Tokyo, Japan, July 27, 2021: The passion for sport in Turkmenistan was abundantly clear when huge crowds flocked to the OCA’s Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) in Ashgabat in 2017.
The sports facilities were world-class, the atmosphere inside the venues was at the same level – and now, four years on, Turkmenistan has its own Olympic hero!
This honour falls to Polina Guryeva, who won the silver medal in women’s 59kg weightlifting at Tokyo International Forum on Tuesday, July 27 – Turkmenistan’s first Olympic Games medal in its seventh appearance as an independent nation dating back to Atlanta 1996.
Guryeva, 21, lifted a total of 217kg - 96kg in the snatch and 121kg in the clean and jerk to finish runner-up to Kuo Hsing-chun (Chinese Taipei), who won gold by lifting 236kg.
“I was in shock because it’s the first Olympic medal in the history of the Turkmen people. It’s the first medal - which I won. No sport in Turkmenistan has had a medal, not one medal. I think I’ve entered the history of Turkmenistan by winning a medal. I’m so in shock,” Guryeva said.
Guryeva finished 28th at the 2019 world championships in Thailand while competing one weight higher, 64kg. On her coach’s advice, she used the one-year Olympic delay to reset, dropping down a class to 59kg.
On her coach’s advice, she used the one-year Olympic delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic to reset, dropping down a class to 59kg.
“When the pandemic began, I didn’t have a chance of qualifying,” she said. “Last October, I dropped down and started training. And I went to the Asian Championships in Uzbekistan, lifted 211kg total, and then I got the chance to go to the Olympics. And then I started to train even harder to get this medal.”
Guryeva will return home a hero to a country that is establishing itself as a major sports hub in Central Asia and beyond.
The President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, is also President of the National Olympic Committee, which was recognised by the IOC on January 1, 1993. The President places great emphasis on sport and the general health and well-being of the people. This commitment has paid off with Turkmenistan’s first Olympic Games medal.