Thousands of athletes and officials from around the world continue to arrive in Paris, where the opening ceremony of the XXXIII Summer Olympic Games will take place on the 26th of July, including with the participation of athletes from Turkmenistan.
France is happy to welcome guests and is sincerely proud that the country's capital is hosting the Olympic Games for the third time, thus becoming the second city in this indicator after London. It should be noted that the hosts of the Games have tried to create maximum convenience for all guests, and first of all for the sportsmen. All of them are accommodated in the Olympic Village, where more than 14 thousand people will live, including about 9 thousand athletes from more than 200 countries. Having settled on the tenth floor of a 14-story building, the Turkmen athletes, according to tradition, hung the flag of their native country and a banner with the inscription «Team Turkmenistan».
Upon arrival in Paris, the Turkmen athletes held their first training sessions. The Olympic pool was tested by the Master of Sports of International Class Musa Jalayev, competing in the 100-meter freestyle, and the Master of Sports of Turkmenistan Aynur Primova, who will compete in the 100-meter backstroke at the 2024 Olympics. According to the coach of our swimmers Dimitriy Novikov, his charges will train twice a day before the starts, which are scheduled for the 29th of July in the 100-meter backstroke for women and for the 30th of July in the 100-meter freestyle for men.
The only athlete in our team, a participant in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing (China), Valentina Meredova, who will take part in the preliminary 100-meter race on the 2nd of August, also began preparing for the competition.
Judokas have also started training. In this sport, our team is represented by the champion of the 2024 Dushanbe Grand Slam Serdar Rahimov (weight category up to 66 kg) and the bronze medalist of the 19th Summer Asian Games in Hangzhou (China) and the 2024 Antalya Grand Slam Maysa Pardayeva (up to 57 kg). They are preparing for the Olympic starts in Paris under the guidance of a famous Japanese specialist, head coach of the national team of Turkmenistan Kazuhiko Tokuno and coach Tatyana Vidyasova.
On the 4th of August, weightlifter Davranbek Hasanbayev will join our delegation in Paris. He is currently completing preparations for the Olympic Games under the guidance of the head coach of the national team of Turkmenistan Mansur Rejepov at the final training camp in Gokdere. The weightlifting tournament at the 2024 Olympics will start on the 7th of August. Davranbek will take to the Olympic stage the on 10th of August, when medals will be awarded in the men's 102 kg weight category.
The task of the Turkmen Olympians in Paris is to raise the authority and prestige of domestic sports as much as possible, for which a lot is being done in the country, including under the personal patronage of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Hero Arkadag. The issues of further development of the Olympic movement, mass physical education and high-performance sports have been elevated to the rank of state policy in Turkmenistan.
