Georgia Wins 10 Medals as European Youth Olympic Festival Comes to an End

The summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Tbilisi came to an end on Saturday with Georgia finishing tenth on the medal table winning nine of its ten medals in judo.
 
Georgia won 4 gold and 5 bronze medals in judo, and one bronze in artistic gymnastics.

Among Georgian gold medalists were female judo competitors Eter Liparteliani and Mzia Beboshvili, as well as male judokas Robinzon Beglarishvili and Onise Saneblidze.

Georgian judoka Eter Liparteliani (white) won gold with ippon after defeating Poland’s Anna Dabrowska (blue) in 57kg weight category on July 30, 2015. Photo: EYOF Tbilisi 2015

Georgian judoka Mzia Beboshvili celebrates gold medal after defeating Ilse Buren of the Netherlands in 52kg weight category on July 30, 2015.  

Georgian judoka Robinzon Beglarishvili (blue) won gold medal after defeating Italy’s Manuel Lombardo (white) with wa-zari in the 60kg weight category on July 29, 2015.  

Georgian judoka Onise Saneblidze defeated Russia’s Aliumer Tumaev with ippon and won gold medal in 90kg weight category on August 1, 2015. Photo: European Judo Union

Russia topped the medal table with 17 gold, 9 silver and 11 bronze medals, followed by Italy and France.

Over 3,200 athletes from 50 countries were competing in nine sports during the six-day European Youth Olympic Festival, which is held once in two years for 14-18-year-old athletes.
 
PM Irakli Garibashvili, who also addressed the opening ceremony on July 26, used his speech at the closing ceremony on August 1 to note Georgia’s European integration.

He said hosting of EYOF 2015 was “a huge experience” for Georgia and “an important stage of our European integration.”

45-minute long closing ceremony was held in the area where Athletes’ Village was located – a newly built residential complex at Tbilisi Sea, an artificial reservoir, in the suburb of Tbilisi, which is being developed by a private Chinese company Hualing.

The PM reiterated that apartment buildings, which were used during the EYOF 2015 for accommodation of athletes, will be handed over to about 600 internally displaced families, “who have lost their houses in Abkhazia and South Ossetia during war.” 
 
“Although the Festival is closing today, it leaves an important legacy” he said referring to newly built sport venues, among them swimming pool, tennis courts, gymnastics, volleyball and athletics arenas.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili was not present at the closing ceremony; he was also absent at the opening ceremony of the games a week ago.

President Margvelashvili told Tbilisi-based Maestro TV on July 31 that he was absent because of unresolved “protocol issues”, suggesting that the President was not “adequately” – relevant to his status of the president – involved in the process. He was apparently not given a chance to make an address as the PM took the lead at both the opening and closing ceremonies.

Next summer European Youth Olympic Festival will be held in Győr, Hungary, in 2017.