Azerbaijan, Baku, 25 August/ Trend , corr E. Ergun/ The National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan (NOC) believes the Azerbaijani sportsmen could have won more gold medals in Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
"As a whole, we highly appreciate the performance of our sportsmen in Beijing Olympic Games. However, given the potential of our sportsmen, we can say that we could have won more gold medals in Olympics," Khazar Isayev, Vice President of NOC said to Trend on 25 August.
The Azerbaijani sportsmen won one gold, two silver, four bronze medals in Beijing Olympics. The gold medal was won by dzudo player Elnur Mammadli and silver medals were won by the Greco-Roman style wrestlers Vitali Rahimov and Rovshan Bayramov. The bronze medals were won by dzudo player Movlud Miraliyev, boxer Shahin Imranov and wrestler Khetag Qazyumov and Mariya Stadnik.
Azerbaijan ranks 39th for the number of medals in Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
China ranks first in the Beijing Olympic Games (51 gold, 21 silver and 28 bronze) and US second (36 gold, 38 silver, 36 bronze) and Russia third (23 gold, 21 silver, 28 bronze).
NOC official said though our sportsmen won two silver medals and two bronze in wrestling, Azerbaijani sportsmen were expected to achieve more success. "Our wrestlers performed very well by winning four medals. But we expected to win a gold medal in wrestling as well," Isayev said.
NOC vice president said our gymnasts surprised everybody by their successful performance though it was their debut in this type of sport. "Out team could get into the final," he said.
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