Turkmen athlete Kristina Shermetova ranks among six strongest weightlifters in the up to 55 kg weight category at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Representatives of 14 countries competed for medals in this group.

Our compatriot lifted 190 kg in Snatch. In Clean & Jerk, the 28-year-old student of Umurbek Bazarbayev used two of three competition rounds, lifting first 111 kg, and then 115 kg. In the final attempt, she failed to lift 117 kg.

Three-time world champion Zulfiya Chinshanlo (Kazakhstan) lifted 213 kg (90 + 123) and won the bronze medal. Reigning world champion, world record holder in snatch (102 kg), clean and jerk (129 kg) and combined event (227 kg) Liao Qiuyun (China) lifted 223 kg (97 + 126) and won the silver medal. For the first time, 30-year-old Filipino Hidilin Diaz won the gold medal with two Olympic records in clean and jerk and total weight - 224 kg (97 + 127). Noteworthy is that four years ago, at the World Championship in Anaheim (USA), competing for a silver medal, a student of the School of High Sports Mastery of Turkmenistan Kristina Shermetova was 5 kg ahead of the current Olympic champion in Tokyo. This time, the result achieved by Hidilin Diaz was 19 kg better than that of our athlete.

Turkmenistan is represented at the Tokyo Olympic Games by nine athletes who compete in four sports - judo, weightlifting, swimming and athletics.

The only representative of Turkmenistan in the judo tournament Gulbadam Babamuratova has already completed her performance at the Games, losing to Israeli Olympic judoka Gili Cohen.

Our swimmers took the first starts at the Tokyo Aquatic Center. The youngest in our team, 19-year-old Daria Semyonova, swam 100 meters breaststroke in 1 minute 16.37 seconds. Nevertheless, her current result was 0.36 seconds better than at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju (Republic of Korea) and 3.47 seconds better than at the previous Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where Daria made her debut. at the age of 14.

26-year-old master of sports of international class from Ashgabat Merdan Atayev in his crown 100-meter distance in backstroke showed a result of 55.24 seconds, falling short of his own record of Turkmenistan 0.33 seconds.

The team of Turkmen swimmers started their participation in the Olympic Games. The youngest breaststroke swimmer in our team, 19-year-old Daria Semyonova swam 100 meters in 1 minute 16.37 seconds. Nevertheless, her current result was 0.36 seconds better than the results demonstrated at the 2019 World Championship in Gwangju (the Republic of Korea) and 3.47 seconds better than the results demonstrated at the previous Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where Daria made her debut at the age of 14.

26-year-old International Master of Sports, backstroke swimmer from Ashgabat Merdan Atayev swam 100-meter distance in 55.24 seconds that is 0.33 seconds less than his record achieved in Turkmenistan.

On July 28, Merdan Atayev will perform in another type of the Olympic programme – 200-meter back-stroke swimming.

Correspondent "The Golden Age"