Minister's ‘wish’ for 2024: "We need to support them"

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27 December 2024 13:05
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Minister's ‘wish’ for 2024: "We need to support them"

“There were moments during the Olympic Games that we regretted.”

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Farid Gayibov, made this statement during his traditional meeting with journalists to review the year’s results.

He discussed the moments from the year that caused him to say “I wish” as the year comes to a close: “It was important for us to win the first gold medal. The psychological pressure during the games is intense. This year, our sports journalists also participated in the Olympics for the first time, which was an important factor. Every competition is an experience for all of us. Journalists, too, saw how excited the athletes were. We were very happy when the first medal was won. After that, our appetite grew (laughs). We realized we had a chance. We also wished for our wrestler Hasrat Jafarov to become Olympic champion. Although young, he has great potential. However, sports don’t always go the way you expect. Many factors play a role. We were also hoping for a gold medal from our boxer Alfonso Dominguez. And our taekwondo athlete Gashim Magomedov—he was part of the Azerbaijan Taekwondo Federation, which showed a 100% result. He won a silver medal in the Olympics, even though we were hoping he would win the final. Unfortunately, he got injured. We could see how hard the federations were working. Everyone was working together. For example, Hanna Skydan reached the finals for the first time in her fourth Olympic Games. Our rhythmic gymnastics team, competing in the group exercises for the first time, placed 5th. They were very close to a medal.”

The minister also refrained from naming athletes who let him down but whom he had high hopes for: “I won’t mention their names (laughs). Because we need to support our athletes. Negative comments could demotivate them. The athletes themselves want to achieve results the most. We discussed our predictions for the results with the federations ahead of time. Based on analysis, we had certain expectations. Yes, there were athletes from whom we expected more, but again, this is sports.”

For context, Azerbaijan won 2 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

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