Athletes will compete in 15 sports for 84 different medals. The most medals won so far are in skiing and figure skating.
2550 athletes from 85 countries are participating in the Olympics. 1440 trainers and officials are also in Torino and 9600 journalists will keep people informed about the events. There are nearly 2500 technicians and staff members. There will be 2300 representatives from the International Olympics Committee, the National Olympics Committee and other federations. There will also be 650 referees. 6000 sponsors have traveled to Italy as guests. They will stay in three Olympic small villages in Torino, Bardonechia and Sestrier. The Olympic torch will be lit for 17 days and the athletes will compete for 16 days.
Now let’s talk about Armenia. There are 18 representatives in the Armenian delegation, including Gagik Tsarukyan, President of the Physical Education and Sports State Committee of Armenia Ishkhan Zakaryan and his vice Armen Grigoryan. There are also Armenians from the Diaspora in the delegation.
Five athletes from Armenia will compete in the olympics: figure skaters Anastasia Grebyonkina and Vazgen Azoyan, skiers Hovhannes Sargsyan, Abraham Sarkakhyan and mountain-skier Edmond Khachatryan. It is quite possible that skier Vazgen Azroyan will carry the Armenian flag during the closing ceremony. The Olympic games committee has designed the uniforms for our Armenian athletes-white costumes with red collars. It is prohibited to place any logos on the costumes. The team from Moldova has already been given a penalty for putting the “Adidas” logo on their clothes.
The U.S., Iranian and Armenian flags were raised at the same time. Many tried to see something political about this, but the organizers consider that a coincidence. Those teams simply came to Torino the same day and registered at the same time; that is why they raised the flags at the same time.
Of course, these are just the details. The important thing is that our team does well during the Olympics. However, we don’t expect too much. No Armenian athlete has ever won any medal in the previous Olympic games. According to specialists, only the pair skaters Anastasia Grebyonkina and Vazgen Azroyan may have a chance of getting a medal due to their professional experience and their world championships.
As for the rest of the athletes, everyone is of the opinion that they will be enlisted in the top 30. As they say, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Of course, it would be better if all our athletes come back victorious.