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.
Uzbek, formerly known as Turki, is a Karluk Turkic language spoken by Uzbeks. It is the official and national language of Uzbekistan and formally succeeded Chagatai, an earlier Karluk language also known as "Turki", as the literary language of Uzbekistan in the 1920s.
Human rights in Uzbekistan have been described as "abysmal" by Human Rights Watch, and the country has received heavy criticism from the UK and the US for alleged arbitrary arrests, religious persecution and torture employed by the government on a regional and national level. Amnesty International stated that freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly continue to be restricted, and that relations between gay men are illegal.
The Weightlifting Competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia saw the introduction of women's weightlifting.
Uzbekistan competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's third consecutive appearance at the Olympics. The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan sent a total of 70 athletes to the Games, 52 men and 18 women, to compete in 13 different sports, tying its delegation record with Sydney four years earlier. There was only a single competitor in road cycling, artistic and trampoline gymnastics, and table tennis.
The Uzbekistan national football team represents Uzbekistan in international football and is controlled by the Uzbekistan Football Association, the governing body for football in Uzbekistan.
Djamolidine Mirgarifanovich Abdoujaparov is a former professional road racing cyclist from Uzbekistan. Abdoujaparov was a sprinter, nicknamed "The Tashkent Terror" as he was so ferocious in the sprints. His unorthodox and often erratic sprinting caused a number of crashes. He competed in the individual road race at the Olympic Games on two occasions: in 1988 for the Soviet Union and in 1996 for Uzbekistan; he placed fifth in 1988.
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.
Marina Shmonina is an athlete who represented the Soviet Union, and later Russia. She specialized in the 400 metres and 4 x 400 metres relay.
Weightlifting competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China were held from August 9 to August 19. Competitions were conducted at the Beihang University Gymnasium.
Southern Uzbek, also known as Afghan Uzbek, is the southern variant of the Uzbek language, spoken chiefly in Afghanistan with up to 4.6 million speakers including first and second language speakers. It uses the Perso-Arabic writing system in contrast to the language variant of Uzbekistan.
Education in Uzbekistan is generally managed by the Ministry of Kindergartens and Schools and Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovations with some other agencies and bodies responsible in certain areas as prescribed by the President of Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008, with a team of 58 athletes.
Uzbekistan competed in the 2010 Youth Summer Olympics in Singapore.
Uzbekistan competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from July 27 to August 12, 2012. This was the nation's fifth consecutive appearance at the Olympics. The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan sent the nation's smallest delegation to the Games in the post-Soviet era. A total of 54 athletes, 36 men and 18 women, competed in 13 sports. There was only a single competitor in fencing, rhythmic and trampoline gymnastics, shooting and tennis.
Wrestling at the 2012 Summer Olympics were held between 5 and 12 August, the final day of the Games, at ExCeL London. It was split into two disciplines, Freestyle and Greco-Roman which were further divided into different weight categories. Men competed in both disciplines whereas women only took part in the freestyle events, with 18 gold medals awarded. Wrestling has been contested at every modern Summer Olympic Games, except Paris 1900.
The Uzbek Gymnasium is a gymnasium and boarding school located in Razzakov, Kyrgyzstan. The official name of the school is U. Matkarimov Gymnasium and Boarding School. In some documents it is written as U. Matkarimov Gymnasium and Secondary School.
Uzbekistan competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-Soviet era.
Uzbekistan participated at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 6 October to 18 October 2018.
The Uzbekistan women's national artistic gymnastics team represents Uzbekistan in FIG international competitions.
