Today, July 23, the first Belarusian athletes - the archery team - are leaving for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. They will reach Brazil by the morning of the next day - the flight will be long and with a transfer.

The current Games, or rather the atmosphere and emotional background around them, are somewhat out of the usual rut and differ from what happened on the eve of the Summer Olympics of past years.

No competitions with grain growers, no medal plan, no strict order for victory

In 2004, before the Olympics in Athens, to increase the temperature and motivate athletes more, the President of the National Olympic Committee Alexander Lukashenko organized unprecedented competitions between peasants and Olympians - they say, who will show themselves better: athletes in the stadium or grain growers in the harvest field. And although the winner in these competitions was not officially determined (it is difficult to understand by what criteria to judge and how many tons of threshed grain should be equated to a medal of what value), but workers in the agricultural industry liked this spirit of competition.

In 2008, before the Games in Beijing, grain growers eagerly rushed to harvest and, without the participation of the president, themselves challenged the athletes. Those, in turn, were motivated by the state by assigning bonuses for Olympic medals in the amount of 100, 50 and 30 thousand dollars, respectively, for gold, silver and bronze. And then the prize money was supplemented with apartments.

At the same time, the Ministry of Sports and the NOC made medal plans and forecasts for both Athens and Beijing. They made no secret of this, but the expected number of awards was not advertised.

But before the Olympics in London, sports management has already moved from forecasts to demands. Competitions with grain farmers had become boring and out of trend by 2012, and therefore Alexander Lukashenko and the most eloquent Minister of Sports in sovereign history tried to take on the role of the main motivators for the Olympians Oleg Kachan.

Alexander Grigorievich, who saw off the athletes to the previous Games with fatherly parting words and wishes of good luck, in 2012 turned the Olympic principles upside down.

« I want you to understand that anything can happen in sports, but not at the Olympic Games. A person prepares for the Olympic Games and prepares all the reserves that he has. Therefore, there can only be victory. - The main thing is not participation, but victory. Here is my order for you on behalf of the Belarusian people", said the NOC President.

Oleg Kachan, in turn, at almost every public speech, fervently emphasized that in London the Belarusian athletes were given the task of winning 25 medals, five of which must certainly be gold.

By the way, before London the size of the prize money was increased. The rates rose to 150, 75 and 50 thousand dollars.

However, neither money, nor plans, nor even the president’s ultimatum brought any effect. In London, the Belarusian team held its worst Olympics, winning twelve medals - two gold, five silver and five bronze.

Apparently, having come to the conclusion that it was not worth using the whip method with athletes, before the current Olympics the management changed tactics again. Now there is no medal plan, for the first time there are no forecasts from the Ministry of Sports and the NOC on the number of awards, and at the farewell ceremony for the delegation, Lukashenko did not punish, but expressed hope.

“We hope for victories for Belarusian athletes. You will plunge into a sea of ​​love and attention from our grateful fans. It is equally important that the state will appreciate every successful performance of yours. I will be very glad if this Olympics gives us the opportunity to sum up its results just as solemnly, in front of all the people, and present well-deserved awards to everyone who forges the country’s Olympic glory.”, - said the president.

Ceremonial farewell to the Belarusian sports delegation at
XXXI Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

“There really are no medal predictions for this Olympics. The bet is placed on each athlete,- confirms the NOC press secretaryAnastasia Marinina. - We hope for traditionally medal-winning sports for Belarus. Athletics, weightlifting, rowing, rhythmic gymnastics, taekwondo, cycling, wrestling, table tennis, tennis, sailing".

Prize money for medals remained at the level of the previous Olympics.

Who, when and how flies to Rio

The Belarusian delegation to the Rio Games is small compared to the delegations to the Olympics in 2008 and 2012. Thus, Belarus sent more than 300 people to Beijing, including 180 athletes; to London - 350 people, of which 166 are athletes. Only 230 people are flying to Rio, of which 125 are athletes.

Both the administrative and technical headquarters and the number of athletes have been reduced. By the way, after Beijing - our most successful Olympics - who held the post of Minister of Sports at that time Alexander Grigorov noted that the ranks of athletes “It could have been cleaned up some more”.

Before the Olympics in Rio, the cleaning, apparently, was quite strict and the number of “tourists” was reduced to a minimum.

“Weak athletes don’t go to the Olympics, - noted Anastasia Marinina. - If an athlete wins a license, then he is among the top athletes in his event.".

As previous Olympics show, approximately every tenth Belarusian athlete becomes a medalist. Taking into account these statistics, as well as the men's kayaking and canoeing team - one of the main contenders for awards (in London, male rowers won two silver and one bronze), we dare to make a disappointing forecast - in Brazil in terms of medals, the Belarusian team can set an anti-record.

But for now you don’t want to think about the bad, and we suggest keeping faith in the best until the end. With it, at least, it will be more interesting to watch the performances of our athletes, the first group of whom went to Rio today, July 23.

The pioneers from the Belarusian delegation - the technical group - are already in Brazil. They flew to Rio in the middle of this week.

Starting from Saturday, the transfer of Belarusian troops to Brazil and in the opposite direction will occur almost every day. The women's basketball team will travel to South America next, departing on July 25.

“All athletes, with the exception of those who fly to Rio from foreign training camps or competitions, go to Brazil along the same route: Minsk - Frankfurt - Rio. It was not chosen by chance. With this route, the minimum waiting time for a transfer is 6 hours. With other routes, the wait for a transfer would be from 9 to 12 hours. The arrival time in Rio is also very convenient - around 6 am local time. The air carrier is Lufthansa. The national air carrier Belavia does not have aircraft that can perform such 12-hour flights.", - Anastasia Marinina revealed the details.

“Some arrive in advance, before the start of the Games, while others are already in the process of the Olympics. It all depends on the type of sport and the recommendations that are developed for each athlete by the relevant specialists, based on acclimatization factors, weather conditions and other subtleties.”, - adds the press secretary of the Ministry of Sports Vladimir Nesterovich.

At whose expense is the banquet?

The Olympics itself, no matter how strange it may seem at first glance, is perhaps the most economical tournament for Belarus in terms of government spending.

Firstly, accommodation and meals for all accredited persons, that is, the entire delegation, are paid for by the organizers of the main start of the four-year anniversary.

Secondly, the Belarusian side will initially have to fork out money for a flight from Minsk to Rio, but then the International Olympic Committee will partially compensate the cost of tickets for each member of the delegation.

“We compensate from 30% to 80% of the cost of tickets. The amount of compensation is different for each category of persons. For athletes - one, for the administrative headquarters - another, for officials - a third.", explains Anastasia Marinina.

We looked at how much tickets cost for the flight our athletes take. A one-way ticket from Minsk to Rio in economy class will cost 1,430 euros, in business class - 3,450 euros.

But as for the costs of preparing for the Olympics, the numbers are, of course, colossal and they fall entirely on the shoulders of the state.

“We didn’t count how much money was spent on training one Olympian, but in general, over four years, about 120 billion rubles were spent on preparing for the Olympics in London, excluding salaries.”, - noted in 2012, the Presidential Assistant for Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism Development Igor Zaichkov.

If we convert this amount into dollar equivalent, we get about 15 million (in mid-August 2012, the dollar exchange rate was about 8,350 rubles).

In London, Belarusians won 12 medals (there was also gold Nadezhda Ostapchuk in the shot put, but after a doping disqualification this medal was taken away). That is, roughly speaking, each of them cost the country $1.25 million.

Costs to prepare for Rio have not been disclosed. Neither the NOC nor the Ministry of Sports could provide us with information, no matter how we tried to get at least some numbers. However, they are unlikely to have become smaller.

Will the main fan fly to Rio?

During his reign of the country (which is no less than 22 years), Alexander Lukashenko attended three Olympics: one summer and two winter.

Lukashenko's Olympic debut was the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan. They say that Alexander Grigorievich was not initially going to the Olympics and decided to attend only after two victories of his dear hockey team over the Germans and French.

Alexander Lukashenko at the Olympics in Nagano. Photo by ITAR-TASS

At the same time, the Japanese authorities refused the president an official visit, but he flew anyway. Moreover, Lukashenko, apparently, was so worried about the hockey team that, in violation of all the rules, he broke into the site during one of the Belarusians’ training sessions.

“We trained on the ice. We look, the president is coming towards us. He came up, said hello, supported the guys, and asked me: “Why so pale?” I don't even remember what I answered. And what the media wrote that he was trying to teach us to play hockey is not true. He only supported the team and wished to perform as best as possible among the strongest teams in the world. He spoke briefly with us and went to inspect the palace.", - recalled in an interview for website Anatoly Varivonchik, who led the national team at that time.

Alexander Lukashenko watched the subsequent Olympic Games - in Sydney (summer, 2000), Salt Lake City (winter, 2002), Athens (summer, 2004) and Turin (winter, 2006), like most Belarusians , on TV. The reason for this was the noticeably shaken image of Belarus in the international arena in terms of compliance with the principles of democracy.

For example, the then Minister of Sports and Tourism, appointed head of the Belarusian delegation in Athens Yuri Sivakov was forced to manage the team from his office in Minsk. Suspected of involvement in the disappearances of famous Belarusian politicians, Sivakov, the European Union and the Greek Foreign Ministry warned him even before the start of the Games about the possibility of his deportation or even arrest if he appeared on Greek soil.

And by the time the Olympics were held in Turin, Belarusian high-level officials were also already restricted from entering the EU countries.

Alexander Lukashenko and his son Nikolai
at the Beijing Olympics. Photo BELTA

In general, Alexander Grigorievich got to his next Olympics only ten years later. In 2008, in Beijing, with which Minsk was already on friendly terms, the Belarusian president and his youngest son Nikolai were greeted with open arms.

In 2010, Lukashenko preferred a business visit to Switzerland, which was combined with "short-term vacation".

Alexander Grigorievich was not accredited to the Olympics in London in 2012.

“President Lukashenko is on the list of persons banned from entering the European Union due to his involvement in the violation of international standards during the presidential elections in Belarus on December 19, 2010, as well as the subsequent crackdown on civil society and the democratic opposition. This ban remains in effect and will continue during the Olympic Games. The decision on this issue will not be changed.", - said the message from the British Embassy in Belarus.

At the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, the Belarusian president and his son Nikolai were received as family. At the same time, the head of the NOC not only followed the performances of our athletes, but was also one of the first to congratulate them if they were successful.

It is still unknown whether Alexander Grigorievich will fly to Rio. The NOC press service does not have this information. And contact the head of the press service of the head of state Natalya Eismont we didn't succeed.

By the way, if the president decides to attend the current Olympics, this will be his second visit to Brazil. In 2010, Lukashenko and his youngest son had already visited this sunny country.

Results of the performances of athletes of the BFSO "Dynamo" at the XXXI Summer Olympics 2016 in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

The sporting honor of the country was defended as part of the national team of the Republic of Belarus by 41 athletes of the BFSO "Dynamo" in 14 sports: track and field athletics - 15 people, rhythmic gymnastics and rowing - 5 participants each, table tennis - 3 athletes, freestyle wrestling, sailing and bullet shooting - 2 people each, boxing, Greco-Roman wrestling, cycling, kayaking and canoeing, judo, diving and weightlifting - 1 participant each.

The representation of the regional organizational structures of the BFSO "Dynamo" looked like this:

1. Brest - 10* people in three sports (boxing, rowing, athletics);

2. Vitebsk - 3* people in three sports (cycling, judo, athletics);

3. Gomel - 4 people in four sports (Greco-Roman wrestling, rowing, kayaking and canoeing, athletics);

4. Grodno - 8* people in three sports (freestyle wrestling, athletics, shooting);

5. Minsk - 20* people in nine sports (freestyle wrestling, rhythmic gymnastics, rowing, judo, athletics, sailing, diving, shooting, table tennis);

6. Mogilevskaya - 1 person in one sport (weightlifting).

Note: * athletes who give credit to two organizations (5 people in total) are marked with an asterisk.

The Olympic team of the Republic of Belarus won nine medals at the 2016 Games (1 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze). They were awarded to 12 athletes. It should be noted that Dynamo athletes are the owners of four medals. “Silver” for Daria Naumova - weightlifting, Mogilev OOS (regional organizational structure), for Ivan Tikhon - athletics, Grodno OOS; “Bronze” went to Ibragim Saidov - freestyle wrestling, Grodno OOS, Marina Litvinchuk - kayaking and canoeing, Gomel OOS.

Fourth places went to Vladimir Samsonov - table tennis, Minsk MOS (interterritorial organizational structure), and Marina Litvinchuk - kayaking and canoeing, Gomel OOS. Seven Dynamo athletes took fifth place (Vasilisa Marzalyuk - freestyle wrestling, Melitina Stanyuta - rhythmic gymnastics, Maria Kadobina - rhythmic gymnastics, Maria Kotyak - rhythmic gymnastics, Arina Tsitsilina - rhythmic gymnastics, all - Minsk Regional Sports Organization, Stanislav Shcherbachenya - academic rowing, Gomel Regional Educational Organization, Tatyana Kholodovich - athletics, Brest OOS), three - sixth places (Ekaterina Galkina - rhythmic gymnastics, Minsk MOS, Marina Litvinchuk - kayaking and canoeing, Gomel OOS, Ilya Chergeiko - bullet shooting, Grodno OOS/Minsk MOS), one - seventh (Anna Malyshchik - athletics, Brest OOS) and three - eighth (Yulia Bichik - rowing, Tatiana Kukhta - rowing, both - Brest OOS, Alena Dubitskaya - athletics, Grodno OOS).

It should be noted that the Olympic chronicle was replenished by athletes representing the Gomel, Grodno and Mogilev regional organizations “Dynamo”. Unfortunately, the athletes of the Brest, Vitebsk and Minsk organizations, who in total represented 30 members of the Olympic team of the Republic of Belarus, failed to do this.

The result of the performance of the athletes of the BFSO "Dynamo" could have been much higher if there had not been an unexpected exclusion from participation in the Olympics of the men's kayaking and canoeing team.

Now the Dynamo Olympic podium for the entire period of participation in the Olympics from 1952 to 2016 is 87 people who won 127 medals (40 + 38 + 49) in 16 sports out of 27 developed in the Dynamo BSSO.

* * *

We bring to your attention a complete list of representatives of the BFSO "Dynamo" at the 2016 Games in Rio. You can view the detailed performance results of each athlete by opening the page with his name in the list.

List of Dynamo athletes, participants of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro
Athlete	Kind of sport
Brest regional organizational structure
	boxing (69 kg)
	rowing
	rowing
	rowing
	athletics (core)
*	athletics (3000 m s/p)
	athletics (length)
*	athletics (walking 20 km)
	athletics (hammer)
	athletics (javelin)
Vitebsk regional organizational structure
	cycling (omnium)
*	athletics (hammer)
*	judo (66 kg)
Gomel regional organizational structure
	Greco-Roman wrestling (98 kg)
	rowing
	kayaking and canoeing
	athletics (triple)
Grodno regional organizational structure
	freestyle wrestling (125 kg)
	athletics (hammer)
	athletics (core)
	athletics (hammer)
*	athletics (hammer)
	athletics (hammer)
	athletics (800 m)
*	bullet shooting (VP-6)
Minsk interterritorial organizational structure
	freestyle wrestling (75 kg)
*	judo (66 kg)
	gymnastics
	gymnastics
	gymnastics
	gymnastics
	gymnastics
	rowing

23.08.2016 - 17:28

News of Belarus. They prepared for it for 4 years, but it raced in 17 days. The Rio Olympics ended on the night of August 22, and Belarusian athletes are already returning home. All of them, undoubtedly, gained valuable professional and life experience, and some athletes also received medals, proving to the whole world that they are the best in their disciplines.

In the final medal standings, Belarus came 40th (out of 87). We have 9 awards - from gold to bronze. Let's remember, as they say, names, appearances, floggings!

No. 1. Silver of Daria Naumova

The Belarusians waited for the first medal for 7 days. 20-year-old weightlifter Daria Naumova opened her account of the awards. In the weight category up to 75, the athlete lifted 258 kg and won a silver medal at the first Olympic Games in her life! And this is all the more significant because the girl came from athletics to weightlifting only 5 years ago.

No. 2. Gold of Vladislav Goncharov

Vlad is also only 20 years old, and the Olympics in Rio is also his first, as well as a medal in trampolining for Belarus in the entire history of our athletes’ participation in this sport. The first one is immediately golden!

No. 3. Silver by Vadim Streltsov

The history of this medal is one of the legends of the Phoenix. As the country's most promising weightlifter, Vadim participated in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. But he arrived there injured and failed miserably. His career began to crumble before his eyes: in 2013, Streltsovets was directly asked to leave big-time sports. And with the support and personal initiative of coach Viktor Leonidovich Shershukov, he was rehabilitated - he became the world weightlifting champion in 2015 and a silver medalist in Rio! By the way, Vadim had no luck at the Olympics: he competed in Brazil with a sore knee.

No. 4. Bronze by Alexandra Gerasimenya

Alexandra Gerasimenya makes us happy for the second Olympics in a row! At London 2012, the athlete was a 2-time silver medalist - in the 100 and 50 m freestyle. In Rio Alexandra, only the 50-meter gave way, but its weight is immeasurable in metal. The issue here is the results of competitions during the inter-Olympic period. At the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, Alexandra failed at both of her favorite distances: at the “hundredth” she became penultimate in the semi-finals, at the “fifty kopecks” she did not even make it out of the “preliminary round”. And many hastened to write off our “goldfish”... But that was not the case!

No. 5. Bronze by Javid Gamzatov

26-year-old Javid Gamzatov brought a bronze medal in Greco-Roman wrestling for Belarus, but also to the delight of Dagestan. 10 years ago the athlete moved to the Gomel region. He trained first in Mozyr, then in Gomel. And the fact that Gamzatov became an Olympic medalist should be thanked to his older brother, who brought 9-year-old Javid to the wrestling section.

No. 6. Silver of Maria Mamoshuk

This medal is especially valuable for Belarus - it is the first in women's wrestling in the entire history of the country's participation in the Olympic Games. And it was won by a 23-year-old girl from the small village of Zyabrovka, which is 18 kilometers from Gomel. Mashenka grew up there, and the Gomel Olympic Reserve School trained a serious athlete, Maria Mamoshuk!

No. 7. Silver by Ivan Tikhon

The Ivan Tikhon Medal is more than the award for the main competition of the four-year anniversary in the treasury of Belarus. This is the athlete’s triumphant return to big sport after almost 8 years. This is the restoration of a seriously tarnished reputation. This is a personal victory for those who have always believed in Tikhon. This cannot be expressed in a nutshell, read here:

No. 8. Bronze women's quad kayak

Margarita Makhneva, Nadezhda Lepeshko, Olga Khudenko and Marina Litvinchuk brought a medal at a distance of 500 meters. The girls, as they say, stood tall for the entire Belarusian kayaking and canoeing in Rio. Due to the men's team leaving the Olympics, the women's team competed in Brazil without their “other half” and without a coach, who, for the same reason, was forced to stay in Minsk.

No. 9. Bronze by Ibragim Saidov

Dagestani Ibragim Saidov, under the flag of Belarus, won a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling in the heavyweight division. In the fight for third place, he defeated an Armenian with a Georgian surname Berianidze on the mat. What an international battle for third place! Believe it or not, Ibrahim didn’t count on a medal in Rio - a week before the start he injured his push leg and competed in Brazil on injections.

Belarus is rightfully proud of its history of participation in the Olympic Games. For the first time, Belarusians took part in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki as part of the USSR national team. The sporting achievements of three-time Olympic champion wrestler Alexander Medved, four-time Olympic gold winner gymnast Olga Korbut and fencer Elena Belova, five-time Olympic champion Nelly Kim, six-time Olympic champion Vitaly Shcherba and many other famous Belarusian athletes are inscribed in golden letters in Olympic history.

Over the years of Belarus' sovereignty, our athletes have competed at 11 Olympic Games - 6 winter and 5 summer. 95 athletes became champions and prize-winners of the games. They won 91 Olympic medals: 18 gold, 28 silver and 45 bronze.

Belarus was represented for the first time on the Olympic arena as an independent team:

At the XVII Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer (Norway) February 12-27, 1994. Were conquered 2 silver awards:

Svetlana Paramygina (biathlon, 7.5 km), Igor Zhelezovsky (skates, 1000 m);

At the XXVI Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta (USA) July 19 - August 4, 1996. It was conquered 15 medals - 1 gold, 6 silver and 8 bronze:

gold- Ekaterina Khodotovich (Karsten) (rowing);

silver- Alexey Medvedev (Greco-Roman wrestling), Alexander Pavlov (Greco-Roman wrestling), Sergei Lishtvan (Greco-Roman wrestling), Vladimir Dubrovshchik (athletics, discus), Natalya Sazanovich (athletics, heptathlon), Igor Basinsky (shooting bullet);

bronze- Valery Tsilent (Greco-Roman wrestling), Vitaly Shcherbo (gymnastics, all-around, vault, bars, horizontal bar) - 4 medals, Vasily Kaptyukh (athletics, discus), Ellina Zvereva (athletics, discus), Natalia Lavrinenko, Alexandra Pankina, Natalya Volchek, Tamara Davydenko, Valentina Skrabatun, Elena Mikulich, Natalya Stasyuk, Marina Znak, Yaroslava Pavlovich (rowing, eight row).

Belarusian athletes achieved their greatest success at the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008 when Belarus conquered 19 medals, including 4 gold and 5 silver. The Belarusian team took 16th place by number of medals won:

gold- Andrey Aryamnov (weightlifting), Oksana Menkova (athletics, hammer throw), Alexander and Andrey Bogdanovich (kayaking and canoeing, double), Roman Petrushenko, Alexey Abalmasov, Arthur Litvinchuk and Vadim Makhnev (kayak and canoeing, four);

silver- Andrey Rybakov (weightlifting), Natalya Mikhnevich (athletics, shot put), Andrey Kravchenko (athletics, decathlon), Inna Zhukova (rhythmic gymnastics), Vadim Devyatovsky (athletics, hammer throw);

bronze- Nadezhda Ostapchuk (athletics, shot put), Andrei Mikhnevich (athletics, shot put), Anastasia Novikova (weightlifting), Ekaterina Karsten (rowing), Yulia Bichik and Natalya Gelakh (rowing, double), Roman Petrushenko and Vadim Makhnev (kayaking and canoeing, double), Murad Gaidarov (freestyle wrestling), Mikhail Semenov (Greco-Roman wrestling), Ivan Tikhon (athletics, hammer throw), Ksenia Sankovich, Alina Tumilovich, Anastasia Ivankova, Zinaida Lunina, Alesya Babushkina and Glafira Martinovich (rhythmic gymnastics, team championship).

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Belarusian athletes won 12 medals, including 2 gold and 5 silver. In the medal standings of the Olympics, Belarus took 26th place:

gold- Sergey Martynov (shooting), Victoria Azarenka and Maxim Mirny (tennis, mixed);

silver- Alexandra Gerasimenya (50 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle swimming) - 2 medals, Marina Goncharova, Anastasia Ivankova, Natalya Leshchik, Alexandra Narkevich, Ksenia Sankovich, Alina Tumilovich (rhythmic gymnastics, team championship), Vadim Makhnev, Roman Petrushenko ( kayaking and canoeing, double), Alexander and Andrey Bogdanovich (kayaking and canoeing, double);

bronze- Lyubov Cherkashina (rhythmic gymnastics), Marina Poltoran, Irina Pomelova, Nadezhda Popok, Olga Khudenko (kayaking and canoeing, four), Victoria Azarenko (tennis), Irina Kulesha (weightlifting), Marina Shkermankova (weightlifting).

At the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi Belarusian athletes won 6 medals, including 5 gold and 1 bronze. For the first time in history, the Belarusian team took 8th place in the medal standings in terms of the number of awards won.

gold- Daria Domracheva (biathlon) - 3 medals, Anton Kushnir (freestyle), Alla Tsuper (freestyle);

bronze- Nadezhda Skardino (biathlon).

In team sports, Belarus was represented by three teams at the Olympic Games. These are the Belarusian national hockey team (Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2002, Vancouver 2010), the Belarusian women's basketball team (Beijing 2008) and the Belarusian Olympic football team (London 2012). However, the Belarusian teams have not yet reached the finals.

Olympic gold

Olympic gold was brought to Belarus by 20 athletes, who won 18 medals.

Won three gold medals at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Daria Domracheva(biathlon), received the title of Hero of Belarus and became one of the best athletes of the games. On February 11, 2014, she became the Olympic champion in the pursuit. She won her second gold medal in the 15 km individual race. Daria received her third gold in the mass start race. Domracheva became the first biathlete in history to win three Olympic gold medals in individual races.

Ekaterina Karsten(rowing) - participant in six Olympics, starting in 1992 in Barcelona. Two-time Olympic champion in the history of independent Belarus. At her first Olympic Games in 1992 she became a bronze medalist in the four sculls. Then there were two gold medals in singles - in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, a silver medal at the 2004 Games in Athens and a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Ellina Zvereva(athletics, discus) - participant in five Summer Olympics (1988, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008). Bronze medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Games. At the age of 39, she won gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Eight years later, she took 6th place at the Beijing Olympics.

Yanina Karolchik(athletics, shot put) - champion of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In the final sixth attempt, she managed to put the shot 20 m 56 cm and was far ahead of her rivals, in particular, the experienced Russian athlete Larisa Peleshenko (19 m 92 cm) who took second place.

Yulia Nesterenko(athletics, sprint) became the main sensation of the 2004 Olympics in Athens, winning the 100 m race. In the final race, she swept in front of the crowded stands of the Olympic stadium in Athens in 10.93 seconds. Julia was ahead of the recognized sprint aces - Americans Kolander and Williams, representatives of Jamaica Campbell, Bailey and Simpson, as well as Bulgarian runner Lalova and representative of the Bahamas Ferguson. After this victory she was given the nickname "White Lightning".

At the 2004 Athens Olympics Igor Makarov(judo), competing in the weight category up to 100 kg, won the first gold for Belarus in the entire history of the participation of our tatami wrestling masters in the Olympics. In the final fight, he defeated Sung Ho Janga from South Korea. According to three-time Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling Alexander Medved, who watched the fight, only a few achieve such a result, and it became possible because Makarov persistently walked towards his goal.

At the XXIX Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, a twenty-year-old Andrey Aramnov(weightlifting) was out of competition in his weight category (105 kg) and became a champion. Our hero set three world records during the competition. First, Andrey improved the world achievement in the snatch - 200 kg, in the second exercise - the clean and jerk, in the final attempt he took another record weight - 236 kg and in the double event totaled 436 kg - also a new world record.

Oksana Menkova(athletics, hammer) won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the final, in her fifth attempt, she threw the hammer 76.34 m and set a new Olympic record (the previous one was 75.2 m).

Belarusian two-man canoe crew consisting of brothers Alexander and Andrey Bogdanovich(canoeing, double) won a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics. At the 250, 500 and 750 m marks, Andrey and Alexander were third. Everything changed a few tens of meters before the finish: the Belarusian athletes found the strength for the finishing push and literally snatched victory from the German crew, beating them by only 0.223 seconds. Winners time - 3 minutes. 36.365 seconds.

The crew of the Belarusian kayak-four Roman Petrushenko, Alexey Abalmasov, Arthur Litvinchuk and Vadim Makhnev(kayak rowing, four) won Olympic gold in Beijing. They finished without allowing anyone to doubt their superiority. If for Alexey Abalmasov and Artur Litvinchuk the Olympic success was the first in their careers, then for Roman Petrushenko and Vadim Makhnev this is already the second Olympic award. Four years ago in Athens they won bronze in the double kayak.

Alexey Grishin(freestyle) in Nagano-98 he was eighth, in 2002 in the American Salt Lake City he became a bronze medalist, in Turin 2006 he stopped one step away from the podium, taking fourth place, and received his gold at the XXI Winter Olympic Games in 2010 in Vancouver. This is the first gold medal in the history of Belarus won at the Winter Olympic Games.

Sergey Martynov(shooting) - winner of the Games of the XXX Olympiad in 2012. In London, Sergei Martynov won his third medal at the Olympic Games. Before that, he won bronze twice - in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. In total, he took part in six Olympics, and reached the finals in four of them. In the capital of Great Britain, the 44-year-old Belarusian had no equal in shooting from a small-caliber rifle at 50 m. In the qualifying tournament, he won an unconditional victory, setting a new world record - 600 points. In the final round, Sergei Martynov was again completely stronger than his opponents, once again improving the world record with a total of 705.5 points.

Maxim Mirny and Victoria Azarenka(tennis, mixed) won the final of the mixed doubles tennis tournament at the London Olympics. The Belarusian duet Azarenka/Mirny is unique. It included two current world No. 1s: Victoria Azarenka was the current world No. 1 in women's singles according to the WTA rankings at the time, and Max Mirny topped the ATP rankings in men's doubles. At the XXXX Olympics in London, Victoria Azarenka also became a bronze medalist in singles.

Alla Tsuper(freestyle, acrobatics) - champion of the XXII Olympic Games in 2014. Alla Tsuper's Olympic gold became a sensation. At the Olympics, she constantly lacked a little: she took 5th place in 1998 and 9th place in 2002. However, in Sochi, Tsuper used the chance presented to her one hundred percent, not allowing the judges and rivals to doubt her superiority. Alla Tsuper's gold is the first Olympic award in the history of women's Belarusian freestyle.

Belarusian freestyler Anton Kushnir(freestyle, acrobatics) became the Olympic champion in 2014 in Sochi. In the final round of the competition in the Rosa Khutor extreme park, the 29-year-old Minsk resident superbly performed the jump with the highest difficulty coefficient - a triple somersault with 5 screws, and received the highest score among all competitors - 134.59 points.

Olympic silver

37 Belarusian athletes are silver medalists at the Olympic Games, with 14 awards being won by gymnasts. Three athletes became silver medalists twice: shooter Igor Basinsky(bullet shooting), Andrey Rybakov(weightlifting) and Alexandra Gerasimenya(swimming).

Olympic bronze

57 Belarusian Olympians won bronze medals, with 45 medals to their credit. Record holder for the number of bronze medals - six-time Olympic champion Vitaly Shcherbo. This is a unique gymnast who, competing as part of the united CIS team at the Barcelona Olympics, won six gold medals, winning in all types of the program. At the 1996 Olympics, as a member of the Belarusian national team, he climbed to the third step of the podium four times.

Belarus at the Paralympic Games

For the first time, Belarusians competed as an independent team at the X Summer Paralympic Games in Atlanta in 1996. Belarusian athletes won 13 medals, of which 3 are gold, 3 are silver and 7 are bronze.

Belarus at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London was represented by 31 Paralympic athletes in seven sports: athletics, swimming, rowing, fencing, judo, cycling, powerlifting. Belarusian team with 10 awards (5 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze) took 25th place in the final medal standings.

Of the 10 awards of the Belarusian team at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London 6 swimmer won Igor Bokiy. He won gold in the 100m butterfly, became a silver medalist in the 50m freestyle, added gold to the collection in the 100m freestyle, won gold with a world record in the 100m backstroke, and became the best in the 400m freestyle, again setting a record planet, with another world record, he won the 200 m medley.

The swimmer won the silver medal Vladimir Izotov at a distance of 100 m breaststroke in the SB12 category.

The athlete has bronze medals Alexandra Suboty in the triple jump in the F46 category, Lyudmila Volchek in rowing, Anna Kanyuk in long jump in category F11/12.

At the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi representatives of the Belarusian national team won 3 bronze awards and took 18th place in the medal standings. Vasily Shapteboy became a two-time bronze medalist in biathlon at distances of 7.5 km and 12.5 km with four shooting ranges among the visually impaired. Yadviga Skorobogataya won bronze in cross-country skiing at a distance of 15 km in the classical style among athletes with visual impairments.

The 2016 Summer Paralympics will be held from 7 to 19 September 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 526 sets of awards will be raffled off in 22 sports. For the first time, kayaking, canoeing and triathlon competitions will be held. The competitions will be held at the same venues as the 2016 Olympics.-0-