The Daily Mail: Mother and son shooters aim to make history at Olympics

Georgia’s three-time Olympic medal winner Nino Salukvadze and her 18-year-old son will make history at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro as this will be first time when a mother and son will compete together.

This will be the eighth Olympic Games for Salukvadze, and while her son will be a proud newcomer to the international sporting competition he says he is not under pressure to match his mother’s previous achievement of winning gold at her first Olympics.

My mother tells me that although she was almost my age when she won her Olympic gold, she represented the Soviet Union at that time, and [she] had better training conditions, more experience in tournaments,” said Salukvadze’s son, Tsotne Machavariani.

She tells me that we do not have that luxury now and she does not demand any results from me. I think this her way to calm me down and reduce my nervousness during the tournament,” he added.

A medal is of course something the teenager is aiming for at Rio but his selection into Georgia’s Olympic team was a big feat in itself. He shot a personal best in the 10-metre air pistol at the European Championships in February to snatch a surprise Olympic qualifying spot.

While there have been previous cases of parents and their children competing at the same Olympic games, this is believed to be the first time a mother and son will participate in the same Olympic sporting discipline.

Olympic historian Bill Mallon said there have been 56 cases of fathers and sons at the same games in the 120-year history of the modern Olympics, 12 father and daughter cases, two of mother and daughter, but none of mother and son — until now.

Read the full article here: www.dailymail.co.uk