Uzbekistan_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics
Uzbekistan at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Sporting event delegation
Uzbekistan competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from July 27 to August 12, 2012. This was the nation's fifth consecutive appearance at the Olympics. The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan sent the nation's smallest delegation to the Games in the post-Soviet era. A total of 54 athletes, 36 men and 18 women, competed in 13 sports. There was only a single competitor in fencing, rhythmic and trampoline gymnastics, shooting and tennis.
Notable Uzbek athletes featured tennis player Denis Istomin (ranked thirty-fourth in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals), road cyclist and former world junior champion Sergey Lagutin, and sprint canoer Vadim Menkov, who nearly missed out of the medal standings in Beijing. Sprinter Guzal Khubbiyeva and trampoline gymnast Ekaterina Khilko became the first Uzbek female athletes to compete in four Olympic games. Meanwhile, swimmers Ranohon Amanova and Yulduz Kuchkarova, both at age 18, were the youngest athletes of the team. Light heavyweight boxer and double Asian Games champion Elshod Rasulov was the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
Uzbekistan left London originally with four Olympic medals (one gold and three bronze), tying with Sydney for the nation's overall medal standings. Freestyle wrestler Artur Taymazov, who defended his super heavyweight title for the third time, became the most successful Uzbek athlete in history with a total of four Olympic medals. Another freestyle wrestler Soslan Tigiev collected his second Olympic medal in the men's middleweight division, by winning an Olympic bronze medal. Judoka Rishod Sobirov managed to repeat his bronze medal from Beijing. Boxer Abbos Atoev recaptured his nation's sporting success at these games, by winning an Olympic bronze medal after eight years.
On 7 November 2012, the International Olympic Committee stripped Soslan Tigiev of his bronze medal after testing positive for the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine.[1] On 23 July 2019, the International Olympic Committee stripped Artur Taymazov of his gold medal after testing positive for the prohibited substance.[2] In 2020, after the disqualification of a number of athletes in a weightlifting men's 105 kg event, the bronze medal in this event was redistributed to Ivan Efremov.
