SALUKVADZE Nino

General
NINTH OLYMPIAD
She is hoping to make her ninth Olympic appearance at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. She represented the Soviet Union at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, and competed for the Unified Team at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. She has competed under the Georgia flag since the 1996 Games in Atlanta. "I'm not thinking about my 10th Games just yet. I will finish this one in Tokyo first and then I will see. I've been asked not to leave the sport as an athlete. If I leave now [speaking in 2019] we'll be lacking attention to the current shooters. I train other sportsmen. A lot of nice kids follow me, and have good results. We have to pay attention to the young ones." (SportsDeskOnline, 28 Jan 2020; olympicchannel.com, 04 Sep 2019; lelo.ge, 01 May 2019; issf-sports.org, 24 Apr 2019; nydailynews.com, 04 May 2016)

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY
She and her son Tsotne Machavariani both represented Georgia in shooting at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "I am more nervous for him, but when I am at the shooting range I am the coach and mentor. When I am at the village I am the mother, although he is with the other athletes, not with old people like me," she said in 2016. (SportsDeskOnline, 28 Jan 2020; olympic.org, 05 Aug 2016)

She and her son Tsotne Machavariani became the first mother and son to compete at the same edition of the Olympic Games when they represented Georgia at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. (olympic.org, 05 Aug 2016)

At the 2012 Olympic Games in London she became the first athlete from any sport to represent Georgia at five editions of the Olympic Games. Four years later in Rio de Janeiro she became the first Georgian athlete to compete at six Olympic Games. (SportsDeskOnline, 21 Sep 2020)

She became the first athlete representing Georgia to win a medal in shooting at the Olympic Games by claiming bronze in the 10m air pistol at the 2008 Games in Beijing. (SportsDeskOnline, 21 Sep 2020)