FORWARD TO THE PAST

Finally, the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo – the largest international sport event – took place after a year-long pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. The world's strongest athletes competed for medals Tokyo, Japan. 339 sets of awards have waited for their owners for 16 days. The leading countries have met the expectations almost in full. Having become the leader of the ranking on the last day of competition, the US Olympic team proved that China is still lagging behind.

Disappointing results

The national team of Azerbaijan received seven medals at the Olympics. Three silver and four bronze medals. Our silver medallists were Haji Aliyev (freestyle wrestling, 75 kg), Rafael Aghayev (karate, 75 kg) and Irina Zaretskaya (karate, 61+ kg). Bronze medals went to Irina Kindzerskaya (judo, 78+ kg), Alfonso Dominguez (boxing, 81 kg), Rafig Huseynov (Greco-Roman wrestling, 77 kg) and Maria Stadnik (women's wrestling, 50 kg). Azerbaijan was ranked the 67th strongest team of the planet by the number of medals won.

44 Azerbaijani athletes (40 licenses) competed in Tokyo in judo, wrestling, rhythmic gymnastics, karate, boxing, taekwondo, athletics, stand shooting, fencing, cycling, swimming and triathlon. Azerbaijan did not win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

Our athletes have had the smallest number of licenses since the 2004 Athens Olympic Games (38 licenses). In 2008, the number of licenses won for the Beijing Olympics was 44, with 53 licenses for the London Olympics in 2012, 56 licenses for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.

Since 1996, Azerbaijani athletes have won 43 medals at the Olympic games (7 gold, 11 silver and 25 bronze medals).

Pandemic to blame

Before the Olympic Games in Tokyo, experts said that the competition will be a different one. It was argued that winning a gold medal at the Games would be a doubly difficult test for all athletes, including those from Azerbaijan. Indeed, the pandemic has affected not only the organisation of the event, but also the training process of athletes. The one-year delay not only got our athletes out of their optimal shape, but also revealed an unprofessional approach to their duties.

For the first time after the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, where Azerbaijan was represented as an independent country, our athletes have failed to win gold medals. Then the only medal of Azerbaijan won in Atlanta was a silver won awarded to the current head coach of the Azerbaijani freestyle wrestling team Namig Abdullayev. In subsequent Olympic games, Azerbaijani athletes have always returned home with gold medals. In Sydney 2000, we won two (Namig Abdullayev and Zemfira Meftaheddinova), in Athens 2004 - one (wrestler Farid Mansurov), in Beijing 2008 - one (judoka Elnur Mammadli), in London 2012 - two (wrestlers Toghrul Askerov and Sharif Sharifov), in Rio 2916 - one (taekwondoka Radik Isayev) gold medal.

There is also a regression in the number of medals. Five years ago, we had 18 medals (1, 7, 10), and now only seven. It is interesting that before the Olympic games, Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan Chingiz Huseynzadeh expressed his hope for eight medals. Although our team has accomplished the minimum mission, the overall outcome is unsatisfactory because of the lack of gold medals...

Azerbaijan won its first medal at the Tokyo Olympics on the seventh day of the competition. And it was already a bad sign. Back in 1996 in Atlanta, Namig Abdullayv won the first and only medal on the 14th day of the competition. Four years later, in Sydney, we got the first and gold medal on the sixth day of the games, when Zemfira Meftaheddinova became the winner in clay pigeon shooting. In Athens (2004), Irada Ashumova and she managed to win medals on the fifth and sixth day of the competition, respectively.

The earliest received medal of our team dates back to 2008 (Beijing). Then the judoka Elnur Mammadli became the Olympic champion on the third day of the games. And in 2012 in London, on the third day of the competition, weightlifter Valentin Khristov became a bronze medallist. Later this award was cancelled however, as doping was found in his blood. Finally, again on the third day of the competition, Rustam Orujov won a bronze medal in Rio in 2016.

Interestingly, the first and last medals in our team in Tokyo were awarded to athletes named Irina. Judoka Irina Kindzerskaya was awarded a bronze medal, followed by a silver medal won by karateka Irina Zaretskaya in the last days of the competition. In general, 4 of 7 medals were brought to Azerbaijan by naturalised athletes – Ukrainians Kindzerskaya, Zaretskaya and Maria Stadnik, and a Cuban athlete Alfonso Dominguez. Only three medals were won by Azerbaijanis Rafael Aghayev, Haji Aliyev and Rafig Huseynov. Meaning that respective federations have something to think about.

Expectations were particularly high on the national judo team of Azerbaijan. Despite a record number of Azerbaijani judokas (9) represented at the Tokyo Olympics, we could get only one medal. In the men's competition, Azerbaijan was represented in all weight categories, but the athletes could not get a single medal. Our highest achievement was the fifth place of Rustam Orujov (73 kg). The rest of the athletes dropped out of the competition already at initial stages. Upon returning to Baku, the Azerbaijan Judo Federation dismissed the entire coaching staff of the national team. The bronze medallist of the Beijing Olympics Movlud Miraliyev has been appointed the new head coach of the men's team.

Boxer Lorenzo Sotomayor (69 kg) has also demonstrated unsuccessful performance at the Tokyo Olympics. After a silver medal in Rio, he was expected to at least repeat the same success. But he dropped out of the competition at the very beginning. Our world champion in taekwondo Milad Beigi Kharchegani (80 kg) also did not meet expectations after his defeat at the initial start of the tournament.

Favourites have especially disappointed their fans due to their weak performance. Blaming the pandemic as the main reason for unsatisfactory performance would be wrong in this case. After all, the pandemic affected the athletes in all countries of the world. On the other hand, Azerbaijani athletes had all conditions to win licenses as part of their preparations for the Tokyo Olympics.

Seven Olympic medals in Tokyo after 18 medals received in Rio cannot be considered a successful result. Most of our renowned athletes already think about ending their career. There is very little time left until the next Olympic Games in 2024. Changing the situation radically in just three years is a difficult task. Usually, the change of generations is not easy process. It is possible that we will see accomplishments similar to the results of Rio 2016 at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. But for now, we need to prepare for the Paris Olympic Games...