Albania competed at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's seventh appearance at the Olympics since its debut in 1972. The

National Olympic Committee of Albania The Albanian National Olympic Committee ''( Albanian: Komiteti Olimpik Kombëtar Shqiptar - KOKSH)'' is a non-profit organisation and the legal authority of Albania's participation in the Olympic Games. As a member of the International Olympic Com ...

sent a total of 11 athletes to the Games, seven men and four women, to compete in four sports. Weightlifter

Hysen Pulaku Hysen Pulaku (born 8 December 1992) is an Albanian weightlifter. On July 23, 2012 Pulaku tested positive for stanozolol, a banned anabolic steroid. On July 28, the International Olympic Committee formally ejected Pulaku from the 2012 Summer Olymp ...

was officially removed from the team on the first day, after failing a drug test for the banned

anabolic steroid Anabolic steroids, also known more properly as anabolic–androgenic steroids (AAS), are steroidal androgens that include natural androgens like testosterone as well as synthetic androgens that are structurally related and have similar effects ...

substance, as announced by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

. Albania, however, has yet to win its first ever Olympic medal. The Albanians competed in five sports with the same number of athletes like they did at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

in Beijing in China. This time around they couldn't improve on their previous achievements as they didn't future their two Wrestlers in Elis Guri and Sahit Prizreni. Albania competed in

Judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

with World Judo Juniors Champion of

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

and twice European Junior Champion of 2009 and 2010 Majlinda Kelmendi, who made her debut at the Olympic games. She competed at the Women's 52 kg event. In the first round she defeated Jaana Sundberg from Finland. Before losing in the round of 16 to Mauritian Judoka Legentil. In Weightlifting Albania initially competed with four athletes three men and one female.

Briken Calja Briken Calja (born 19 February 1990, Elbasan) is an Albanian weightlifter, Olympian, and European Champion competing in the 69 kg category until 2018 and 73 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganiz ...

had the best result for Albania as he finished 6th in his debut for Albania lifting 320 kg in total.

Romela Begaj Romela Aleksandër Begaj (born 2 November 1986) is an Albanian weightlifter. On 11 November 2014 in Almaty she became world champion in the Snatch style for the category up to 63 kg. Previously Begaj represented Albania at the 2008 Europea ...

competed for the second time for Albania but this time she wasn't able to improve on her result from the previous olympics as she finished 9th in the end.

Athletics

Albania has qualified 1 female quota place, and selected 1 male athlete by wildcard. ;Track & road events ;Field events

Judo

Albania had not initially qualified a judoka, but due to the

's refusal to allow Kosovars of Albanian ethnicity to represent

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a international recognition of Kosovo, partiall ...

or to compete as independent athletes, Majlinda Kelmendi represented Albania at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Shooting

Swimming

Albanian swimmers are invited. One men and female.

Weightlifting

Albania has qualified three men and one female quota places. On 28 July, the

announced that

had tested positive for

stanozolol Stanozolol ( abbrev. Stz), sold under many brand names, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication derived from dihydrotestosterone (DHT). It is used to treat hereditary angioedema. It was developed by American pharmaceutical company W ...

, a banned

, and consequently ejected him from the games.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Country at games navbox, Albania, Olympics Nations at the 2012 Summer Olympics

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

2012 in Albanian sport