Another Olympic Games
As I have said before, I enjoy “Trivial Pursuits” – not just the game itself, but simply gathering useless but gathering interesting and unusual facts.
For example – Do you know:
- who won the first ever Gold Medal in the modern Olympic Games in 1896?, (for the record it was: James Connolly of the United States in the Triple Jump), and
- who won the first ever Gold Medal in the Winter Olympics Games in 1924?, (for the record it was Charles Jewtraw of the United States in the 500m speed skate) … and how about
- who won the first Gold Medal at the first Youth Olympic Games in 2010?, (for the record it was Yuka Sato from Japan in the Triathlon event).
No, that last one is not a trick question … this year saw the first ever Youth Olympic Games, (YOG), being held in Singapore between 14th and 26th August.
This is a new venture of the International Olympic Committee, (IOC), and joins the catalogue of Olympic events such as the Summer Olympic Games, the Winter Olympic Games and the Paraplegic Olympics, (although, for the record, the Special Olympics are run by a separate body and an historic agreement with the IOC in 1988 recognizes and gives special rights and privileges to the Paralympics). Just as with the “regular” Olympic Games, it is planned to hold the event every four years with an equivalent “Winter Games” two years later. The idea for such an event, designed for athletes between the ages of 14 and 18, was first suggested in 2001 by the then President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge – and in 2007 the idea was officially adopted.
Singapore was selected to be the host city for the inaugural event, and Nanjing will host the next Games. Innsbruck was selected to host the fist Winter Games in 2012.
Over three and a half thousand young athletes will be contesting 184 different in 26 different sports, but there are some differences from the adult games. For example, in cycling, the YOG will feature mountain bike and BMX events but not road and track events.
So, why am I writing about “Another Olympic Games”?
As it happens, one of the over two hundred national teams comes from Kyrgyzstan, and they quickly managed to notch up a remarkable success.
The Kyrgyz team consists of just eight athletes: Shadybek Sulaimanov and Urmatbek Aamatov in Greco-Roman Wrestling (both 17 years old and competing in the 50kg and 58kg classes respectively); the boxer Islomzhan Dalibaev (18 years old, competing in the Welterweight, “up to 69kg”, class); Iliaz Baktybekov in the Modern Pentathlon (17 years old); swimmers Dmitry Alexandrov and Catherine Lysenko, (17 and 15 years old respectively and both competing in the 200m breaststroke event); Bolotbek Toktogonov in Judo (15 years old, competing in the 100kg class) and rower Ruslan Moltaev (15 years old and competing in the Canoe Kayak 200m event). They are accompanied by their coaches and the head of the State committee for Physical Culture and Sport and the President of the Kyrgyz National Olympic Committee.
The Greco-Roman wrestling events took place on the first day of competition, Sunday and provided some of the fifteen Gold Medals to be won on Day One. The fact the press conference after the event was held in Russian indicated the domination of the CIS countries, (former republics of the USSR) in this sport. Aamatov won all his bouts in his class, walking away with the Gold Medal and Sulaimanov , although losing his opening bout he went on to win the remainder, taking third place and the Bronze Medal in his class. Their success meant that on Monday morning, Kyrgyzstan held joint sixth place in the medal table along with neighbouring Kazakhstan.
Congratulations obviously go to all those who “made the grade” and participated in the event, and especially to the medal winners.
Their successes compare well to Kyrgyzstan’s record in the main Olympic Games. Since the first time that Kyrgyzstan competed in the modern Olympic Games, in the Winter Games in Lillehammer in 1994, Kyrgyz athletes have one three medals: Aidyn Smagulov took Bronze in the 60kg class for Judo in the Sydney Games of 2000 and Ruslan Turmenbaev won Bronze and Kanat Begaliev won Silver in the Greco-Roman Wrestling competition in the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.
Oh, and one more Olympic related Trivial Pursuits question: What nationality was the person who first carried the Kyrgyz Flag into an Olympic arena? It might seem that the answer is obvious, but if you are tempted to say “Kyrgyz, you would be wrong. It is an interesting fact that, unfortunately, when it came to the 1994 Winter games in Lillehammer, Norway, the Kyrgyz “team”, (there was only one Kyrgyz athlete – the Biathlete, Yevgeniya Roppel), and she did not arrive in time for the opening ceremony and so the flag was carried into an Olympic Area for the first time by a foreigner – the Norwegian translator, Torkel Engeness.
For the record:
The National Olympic Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic was established in 1991 – soon after Independence – and was recognized by the IOC in 1993.
The first Kyrgyz team to compete at the Olympic Games took part in the 1994 Winter Games at Lillehammer in Norway, and the first appearance in the summer games was in 1996 in Atlanta.
Before independence, Kyrgyz athletes competed as part of the team of the Soviet Union, and the first ever gold medal won by a Kyrgyz athlete was for weightlifting in 1980. Kanybek Osmonaliev not only won gold in his class, he was also three times world champion (in 1978, 1979 and 1981).
In the 1992 games – both Summer and Winter Olympics – Kyrgyzstan had been a member of the Unified team which represented 12 of the former Soviet Republics – and used the Olympic emblem in place of a national flag. Kyrgyzstan contributed athletes only to the Summer Games – where the Unified team finished first in medal table at the Barcelona Games.
Since 1996 Kyrgyzstan has been represented as a separate country at each of the Summer Games – and also at the 2006 Winter Games.
Athletes from Kyrgyzstan have competed in Athletics, Boxing, Cycling, Judo, Swimming and the Modern Pentathalon in the Summer Games – and also in Alpine Skiing in the Winter Games. Kyrgyzstan’s first medal success came in Judo in the Sydney Games of 2000, when Aidyn Smagulov took Bronze in the 60kg class. Further success came in the 2008 Beijing Games when Ruslan Turmenbaev won Bronze and Kanat Begaliev won Silver in the Greco-Roman Wrestling competition. (Begaliev had been tipped as a potential Gold medal winner.)
Bishkek