Tajikistan at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Tajikistan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from August 5 to 21. It was Tajikistan’s sixth straight Summer Games after the Soviet era. The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Tajikistan sent a small team of seven athletes (five men and two women) to compete in four sports: athletics, boxing, judo, and swimming. This was Tajikistan’s smallest Olympic team since 2000, and no Tajik wrestlers were entered for the first time since the country’s 1996 debut.
The flag bearer and most experienced athlete was hammer thrower Dilshod Nazarov, age 30. He led the team at the opening ceremony for the second time, after first doing so in Beijing 2008. Nazarov would go on to win Tajikistan’s first Olympic gold medal.
Other team members included Anvar Yunusov, a London 2012 competitor in lightweight boxing; Anastasia Tyurina, a 15-year-old freestyle swimmer who became Tajikistan’s youngest Olympian; and Nazarov, who became Tajikistan’s first four-time Olympian.
Athletics: Tajikistan qualified one boxer for the men’s lightweight division, Anvar Yunusov, who earned his spot at the 2016 AIBA World Qualifying Tournament in Baku.
Judo: Tajikistan qualified two judokas — Komronshokh Ustopiriyon (-90 kg) and Mukhamadmurod Abdurakhmonov (+100 kg). Ustopiriyon was among the top 22 in the IJF World Ranking List as of May 30, 2016; Abdurakhmonov earned a continental quota spot from Asia.
Swimming: Tajikistan received a Universality invitation from FINA to send two swimmers (one man and one woman) to the Games.
Medal result: Tajikistan finished with 1 gold medal (Nazarov) and no silver or bronze, placing 54th in the medal table.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:29 (CET).