The fireworks and lights of the Summer Olympic Games in Paris have gone off. Athletes have returned home, where they are welcomed, honored and congratulated. And, of course, there is a process of reflection, analysis and conclusions.
Kazakhstan-Georgia Economic Association with excitement followed the performances of the national teams of Kazakhstan and Georgia and decided to analyze their achievements at the Olympic Games. After all, sport is not only a competition, but also a platform for strengthening friendly ties between peoples.
And it worth noting that there are common features in the sports of these two countries. For example, Kazakhstan and Georgia have strong traditions in wrestling and are famous for their weightlifters. Boxing and judo are popular and successful sports in both countries.
30 years at the Olympics
Georgia and Kazakhstan made their debut as independent states at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and immediately made a name for themselves. Georgia won two medals: gold in judo and bronze in freestyle wrestling. Kazakhstan won three medals: gold in boxing, silver and bronze in freestyle wrestling.
Throughout the years, the countries have shown significant progress and development of their national sports programs. A common feature of both national teams is an emphasis on traditional sports such as boxing, wrestling and judo. Over the past decades, Georgia and Kazakhstan have consistently improved their position at the Olympic Games despite numerous challenges: economic difficulties and international competition. For both countries, participation and success at the Olympics are important for building national pride.
Achievements of the Georgian national team in Paris
The XXXIII Olympic Games were the most successful in the history of the Georgian team. The Georgian team won 7 medals: 3 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze. The country ranked 24th in the medal standings out of 206 Olympic national teams.
“True, three years ago in Tokyo, Georgia had a better quantitative result in terms of medals - there were 8. But, as we know, it is the quality of medals, not the quantity that matters,” emphasizes the President of the Georgian Judo Federation Giorgi Atabegashvili.
The medals in the national team of Georgia were distributed as follows:
One of the gold medals was won by twenty-four-year-old Lasha Bekauri, the youngest double Olympic judo champion in the world. Lasha took his first gold medal in Tokyo in 2021, and now in Paris he has confirmed his leadership in the weight category up to 90 kg. According to the president of the Georgian Judo Federation, Lasha is a bright gem of Georgian sport.
“The final between Bekauri and Murao Sanshiro was definitely a dream fight that graced these Olympic Games in Paris. The Georgian magician was incredibly motivated throughout the day. No one could control him, he left the most dangerous impression and was ready to make history. Bekauri’s “Golden” era is what I can safely call this stage. His tenacious character, fighting qualities and fighting spirit helped him the most in achieving success. His joy and emotions inspired many. Bekauri's family is happy. The Georgian Judo Federation is proud and the whole Georgian people celebrate! We were able to achieve this at the cost of a lot of hard work and sacrifice and we deserve the emotions of the fans!” - says Giorgi Atabegashvili.
Achievements of the national team of Kazakhstan at the XXXIII Olympic Games
According to the results of the Olympics in Paris there are 7 medals: 1 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze, in the asset of the Kazakhstan national team:
“We have been following the performances of Kazakhstan judokas,” said the President of the Georgian Judo Federation Giorgi Atabegashvili, who actively keeps in touch with other judokas and sports organizations around the world - and I really want to mention Smetov's gold medal. He performed brilliantly all day, won deservedly and wrote a new page in the history of Kazakhstani sport. It is good that he is friends with members of our national team. He was also in Tbilisi with our team during the pre-Olympic preparation, and this fact is certainly pleasing. We congratulate him and all the Kazakh people - our loyal friends!”
On the last day of the competition, judokas from Georgia and Kazakhstan unexpectedly met in the Olympic Village, congratulated each other, wished each other further successes and took pictures.
Irakli Kakaladze, Honorary Consul of Kazakhstan in Georgia, is a native of Karaganda, where he lived for 37 years and was professionally engaged in boxing. Here is how he talks about the Olympics: “I cheered and worried for both teams, because they are equally close and important to me. Kazakhstan has very strong boxing, but, unfortunately, at this Olympics we failed to achieve all our goals in boxing. But this is temporary, everything will be corrected for the better, because we have a very good school of boxing, including in Karaganda. I think our guys will definitely show better results in the future”.
Kazakhstan boxer Yeldos Smetov, the champion of these competitions, has previously competed in two Olympics: in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro he won a silver medal and in Tokyo in 2021 he received a bronze medal.
“A great joy was given to us by Smetov, a wonderful athlete who deservedly took gold and thus brought great joy to Kazakhstan. Yeldos is a great guy, he achieved everything thanks to his diligence and perseverance. I would also like to note that judo is developing well in Kazakhstan, because we have a national wrestling - Kazaksha kures, which is similar to this sport. And therefore, Kazakhstani athletes also have good results in judo”, - noted Irakli Kakaladze.
Continuously to the top!
Despite the successes achieved by both teams, the setbacks and disappointments show that the countries will have to face the challenge of improving their performance in traditionally strong sports.
And all the achievements of the national teams of Georgia and Kazakhstan emphasize the high level of training of the athletes and their desire to succeed on the world stage.
