Georgia’s shooting legend Nino Salukvadze aiming for perfect 10 at Paris 2024
The 54-year-old is eyeing the overall record set by Canadian equestrian jumper Ian Millar, who participated in 10 Olympics. Her son Tsotne is joining her on the qualifying journey.
Shooting
Georgia's shooting legend Nino Salukvadze is determined to continue making Olympic history.
Tokyo 2020 was supposed to be her swansong at the Games, but just a few weeks after becoming the first woman to compete in nine Summer Olympics, she had a change of heart and came out of retirement.
Now, at 54 years old, she has set her sights on her 10th Olympics, aiming to equal the overall record set by Canadian equestrian jumper Ian Millar in 2012.
The decision to continue was strongly influenced by the wishes of her 92-year-old father Vakhtang, who has been her coach since she started a successful career in the mid-80s: “He told me, ‘Nino, I thought you were a clever girl. You just have to wait for three years after Tokyo, why don’t you try to go to the next Olympics? It will be a record ten Olympics,’” Salukvadze revealed to Olympics.com in a video interview from her home in Tbilisi this month ahead of her participation in the 2023 European Games.
Although she had some doubts due to her age and her desire to become a coach, she admitted: “My father is my idol and I said to him that I will try.”
Her son, Tsotne Machavariani, who is also a pistol shooter and took part in Rio 2016 with his mother, played a significant role in her decision: “She forgot about me! I also told her that if she was going to finish with shooting, I was going to quit too. Thank you mum...” the 25-year-old added jokingly, referring to her oversight.
A difficult qualification path ahead for Salukvadze
Salukvadze also has the intention to conclude her Olympic journey on a different note.
Just before Tokyo 2020 in 2021, her family was heavily affected by COVID infection, putting doubt on her participation. She was Georgia’s flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony and in Japan she didn’t progress past the qualifying stage, finishing 31st and 25th in the 10m air pistol and 25m pistol events, respectively.
“Tokyo was a very difficult competition, a very difficult Olympic Games because of the pandemic. But I want to thank Japan because another country wouldn’t have been able to host the event,” the nine-time Olympian told us.
Qualifying for Paris 2024 won't be easy either. Quota spots for Georgia will be awarded through the European Games, the World Championships, the European Championships, and the ISSF world rankings.
As of 28 of May, Salukvadze was the top-ranked Georgian female shooter in the 25m event, while she had two team-mates ahead of her in the 10m competition.
“It’s impossible to predict at 100% if I can take a quota place,” she stated, highlighting how the new rules from the International Federation make finals even more nerve-wracking, as results from the qualification rounds no longer count.
“Nobody can know, you must have some luck too! Only one person can qualify from the ranking so it’s very difficult, very very difficult, but I will try,” she concluded.
Nino Salukvadze: ‘Optimistic’ about Paris 2024
In a career spanning almost 40 years, Salukvadze has won every title in the sport.
On her Olympic debut for the former Soviet Union at Seoul 1988, she came away with women's 25m Pistol gold and 10m Air Pistol silver. Twenty years later in Beijing, the she shooter claimed the bronze medal for Georgia in the 10m Air Pistol event, grabbing headlines for embracing her Russian rival Natalia Paderina at a time when the two countries were at war.
She also stood atop the podium at World and European Championships, as well as in World Cup Finals. Her most recent victory came at the ISSF Grand Prix in Osijek, Croatia, early in January.
“We are optimistic because I saw how I’m shooting in training. I saw my results and if I make these results in competition, it will be enough to qualify,” she said.
“I’m pretty confident about mum,” her son Tsotne added.
“If she made it nine times out of nine, she’s going to make it ten out of ten, I have no doubts about that.”
But what drives her to pursue a joint-record tenth Olympic Games?
She explained: “It’s not important for me, it’s important for my country. Georgia is really small and 80% of the world population don’t know where it is. So maybe if I achieve this, they will know about my small paradise country.”
Mother and son at the same Olympics again?
In Paris, Nino could be joined by her son for the second time after their historic participation together in Rio.
However, for Tsotne, who missed out on Tokyo 2020, making it to the next Games could prove more challenging than for his mother: “She’s always helping me because I’m trying so hard and it’s easy to get angry when your results are not improving,” he admitted.
“She’s always telling me, ‘it’s okay, that’s not the most important thing in life. The most important thing is to be human and help everyone around.’ But there’s always a chance, that’s what we are fighting for,” he added.
Nino Salukvadze shared that after recovering from ‘a big health problem’ last winter, she is now on a mission: “We will try to go both to the Olympics. Also, other shooters from Georgia can, and I will help them with all my experience.”
During the next Games, the three-time Olympic medallist will be 55: “Age doesn’t mean anything in shooting and I don't want to think about it. You just need to hold a gun and you don’t need a lot of physical training
“Our sport is 80% psychological, you need to be able to control your thoughts.”