Mongolia’s Olympic Team has 18 Olympic places

The London Olympic Games, which will be held from July 27th to August 12th, will qualify athletes in 26 sports and 302 medal events. Mongolia is participating in the games with a large team this year. As of May 1st, Mongolia has 18 official and 28 unofficial places to attend the London Olympics. The number of spots may increase since there are still several Olympic qualifying tournaments left. The Olympic committee of Mongolia is hoping to get 3-5 more rights to participate. Mongolian athletes are participating in seven sports in this year’s Olympics. The following is a list of all athletes who have their Olympic rights officially.

B. Ser-Od /men’s marathon, athletics
L.Otgonbayar /women’s marathon, athletics
O.Gundegmaa /women’s 25 m pistol, shooting
J.Gantugs /men’s individual, archery
O.Nasanburmaa /women’s 63 kg, freestyle wrestling
J.Chuluunbat /men’s 120kg, freestyle wrestling
P.Serdamba /men’s light flyweight (49 kg), boxing
U.Munkh-Erdene /men’s light welterweight (64 kg), boxing
B.Urantungalag /women’s individual, archery
N.Bayaraa /men’s 10m air rifle, shooting
A.Tamir /swimming, by invitation
G.Oyungerel /swimming, by invitation
N.Tugstsogt /men’s flyweight (52 kg), boxing
B.Tuvshinbat /men’s welterweight (69 kg), boxing
P.Unurbat /mens’ 74 kg, freestyle wrestling
D.Otgontsetseg /womens’ 48 kg, freestyle wrestling
S.Byambatseren /womens’ 55 kg, freestyle wrestling
O.Burmaa /womens’ 72 kg, freestyle wrestling

Athletics: Two athletes that qualified for the athletics competition are participating in one of the hardest categories, the marathon. State Honored Athlete B.Ser-Od won his Olympic right first, which encouraged other athletes. L.Otgonbayar gained the right to attend the London Olympics by being one of top 10 athletes in the Prague marathon. 

Shooting: Mongolian Labor Hero and State Honored Athlete O.Gundegmaa is attending her fifth Olympic games this year. She is aiming to improve her achievement from the Beijing Olympics. N.Bayaraa who is participating in the 10 meters air rifle, is the first male athlete of Mongolia to compete in the Olympics.

Archery: J.Gantugs was the first to grab the Olympics right and international sports master, B.Urantungalag won the second right. The Mongolian archery team is participating in the Final Olympic Qualification Tournament, which will be held from June 18th-24th in Ogden, USA and they’re training to get two more Olympic places for the men’s and women’s teams.

Boxing: Despite the small number of four participants, the boxing team is quite strong. In the Beijing Olympics four athletes competed and won two medals. The boxing team is aiming to repeat that.

Swimming: FINA, International Swimming Federation allowed the Mongolian Swimming Association to participate in the London Olympics. The rights were given to A.Tamir , who is participating in the men’s 100 meters breaststroke and G.Oyungerel, taking part in women’s 100 meters backstroke.

Freestyle wrestling: The freestyle wrestling team has 6 places so far. The last Olympic qualification tournament before London has started today in Helsinki, Finland and the Mongolian team hopes to add to the rights in this competition. The Mongolian freestyle wrestling team has a history of winning medals from four Olympics in a row. However the last was in the Moscow Olympics in 1980 where J.Davaajav won the silver medal and D.Oyunbold won the bronze medal. The team is attending the London Olympics with the purpose to repeat this previous history