Sports, us and the Olympics: Victory over Corona – ANALYSIS

There are 49 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 7 weeks.

In the period until Paris-2024, we remember the summer Olympics in which Azerbaijani athletes participated in the years of independence. The Azerbaijani national team, who made his debut in Atlanta in 1996, made his 7th after Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London and Rio.

The most expensive Olympics

There were 3 candidates for hosting the 32nd Games. Having won the fight against Istanbul and Madrid, Tokyo got the opportunity to host the Olympics for the second time. The capital of Japan, which was the organizer of this competition in 1964, faced serious problems this time. The coronavirus, which has affected the whole world and turned into a nightmare for everyone, has also threatened the Olympics. The race, which remains under dark clouds, has been postponed several times, and there is a possibility of its cancellation. Even the Olympic torch lit in Athens was stopped and stored in a special place in Fukushima. In the end, the Olympics took place a year later. For the first time in history, such a postponement was experienced. Although the name of Tokyo 2020, which will take place from 2021, remains the same, it has been replaced by COVID-19 protocols, restrictions and bans. The Games, which were held behind closed doors without spectators, went down in history as the most expensive Olympics. In total, more than 20 billion dollars were spent on the competition. In the end, more than 11,000 athletes from 204 countries and 2 additional teams competed for 339 sets of medals in 33 sports.

First reduction: Asian "four"

This streak of the Azerbaijani national team, which has a tradition of being represented by more athletes at every Olympics, was broken in Tokyo. If this number exceeded 50 in the previous two competitions, 44 of our athletes went to Japan. This was a repeat of the indicator of 13 years ago. Our team was again represented in Asia by the same number of athletes with a double-digit number represented by "the four".

28 of them were male and 16 female athletes. There has also been a decrease in the number of sports we participate in. Our national team, which had 14 athletes in the last two competitions, was satisfied with "13" this time.

Two failed attempts

As in the previous Olympics, our representatives in team sports were left out of the competition. Although our women's volleyball players had two opportunities for this, they missed the chances. Our national team previously played in the qualifying tournament in Brazil. In the four-team competition, our team, which lost to the Dominican Republic 0:3 and Brazil 2:3, beat Cameroon - 3:0. If the home team won the only qualification, our national team was satisfied with the third place. The European Qualifying Tournament in Apeldoorn, Netherlands was also unsuccessful. Having lost to the Netherlands 0:3, Bulgaria 1:3, and Poland 0:3 in the group, the national team finished last in the tournament.

The arrow hits the stone

Three of the types represented by our nation in Rio-2016 were excluded this time. The debut in archery, which took place five years ago, has not been continued. Rowers and canoeists did not go to the Japanese capital after participating in two Olympics. Instead, two types debuted. Azerbaijani athletes also participated in badminton and karate, which was included in the Olympic program for the first time. At the same time, 13 years after Beijing-2008, the return of our national team was observed in the shooting range.

Hat trick on the mat

Our national wrestling team went to the Land of the Rising Sun with only 7 athletes. It was an anti-record in history. Even when we were represented in two types, the number of wrestlers was more. Compared to Rio, there was a double decrease in freestyle wrestling, and a more than two-fold decrease in Greco-Roman wrestling. This time there were only 7 wrestlers instead of 14, but wrestlers won the most awards for our nation. Although one of our athletes stood out in each category, the value of these medals was not gold. The only final happened in freestyle wrestling. Haji Aliyev lost in the decisive match and settled for silver. Sharif Sharifov lost within one step of the medal - in the bronze match, Turan Bayramov stopped in the quarter-finals and took the 8th place. Rafig Huseynov's profit from "Classics" was 3rd place. Islam Abbasov lost his first match in the 1/8 finals. Elis Manolova, who lost early like her, had the opportunity to participate in the consolation round, but she faced defeat again. Our other female wrestler, Maria Stadnik, left the mat disappointed in the semi-finals, but won the bronze medal.

Once and for all chance

For the first time in the history of our karate nation, and for the last time, it went to the Olympics. Included in the program of Tokyo-2020, there was a chance for a medal for our team. Two of our three athletes achieved this wish. Although two silvers are considered a big success, Rafael Aghayev and Irina Zaretska, who are many times world champions, cannot be satisfied with the silver won at the Games, where they went for gold. The other karate fighter Firdovsi Farzaliyev took the 5th place.

Continue the tradition of the ring

Our boxing team went to Japan with a team reduced by more than two times compared to Rio-2016. But this did not break the tradition of the nation. Only our boxers, who were without a medal in Atlanta, managed to bring a medal from the 6th Olympics in a row. This time the gain was a bronze. Alfonso Domingues advanced to the semi-finals with two wins. The defeat here could not prevent him from settling for third place. Two of our other boxers stumbled in the 1/16 and two in the 1/8 finals.

First, record on tatami, second time in history

Our team represented by the largest team in Tokyo was judoka. Our team went on the trip with 9 athletes. This was also the second time in history that the number of representatives in some sport at the Olympics was ahead of wrestling. Boxing achieved this in Athens-2004. Also, our judo team obtained 9 licenses by signing the best result in their history. But the men's national tatami, which went to the Olympics with a full team, left disappointed. Except for the 5th place of Rustam Orujov, no results were won. 4 of his teammates stood in the 1/8, one in the 1/16 finals. Irina Kindzerska got the only medal. She became the first prize winner of Azerbaijan in women's judo by claiming the bronze.

Hopes that remain near the medal

Five years ago, our taekwondo team, which pleased us with its medals, returned home empty-handed this time. Although Milad Beigi Harchegani was one step away from the semi-finals, he could not pass the 1/4 final barrier. Hopeful Anna Bashta stumbled in the 1/8 finals in fencing. Our gymnasts, who won 4 Olympic qualifications for the first time, went to Tokyo with a record number of 8 athletes. This was again caused by fighting in group actions. The best result was written by the 10th place team.

Where is the finish line?

There were no pleasant surprises in the sports where we did not expect a medal. Our athletes, whose number has halved, stopped the fight at the qualifying stage. The debut in badminton ended in the group stage. This time our cyclist did not reach the finish line. The number of our representatives in this sport has also decreased. The second attempt in triathlon was not memorable. Our swimmers and shooters were not able to pass the qualification stage either.

Longing for gold after 25 years

Our national team won a total of 7 medals in the Land of the Rising Sun. Our team, which finished the Games without a gold medal for the second time in its history, did not experience a championship like in Atlanta-1996. The trend of winning at least one gold in 5 consecutive Olympics ended in the "viral Tokyo-2020". Our athletes finished with 3 silver and 4 bronze medals. Our representatives won medals in 4 different types. As a result, our team was 67th in the medal ranking. This was an anti-record in history that our team fell 6 places compared to Atlanta-1996.

Vugar Kheyrullayev
Idman.biz