Tajikistan (TJK)

As a former member of the Soviet Union, a few Tajikistani athletes competed from 1952 to 1988 for the Soviet Union. Tajikistani athletes were also present at Barcelona in 1992 as members of the Unified Team. During this time Tajikistanis won four medals, including two gold. The canoeist Yury Lobanov won gold (1972) and bronze (1980), Andrey Abduvaliyev won gold in hammer throw (1992), and the archer Zebinisso Rustamova won bronze (1976). Tajikistan made its Olympic début as an independent nation in 1996 and first competed at the Olympic Winter Games in 2002. At the 2008 Beijing Games, the country won its first medals, with a silver in the freestyle wrestling light-heavyweight class by Yusuf Abdusalomov and a bronze in the judo lightweight class by Rasul Bokiyev.