RIO DE JANEIRO: A pair of Georgian shooters is set to make history at the Rio Games by becoming the first mother and son to compete at the same Olympics.
Three-time Olympic medallist Nino Salukvadze, 47, and 18-year-old Tsotne Machavariani will be gunning for glory in the pistol events.
“I am so proud and very happy to have my son here with me,” said Salukvadze.
“He is just beginning now. I am more nervous for him, but when I am at the shooting range I am the coach and mentor.
“When I am at the village I am the mother, although he is with the other athletes, not with old people like me,” the shooting legend added.
The evergreen Salukvadze will become only the second athlete ever to compete at eight Olympics after German-Italian canoeist Josefa Idem Guerrini.
Salukvadze first competed in Seoul in 1988, winning gold in the 25-metre pistol and silver in the 10-metre air pistol for the Soviet Union.
She won a third Olympic medal at Beijing in 2008, taking bronze in the 10-metre air pistol, this time representing Georgia.
Salukvadze also appeared at Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and London.
Machavariani will compete in the 50-metre pistol and 10-metre air pistol events in Rio.
He is hoping he can outdo his mother by clinching a maiden medal at a slightly younger age.
“My mother won her first medal when she was 19. I am only 18,” he declared cheekily in comments released by organisers.
But the teenager hopes his trip to Brazil won t all be about hard work.
“My dream is to go surfing at Copacabana. My mother will let me, yes,” Machavariani said. -AFP
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