Today, Olympic Day is celebrated around the world. As far as Tajik Olympians are concerned, they have won ten Olympic medals, mostly as members of the Soviet Olympic teams.
Debut of Tajik athletes at the Olympic Games took place in 1960. Oarsman Ibrahim Hasanov was the first Tajik participant in the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960.
As members of the Soviet Olympic teams, athletes from Tajikistan have won five Olympic medals; three gold medals and two bronze medals.
Oarsman Yuri Lobanov won Olympic gold medal in Munich in 1972, female archer Zubunisso Rustamova won bronze medal at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, oarsman Yuri Lobanov won Olympic bronze medal in Moscow in 1980, and pentathlonist Anatoly Starostin won two Olympic gold medals in Moscow in 1980.
As member of the unified team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Tajik hammer thrower Andrey Abduvaliyev won gold medal. The Unified Team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, was a joint team consisting of twelve of the fifteen former Soviet republics. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania competed separately.
During the years of Independence, Tajik athletes have won four Olympic medals. Judoka Rasoul Boqiyev won bronze and free-style wrestler Yusup Abdusalomov won silver at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Female boxer Mavzouna Choriyeva won bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and hammer thrower Dilshod Nazarov won gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Olympic Day was introduced in 1948 to commemorate the birth of the modern Olympic Games on June 23, 1894 at the Sorbonne in Paris. The goal was to promote participation in sport across the globe regardless of age, gender or athletic ability.
Olympic Day is celebrated all around the world: hundreds of thousands of people – young and old – participate in sports activities, such as runs, exhibitions, music and educational seminars.
Olympic Day is nowadays developing into much more than just a sports event. Based on the three pillars “move”, “learn” and “discover”, National Olympic Committees are deploying sports, cultural and educational activities. Some countries have incorporated the event into the school curriculum and, in recent years, many NOCs have added concerts and exhibitions to the celebration.
Commemorating the birth of the modern Olympic Games, Olympic Day is not only a celebration, but an international effort to promote fitness and well-being in addition to the Olympic ideals of Fair Play, Perseverance, Respect and Sportsmanship.
