Georgian shooting legend Nino Salukvadze is likely to become the first female athlete to compete in 10 Olympic Games after earning her country a quota spot at Paris 2024 in the 25 metre pistol at the European Games 2023.
Ten of the sports on show at Krakow-Malopolska offer direct qualifying spots to Paris 2024, either for the athlete or for the athlete’s country. Salukvadze’s performance means Georgia will send a shooter to Paris in the 25m pistol, and the nine-time Olympian is widely expected to be awarded the spot.
Salukvadze was already the only female athlete to compete in nine Games and will equal Canadian equestrian jumper Ian Millar’s record for the most Olympics ever competed in by an athlete. He was selected for 10 between 1972 and 2012.
She has appeared at every Olympic Games since making her debut and winning gold in the 25m pistol and silver in the 10m air pistol at Seoul 1988. She also won bronze in the 10m air pistol at Beijing 2008.
After winning the quota spot for Georgia, Salukvadze explained that her 92-year-old father convinced her to compete for another three years to reach the record after she planned to retire following Tokyo 2020. She received a standing ovation from the crowd and shared an emotional moment with her coach as her achievement sunk in.
Now 54, Salukvadze said: ‘After nine Olympics, I said I was finished because it is a really hard job. But my father is my coach, he is 92-years-old, and he said to me that it is only three years, that I am good enough and that I should try to qualify for the Olympics for my father’s last wish. I am so happy and he will be happy too.
‘I was so emotional because I was thinking about my father, my family and my country. Georgia is a very small country and nobody knows about us. After this record, I hope that people will know about my country.’
Greece’s Olympic champion at Rio 2016 Anna Korakaki won the gold medal in the 25m pistol, Antoaneta Kostadinova the silver and Doreen Venekamp the bronze.
