Sports have been heavily promoted in Turkmenistan in recent years. Residents are forcibly urged to be involved in “volunteer” large-scale bike rides or physical exercises. As the television broadcasts feature the President working out in the gym, riding a bike or driving racing cars, Turkmenistan is building expensive sports facilities and hosting international sports events.
Despite all these efforts, Turkmenistan remains the only country in the post-Soviet area which has not a single Olympic medal, and the majority of professional athletes are unable to compete in international sports contests.
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The 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil turned out to be a disaster for the Turkmen team. Similarly, the Asian Games in Indonesia, which closed on 2 September, did not bring about any serious accomplishments as Turkmenistan’s team took home only 3 medals one silver and two bronze ones.
The triumph of Turkmen athletes at the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, held in Ashgabat in 2017, can be viewed as much more surprising from this perspective. Back in their home country Turkmenistan won the Games by a wide margin winning 245 medals.
According to the editor of the website “Gundogar”, former President of the football club “Koperdag” and manager of Turkmenistan’s national football team, Bairam Shikmuradov, the scope and the level of contests in Jakarta and Ashgabat are incomparable.
The expert believes that the 245 medals won by the team in Ashgabat suggest a lack of worthy rivals rather than the high professional level of Turkmen athletes.
For instance, the same kurash fighters and other Turkmen athletes who had performed in Ashgabat, competed in Jakarta along with other professional athletes but did not win any medals at the real Asian Games.
This suggests that the silver medal won by the female weight lifter Kristina Shermetova at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta is much more valuable than all the other awards which the Turkmen national had obtained last year.
Aisha Berdyeva, a correspondent of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan”, interviewed Bairam Shikhmuradov about the overall situation in Turkmen sports, the professional level of athletes, the difference between the Asian Games in Jakarta and in Ashgabat, doping and the forthcoming car rally scheduled to be held in Turkmenistan in September.