Number of medals in Olympic sports doubles in Azerbaijan

Involvement in struggle for the right to hold in Baku Summer Olympic Games of 2016 and 2020 is a prime example of the development of sport in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani Youth and Sports Minister Azad Rahimov said on Tuesday during a speech at the Heydar Aliyev Center at a seeing off ceremony of an Azerbaijani delegation that will participate in the XXX Summer Olympics 2012 in London, Trend reports.

Despite the fact that Baku could not overcome the stage of the struggle for the election of candidates, extensive work was carried out on the stage of selection of the applicant city, the minister said.

"We believe that the experience gained in this area will help in the struggle during holding of upcoming Olympic Games," he said.

The Minister stressed that the number of medals won in Olympic sports, has rapidly increased. Thus, on the eve of the Olympic Games in Atlanta (1993-1996), this figure was 71, in Sydney (1997-2000) - 146, Athens (2001-2004) - 262, Beijing (7 months of 2005-2008 ) - 476, on the eve of the Olympics in London (6 months (2009-2012) - 835.

"As you can see, number of medals won in Olympic sports increased approximately twofold on the eve of each Olympiad compared to the previous Olympic Games. Especially worth mentioning that if Azerbaijan won 44 licenses and was introduced in 11 sports during the Olympic Games in Beijing, then it will be presented in 16 sports with 53 licenses in London," Rahimov said.