Category — Judo

Let us congratulate judoka Tuvshinbayar Naidan for winning the first ever gold medal for Mongolia. It is a historic achievement for Tuvshinbayar and for Mongolia which has won a total of 15 silver and bronze Olympic medals in the past.

With Naidan’s victory, it would be mission accomplished for the Mongolian Olympic team which targeted two medals when it arrived in Beijing. The other medalist is Otryad Gundegmaa who won a silver medal in shooting [women's 25m pistol].

Photo source: beijing2008

Judo gold medalist Elnur Mammadli of Azerbaijan should be our ultimate Olympic idol. Why? Because he did everything we have been monitoring in this blog, you know, the grand old traditions of Olympic medal biting, Olympic flag waving, and Olympic arms raising. He is our three-in-one gold medalist. Go Elnur!

By the way, for those of you interested about how much money Olympians make, Elnur will be receiving AZN 100,000 and NOC–AZN 50,000 from the Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee as a reward for his gold medal victory. The amount should be about US$ 123,777 if my calculation is correct.
Photo source: beijing 2008

Judoka Irakli Tsirekidze won the second medal for Georgia following his countryman, Manuchar Kvirkvelia’s triumph in wrestling. Irakli defeated Algerian Amar Benikhlef to bag the judo men’s 90-kg title.

Related:
Manuchar Kvirkvelia Waves Flag for Georgia

Photo source: tvnz

Judoka Xian Dongmei wins the fifth gold for China. It seems like Chinese athletes are not buckling under the tremendous hometown pressure. Good for them. I hope my favorite, Liu Xiang, will pass the test as well.

Meanwhile, it’s still all quiet on the western front. They have two gold medals so far after two days of Olympic competition. Should the Americans start worrying now? Well, it’s too early to tell.

Going back to Xian Dongmei, we should include her in our Dara Mama Club or the elite group of older women athletes or working moms who are participating in the Olympics. Xian is 32 years old [kind of old for sports in general] and is a proud mom to her 18 month old daughter.

A quote from Xian on being a working mom/athlete [via xinhuanet]:

“It is very common for judokas from other countries to continue their career with families, but in China I am probably the only mama judoka for the moment” Xian said.

[Read more →]

Some of you are googling for “male Olympic hotties” so from now on I’m going to call every male Olympic gold medalist a “hottie” to get your traffic. [Evil, huh?] But, seriously, what’s hotter than a gold medal? Maybe a diamond medal but since they don’t make diamond medals, a gold medal is the hottest of them all. Anyone with an Olympic gold medal = hottie.

Anyways, you’ve already met, judoka Choi Minho, but here’s more pictures of him. My bet is that Korean school girls will soon ditch Rain and idolize this guy who, seemingly [but understandably in this instance], likes to cry.

He beat guys bigger than him? Go Choi Minho!

Related:
Choi Minho Scores One Gold For South Korea

Photo credits: People’s Daily and beijing2008