Turkmen Athletes Participate in the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris

On July 26, the opening ceremony of the XXXIII Summer Olympic Games took place in the capital of France, with Turkmenistan's athletes participating. These large-scale competitions, revived in 1896 by French public figure Pierre de Coubertin and held every four years, gather the world's top athletes from all corners of the globe.

To enhance the international sports reputation of the nation during the era of the New Revival of a powerful state and to ensure the successful performance of our athletes at the 2024 Olympics, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, who is also the head of the National Olympic Committee, issued two special decrees. These decrees led to the development of a program and the formation of an Organizing Committee for the preparation of national teams for the XXXIII Summer Olympic Games and the XVII Summer Paralympic Games in Paris.

On the eve of the ceremonial send-off at the Combat Sports Complex in the Olympic Village of the capital, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov addressed the Turkmen athletes in a welcoming speech. In his address, the head of state warmly congratulated the athletes on their participation in the world's largest sporting event and wished them to represent the independent neutral Turkmenistan with dignity at the XXXIII Summer Olympic Games, aiming to raise the country's sports prestige to an even higher level.

The Turkmen Olympic delegation consists of 19 people, including 6 athletes competing in four sports: judo, athletics, swimming, and weightlifting.

For the first time in the history of the Summer Olympics, the opening ceremony was held not in a stadium but in the very center of the city. It began with an unusual parade of athletes, who traveled by boat along the Seine River. The delegations started their journey from the Austerlitz Bridge and finished 6 km later at the Trocadéro square, right at the Eiffel Tower. During the journey, the athletes were able to see major landmarks of the French capital, including Notre-Dame, the Louvre, the Grand Palais, Pont Neuf, and more.

As tradition dictates, the parade of Olympians was led by athletes from Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic Games. All participating teams of the Paris Olympics, including the national team of Turkmenistan, marched before the numerous spectators gathered on the grandstands along the riverbank. Leading the Turkmen delegation was the flag bearer, S. Rahimov, the country's first Grand Slam judo champion. At the prestigious "Dushanbe Grand Slam 2024" tournament held in May this year in Tajikistan, he won a gold medal in the under 66 kg category. Now, he takes on the equally important role of being the flag bearer at the most significant competition of the four-year cycle.

Joining S. Rahimov in representing Turkmenistan at the 2024 Olympics are judoka M. Pardaeva (under 57 kg), swimmers M. Jalaev (100 meters freestyle) and A. Primova (100 meters backstroke), weightlifter D. Hasanbaev (under 102 kg), and sprinter V. Meredova (100 meters). She is the only athlete in the Turkmen delegation participating in her second Olympics, having debuted at the 2008 Games in Beijing, China. The other athletes are competing in the Olympics for the first time.

The goal for the Turkmen Olympians in Paris is to elevate the status and prestige of national sports, which is a significant focus in the country, including under the personal patronage of President Serdar Berdimuhamedov and the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Hero-Arkadag. The development of the Olympic movement, mass physical culture, and high-performance sports is a matter of state policy in Turkmenistan.

According to the Turkmenistan team headquarters in France, the athletes are in high spirits and are feeling the emotional support of their compatriots despite the vast distances. They know that all Turkmenistanis, in a united patriotic surge, wish them successful starts!