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Kosovo at the
2020 Summer Olympics
Kosovo at the; 2020 Summer Olympics
IOC code	KOS
NOC	Olympic Committee of Kosovo
Website	noc-kosovo.org (in Albanian and Serbian)
in Tokyo, Japan; 23 July 2021 – 8 August 2021
Competitors	11 in 6 sports
Flag bearers (opening)	Majlinda Kelmendi; Akil Gjakova
Flag bearer (closing)	Egzon Shala
Medals; Ranked 42nd	Gold 2 Silver 0 Bronze 0 Total 2
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
	2016; 2020; 2024;
Other related appearances
	Yugoslavia (1920–1992W); Independent Olympic Participants (1992S); Serbia and Montenegro (1996–2006); Serbia (2008–2012)

Kosovo (KOS) competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, represented by the Olympic Committee of Kosovo (KOK/OKK). The nation had previously participated in the Summer Olympic Games on one occasion in 2016. A total of 11 athletes, five men and six women, were selected by the national committee to compete in six sports. Initially scheduled to take place during the summer of 2020, the games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021 in relation to the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).^[1]

Kosovo won two gold medals, a further improvement on its 2016 performance where the country won one gold medal. Kosovo remains the only country to win more than two medals, all of which are gold. The gold medals were won by two female Judokas.^[2]

Distria Krasniqi who won Gold in the Women's 48 kg event^[3] and by Nora Gjakova who won Gold in the Women's 57 kg event.^[4] Majlinda Kelmendi, the gold medalist from the 2016 Summer Olympics, represented Kosovo for the second time in the Women's 52 kg category.^[5]^[6]

Background

Following the 127th IOC Session in 2014, Kosovo was announced as an official member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and coincidentally obtained the right to participate as an independent nation in international sports events.^[7] Therefore, Kosovo made its Olympic debut as a member state at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.^[7] Marking the nation's second Summer Olympic participation, the 2020 Summer Olympics were originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020 but were postponed to 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[8]

Competitors

The following table lists the number of competitors for Kosovo in the 2020 Summer Olympics. The nation's team for the 2020 games was composed of five male and six female competitors, including athlete Musa Hajdari, boxer Donjeta Sadiku, judoka Akil Gjakova, Distria Krasniqi, Majlinda Kelmendi, Nora Gjakova and Loriana Kuka, shooter Drilon Ibrahimi, swimmers Eda Zeqiri and Olt Kondirolli as well as wrestler Egzon Shala.

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Athletics	1	0	1
Boxing	0	1	1
Judo	1	4	5
Shooting	1	0	1
Swimming	1	1	2
Wrestling	1	0	1
Total	5	6	11

Medalists

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Distria Krasniqi	Judo	Women's 48 kg	24 July
Gold	Nora Gjakova	Judo	Women's 57 kg	26 July

Athletics

Kosovo received a universality slot from the IAAF to send a male track and field athlete to the Olympics.^[9]

Key

Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
Q = Qualified for the next round
q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
NR = National record
N/A = Round not applicable for the event
Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Musa Hajdari	Men's 800 m	1:48.96	8	Did not advance

Boxing

Kosovo entered one female boxer into the Olympic tournament after receiving the tripartite invitation quotas.

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Donjeta Sadiku	Women's lightweight	Dubois (GBR) L 0–5	Did not advance

Judo

Kosovo entered five judoka (one men and four women) into the Olympic tournament based on the International Judo Federation Olympics Individual Ranking.^[10]

Athlete	Event	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage	Final / BM
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Akil Gjakova	Men's −73 kg	Ayash (YEM) W 10–00	Stump (SUI) W 11–00	Macias (SWE) W 10–00	Tsend-Ochir (MGL) L 00–10	Did not advance	Orujov (AZE) L 00–10	Did not advance	7
Distria Krasniqi	Women's –48 kg	—	Bye	Chibana (BRA) W 10–00	Lin C-h (TPE) W 10–00	Mönkhbat (MGL) W 10–00	Bye	Tonaki (JPN) W 10–00
Majlinda Kelmendi	Women's –52 kg	—	Pupp (HUN) L 00–10	Did not advance
Nora Gjakova	Women's –57 kg	—	Bye	Verhagen (NED) W 01–00	Kajzer (SLO) W 11–00	Yoshida (JPN) W 10–00	Bye	Cysique (FRA) W 10–00
Loriana Kuka	Women's –78 kg	—	Bye	Babintseva (ROC) L 00–10	Did not advance

Shooting

Kosovo received an invitation from the Tripartite Commission to send a men's rifle shooter to the Olympics, as long as the minimum qualifying score (MQS) was met.^[11]

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
Athlete	Event	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Drilon Ibrahimi	Men's 10 m air rifle	608.8	46	Did not advance

Swimming

Kosovo received a universality invitation from FINA to send two top-ranked swimmers (one per gender) in their respective individual events to the Olympics, based on the FINA Points System of June 28, 2021.

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
Athlete	Event	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Olt Kondirolli	Men's 100 m freestyle	54.33	64	Did not advance
Eda Zeqiri	Women's 400 m freestyle	4:38.02	24	—		Did not advance

Wrestling

Kosovo qualified one wrestler for the men's freestyle 125 kg, by acknowledging a license from the United World Wrestling, following the disqualification of two wrestlers for anti-doping rules violations.^[12] Moreover, these Games marked the country's debut in the sport.

Key:

VT (ranking points: 5–0 or 0–5) – Victory by fall.
VB (ranking points: 5–0 or 0–5) – Victory by injury (VF for forfeit, VA for withdrawal or disqualification)
PP (ranking points: 3–1 or 1–3) – Decision by points – the loser with technical points.
PO (ranking points: 3–0 or 0–3) – Decision by points – the loser without technical points.
ST (ranking points: 4–0 or 0–4) – Great superiority – the loser without technical points and a margin of victory of at least 8 (Greco-Roman) or 10 (freestyle) points.
SP (ranking points: 4–1 or 1–4) – Technical superiority – the loser with technical points and a margin of victory of at least 8 (Greco-Roman) or 10 (freestyle) points.

Freestyle

Athlete	Event	Round of 16	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Repechage	Final / BM
Athlete	Event	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Egzon Shala	Men's −125 kg	Berrahal (ALG) W 5−0 ^VT	Zare (IRI) L 1–4 ^SP	Did not advance			7