At 55, Georgian shooter shows up at record 10th straight Olympics to fulfil father’s last wish

Chateauroux (France), Jul 31 (PTI) Nino Salukvadze had all but decided to bid adieu to her pistol after nine Olympic appearances, which yielded three medals, until she lost her father, whose “last wish” pushed her to compete in an unprecedented 10th Games.

The 55-year-old, who was Georgia’s flagbearer at the opening ceremony, became the first woman and only the second athlete overall after Equestrian show jumper Ian Millar to compete in a 10th consecutive Summer Games.

Her first two Olympic medals, a gold and silver in 25m pistol and 10m air pistol, came in the 1988 Games in Seoul where she represented the USSR before she completed the set with a bronze for Georgia 20 years later in Beijing.

Salukvadze said she found the resolve to give it another shot here here when she recalled her father Vakhtang Salukvadze’s words, which to her, seemed like a final wish.

“He never asked me for anything, so I think maybe it was his last wish,” said the veteran, who will be competing in the 25m pistol qualifications on Friday.

Stunningly, she stills holds the junior world record in this event. She touched that landmark in 1989 and it has only been equalled by India’s Manu Bhaker, who is putting on quite a show here with bronze medals in 10m air pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team events.

While the 22-year-old Bhaker is revelling in her newfound stardom and rise in stature, Salukvadze is enjoying her swansong.

Battling issues with her right eye, the veteran is certain that she is in the middle of her Olympic farewell.

“After Tokyo I thought I had finished, but my father, who was my coach – he died this year – told me, ‘Maybe you will cry (if you don’t carry on)’. It is only three years, not four years (since Tokyo 2020),” she recalled.

“I thought ‘Ok, I will try’. He was a very good coach because our sport is very psychological. Now it is a competition with my mind.”

Salukvadze is a role model back home and also a perfect ambassador of global sports fraternity. During the Beijing Games, she made quite a statement by giving a friendly peck to Russian silver-medallist Natalia Paderina on the podium despite their countries being at war with each other.

Besides her father’s wish, Salukvadze wanted to be present at the Paris Olympics to also push for gender equality.

“When I was told I had a quota place representing Georgia, I wanted to take this pistol and throw it into the air. Only one man has ever done this before — a horse rider from Canada — so maybe this is good for women’s equality,” she said.

She also had the pleasure of representing Georgia with her son Tsotne Machavariani, also a pistol shooter, at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

She was all set to retire after becoming the first woman to feature at nine Games at Tokyo 2020 before having a change of heart.

“Maybe if I had taken two golds in my first Olympic Games, maybe I don’t continue…who knows. But this is my last one. It will be very difficult for me, I’m sure. I had a problem with my right eye.

“In normal life it is not a problem, but for my sport, I need to focus for longer, and that gets harder with age,” said Salukvadze.

She will be turning up one final time here for the 25m event alongside Bhaker on Friday.