Yabuli, China, February 12, 2025: The President of the National Olympic Committee of Kazakhstan, Gennadiy Golovkin, has hailed the “historic” achievement of the men’s freestyle aerials team of Roman Ivanov and Sherzod Khashirbayev who won gold in Yabuli on Tuesday, February 11.
The Kazakh pair secured a first-ever gold medal at the Asian Winter Games in the synchronised jumps when they overcame two strong Chinese teams.
“For the first time in Kazakhstan’s history, freestyle acrobatics athletes have reached the top of the Asian Games podium - this is a significant moment that will forever remain in the history of our sports,” congratulated Golovkin.
The men’s aerials gold took Kazakhstan’s overall total to three gold medals at the 9thAsian Winter Games with two days remaining in the Harbin showpiece. The other two gold medals have come in men’s biathlon 10km sprint and the men’s 5000m relay in short track speed skating.
On the ice and snow and, off it too, Kazakhstan are making waves.
A charm offensive led by the NOC President Golovkin has been taking place in the boardrooms of Harbin where he has held a series of meetings with Chinese sports leaders and presidents of International Federations as the country aims to reach the peak in winter sports in the continent.
Earlier this week, the Kazakhstan NOC President and the country’s Minister of Tourism and Sports Yerbol Myrzabossynov met with Gao Zhidan, China’s Minister of the General Administration of Sport and President of the Chinese Olympic Committee. and discussions centred on cooperation in sports development.
Golovkin and Myrzabossynov then met with the President of the International Biathlon Union Olle Dahlin with the emphasis once again on cooperation. Talks focused on expanding educational programmes for coaches and the possibility of hosting IBU World Cup events in Kazakhstan.
The Kazakhstan duo then also met with Kim Jaeyoul, President of the International Skating Union. On the agenda was the development of ice sports in Kazakhstan, strengthening cooperation and exploring new partnerships with the ISU.
This PR campaign has not deflected Golovkin’s attention from the action on the ice and snow, as he has been the number one cheerleader of the 137-strong athlete contingent from Kazakhstan.
“We are very pleased with our performances so far, especially in the snow events,” Roman Temirzhanov, Deputy Chef de Mission of the Kazakhstan delegation, noted in Yabuli.
But all eyes are on the big prize. Like athletics and swimming are the blue riband sports at the summer Asian Games, ice hockey has this same prestige at the Winter Games.
“We are the two-time defending gold medallists in men’s ice hockey and we hope to win again. While we might not win as many as the nine gold medals we did at the last Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, we are hoping to finish fourth once again behind the big three in Asia – China, Korea and Japan,” Temrizhanov said.
