Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan, is a doubly landlocked country located in Central Asia. It is surrounded by five countries: Kazakhstan to the north, Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Tajikistan to the southeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest, making it one of only two doubly landlocked countries on Earth, the other being Liechtenstein. Uzbekistan is part of the Turkic world, as well as a member of the Organization of Turkic States. Uzbek, spoken by the Uzbek people, is the official language and spoken by the majority of its inhabitants, while Russian and Tajik are significant minority languages. Islam is the predominant religion, and most Uzbeks are Sunni Muslims.
Demographic features of the population of Uzbekistan include population growth, population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. The nationality of a person from Uzbekistan is Uzbekistani, while the ethnic Uzbek majority call themselves Uzbeks. Much of the data is estimated because the last census was carried out in Soviet times in 1989.
Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in eastern Central Asia, lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the capital and largest city. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the east and southeast. Ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the country's over 7 million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians.
Karakalpakistan, officially the Republic of Karakalpakistan, is an autonomous republic of Uzbekistan. It spans the northwestern portion of Uzbekistan. Its capital is Nukus. Karakalpakstan has an area of 166,590 km2 (64,320 sq mi), and has a population of about 2 million people. Its territory covers the classical land of Khwarazm, which in classical Persian literature was known as Kāt (کات).
Rozaliya Ilfatovna Galiyeva, also known as Roza Galieva, is a retired artistic gymnast who competed in the 1992 Summer Olympics and 1996 Summer Olympics.
Artur Borisovich Taymazov is Uzbek-Russian wrestler and politician. He was Uzbekistan's most decorated Olympian before being stripped of two gold medals for doping. In 2016, he was elected to the 7th State Duma of the Russian Federation representing United Russia.
Tatiana Valeryevna Malinina is a Russian-Uzbek retired figure skater who competed for Uzbekistan. She is the 1999 Grand Prix Final champion, the 1999 Four Continents champion, a two-time NHK Trophy champion, and a ten-time (1993–2002) Uzbek national champion.
Oksana Aleksandrovna Chusovitina is an Uzbek artistic gymnast.
Pakhtakor Football Club is an Uzbek professional football club, based in the capital city of Tashkent, that competes in the Uzbekistan Super League. Pakhtakor literally means "cotton-grower".
Nadiya Yusupovna Dusanova is an Uzbekistani high jumper.
Anastasiya Aleksandrovna Kodirova, née Belikova, is a Russian volleyball player. She was a member of the national team that won the silver medal in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Irina Alexandrovna Viner, formerly Irina Alexandrovna Viner-Usmanova, is a Russian rhythmic gymnastics coach who is head coach of the Russian national team, president of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, and former vice president of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation.
The Uzbekistan Footballer of the Year is a yearly football award presented by the Uzbekistan Football Association to the most outstanding Uzbekistan footballer among who has been considered to have performed the best in national team or over Uzbekistan Super League and other national championship season. The award is given out at the end of the calendar year and is decided by the survey among sport journalists and football experts.
Eldor Azamat oʻgʻli Shomurodov is an Uzbek professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Roma and captains the Uzbekistan national team.
The CAFA Nations Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA), the governing body of football in Central Asia.
The International Army Games is an annual international military sports event organized by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Russia. The event, which was first staged in August 2015, involves close to 30 countries taking part in dozens of competitions over two weeks to prove which is the most skilled. The games have been referred to as the War Olympics. In addition to the competition, the International Army Games includes a military theme park, a recruitment station, and souvenir shops.
Uzbekistan competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.
Svetlana Osipova is an Uzbek taekwondo athlete and a member of the Uzbekistan national team. In 2017, she won a silver medal at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. In 2018 and 2023, she earned bronze medals at the Summer Asian Games. In 2019, she secured a gold medal at the World Military Games. In 2022, she won a gold medal at the World Taekwondo Championship, and in 2023, she claimed a silver medal.
Hanna Vitalyevna Prakatsen is a Belarusian-born Russian rower. She competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics. Since 2023, she has represented Uzbekistan as Anna Prakaten.
Takhmina Ikromova is an Uzbekistani rhythmic gymnast. She is an Asian Games champion individually and in the team event, and she is also a two-time all-around champion at the Asian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, in 2022 and 2023. She competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the rhythmic individual all-around.
