2010 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony - Georgia entering cropped

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

participated in the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It marked the fifth time since gaining independence that Georgia sent a delegation, though it had previously competed since

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

as a member of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Eight athletes competed in three sports, with none of them winning a medal. On the day of the opening ceremony, Georgian luger

Nodar Kumaritashvili , nationality = Georgian , hometown = Bakuriani, Georgia , birth_date = , birth_place = Borjomi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union , death_date = , death_place = Whistler, British Columbia, Canada , he ...

died in an accident while practicing for the games.

Alpine skiing

Three athletes competed in skiing events:

Iason Abramashvili Iason Abramashvili ( ka, იასონ აბრამაშვილი, ; born 26 April 1988) is a Georgian alpine skier from Bakuriani. He competed for Georgia at the 2010 Winter Olympics in the slalom and giant slalom. Abramashvili was Georg ...

and

Jaba Gelashvili Jaba Gelashvili (born March 7, 1993) is an alpine skier from Georgia. He competed for Georgia at the 2010 Winter Olympics. His best result was a 50th place finish in the giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboardin ...

in both men's

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

and

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

, and

Nino Tsiklauri Nino Tsiklauri ( ka, ნინო წიკლაური, ; born 1 July 1993) is a Georgian alpine skier. She competed for Georgia at the 2010 Winter Olympics Georgia participated in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Ca ...

in women's

and

Figure skating

Three athletes competed in two figure skating events for Georgia:

Elene Gedevanishvili Elene Gedevanishvili (, born 7 January 1990) is a Georgian former competitive figure skater. She is a two-time (2012, 2010) European bronze medalist. In winning the medal in 2010, Gedevanishvili became the first skater from Georgia to medal at a ...

competed in ladies' singles, while

Allison Reed Allison Lynn Reed (born June 8, 1994) is an American-born ice dancer who currently competes for Lithuania with Saulius Ambrulevičius. She previously skated with Otar Japaridze for Georgia (country), Georgia and with Vasili Rogov for Israel. Wi ...

and

Otar Japaridze Otar Japaridze ( ka, ოთარ ჯაფარიძე, born December 23, 1987) is a Georgian former competitive ice dancer. With former partner Allison Reed, he represented Georgia at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He later skated with Angelina ...

competed in

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. Ac ...

. Reed and Japaridze qualified for the Olympics at the

2009 Nebelhorn Trophy The 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy was held between September 23 and 26, 2009 in Oberstdorf, Germany. It served as the final Olympic qualifier to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skatin ...

, where they placed twelfth. Reed, originally from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, became a Georgian citizen in January 2010. They finished 22nd overall at the Olympics.

Luge

Two athletes were qualified for the luge, with both

Levan Gureshidze Levan Gureshidze ( ka, ლევან გურეშიძე; born September 21, 1988) is a Georgian luger who has competed since 2008. He finished 55th in the 2008-09 Luge World Cup. Gureshidze qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics but wit ...

and

set to make their Olympics' debut. However, on February 12, the day of the

Opening Ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

, Kumaritashvili crashed during a training run and was killed. The

Whistler Sliding Centre The Whistler Sliding Centre (french: link=no, Centre des sports de glisse de Whistler) is a Canadian bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track located in Whistler, British Columbia, that is north of Vancouver. The centre is part of the Whistler Blackc ...

, which recorded some of the fastest speeds in luge, experienced several accidents occurred during training runs leading up to the start of the games. Going into the final turn of the course at speeds of , he crashed into the side of the turn, sending him into a steel support pillar, and died shortly after. The

International Luge Federation The International Luge Federation ( French: Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (FIL); German: Internationaler Rennrodelverband) is the main international federation for all luge sports. Founded by 13 nations at Davos, Switzerland in ...

immediately called an emergency meeting after the incident, and all other training runs were called off for the day. Saying he "couldn't go on," Gureshidze withdrew from the competition out of respect for his teammate.

References

{{Nations at the 2010 Winter Olympics

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Nations at the 2010 Winter Olympics

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Winter sports in Georgia (country)