. The replacement of the national team's principal coach did not bring about positive change. Only two Azerbaijani boxers made it to the Beijing Olympics, while there were nine in Athens. There seems every possibility that, in the near future, the current chief coach, Nariman Abdullayev, will be replaced by a foreign specialist. They say that it will be a representative of one of the strongest boxing nations - either Russia or Cuba.

In team sports, Azerbaijani teams failed to achieve significant success this year. Yes, our national basketball team won the Promotion Cup - or, as they call this tournament now, the European Championship Division C - for the second time in a row. Yes, FC Xazar Lankaran won the Commonwealth Cup for the second time, but neither contest is very popular and victories in these tournaments should not be overestimated.

There has been a lot of work done in football, but this has not yet had an effect on results. The national team, led by well-known German coach Berti Vogst, did not perform the way we expected. Two victories, four draws and five losses are not the best results, especially if we recall that in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers our team lost twice and drew with Lichtenstein at home, although predictions led us to expect a win in Baku.

Although our football clubs' forays into the European arena are improving, they are still limited. For example, last year Neftci went through two rounds of the Intertoto Cup, which was the best achievement in the history of Azerbaijani club football. But the Intertoto Cup has always been regarded as a third-class contest in Europe and serves as a qualification stage for the UEFA Cup. Moreover, this contest will no longer be held from 2009.

The accolade of strongest team could easily have gone to the Azerbaijani national women's field hockey team if they had made their way into the Olympics. But unfortunately, the team fell one step short of Beijing. We lost out to Spain who, however, did not exactly get there in honest fashion, but there is no point in going over the story of the drugs found in the blood of two Spanish players.

These are the outcomes of 2008. Of course, we have by no means covered all the interesting events that happened last year, but I think we have told you about the most significant ones. We hope that although 2009 is not an Olympic year, it will give us plenty of happy moments and pleasant results.