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Bhutan at the 2020 Summer Olympics

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Bhutan at the
2020 Summer Olympics
IOC codeBHU
NOCBhutan Olympic Committee
Websitebhutanolympiccommittee.org
in Tokyo, Japan
23 July 2021 (2021-07-23) – 8 August 2021 (2021-08-08)
Competitors4 in 4 sports
Flag bearers (opening)Karma
Sangay Tenzin
Flag bearer (closing)Sangay Tenzin
Medals
Gold
0
Silver
0
Bronze
0
Total
0
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)

Bhutan competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 23 July to 8 August 2021, it was the nation's tenth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in 1984. The delegation consisted of four athletes competing in four sports; archery, judo, shooting, and swimming. Bhutan did not win any medals during the Tokyo Olympics. Karma, an archer, and Sangay Tenzin, a swimmer, served as the team's flagbearers in the opening ceremony, while Tenzin was the sole flagbearer in the closing ceremony.

Karma lost to Deepika Kumari in the Round of 64 of the women's individual recurve archery. She lost 0–6 failing to advanced to the Round of 32. Competing in the men's –60 kg judo event, Ngawang Namgyel lost to Mihraç Akkuş through a juji-gatame. He lost in 2:56 minutes. On 24 July, Lenchu Kunzang participated in the qualifiers of the women's 10 m air rifle. She got 681.1 points, putting her in 43rd place overall, failing to advanced to the final. On 27 July, Tenzin participated in the heats of the men's 100 metre freestyle in heat one. He finished the race in 57.57 seconds, in 68th place overall, and failed to advanced to the semifinals.

Background

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The Bhutan Olympic Committee was recognized by the IOC on 23 November 1983.[1] The appearance of Bhutan at the Tokyo Summer Olympics marked their tenth consecutive summer appearance since it first entered the Games during the 1984 Summer Olympics.[2][3] Bhutan has never won an Olympic medal as of these Games.[3]

The 2020 Summer Olympics were originally scheduled to take place in Tokyo, Japan from 24 July to 9 August 2020, however, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] Bhutan sent a delegation of four athletes.[5] Karma, an archer, and Sangay Tenzin, a swimmer, served as the team's flagbearers in the opening ceremony,[6] while Tenzin was the sole flagbearer in the closing ceremony.[7]

Competitors

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Karma began archery in April 2009.[8] She went to her first international competition in 2012,[9] and competed in her first Olympics in 2016.[10] She is the first athlete from Bhutan who got a place in the quota allocation system of the Olympics in any sport.[11] While training for the 2020 Games, Karma did a "Robin Hood" shot, which is an arrow being fired into another arrow that is already in the target board, splitting it, just like as told in the stories of Robin Hood. The odds of doing the shot is 1 in 3,000.[12]

Ngawang Namgyel was trained in Japan before the Games.[13] This was Namgyel's debut appearance at the Olympics as well as the first ever appearance of a Bhutanese judoka.[14]

Lenchu Kunzang was trained as a police officer, graduating from the Jigmeling Police Training Centre in Gelephu in 2012, topping her class in rifle shooting, and was later stationed in Phuntsholing.[15] Along with three others, she was approached by the Bhutan Olympic Committee who were looking for elite shooters from the police training centre.[15] She was selected to become part of the national team by the Bhutan Shooting Federation in 2013.[16] She participated at the 2016 Olympic Games but did not place.[17]

Tenzin's appearance was the first ever of a Bhutanese swimmer.[18] He would participate again at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the same event.[19]

Sport Men Women Total
Archery 0 1 1
Judo 1 0 1
Shooting 0 1 1
Swimming 1 0 1
Total 2 2 4

Archery

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Bhutan was represented by one female athlete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in archery: Karma in the women's individual event. She qualified for the women's individual recurve at the Games by reaching the quarterfinal stage and obtaining one of the three available spots at the 2019 Asian Archery Championships in Bangkok, Thailand. This marks the first time that a Bhutanese athlete achieved an Olympic quota spot in any sport.[20] This was Karma's second appearance at the Olympics after being in Rio 2016.[5] She participated in the ranking round where she scored 616 points, placing her in 56th seed.[21] On 28 July, her opponent, Deepika Kumari, defeated her in the Round of 64 in the women's individual recurve. She lost 0–6 failing to advance to the Round of 32.[22][5]

Athlete Event Ranking round Round of 64 Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final / BM
Score Seed Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Opposition
Score 		Rank
Karma Women's individual 616 56  Kumari (IND)
L 0–6 		Did not advance

Judo

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Main articles: Judo at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Judo at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Bhutan was represented by one male athlete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Judo: Namgyel in the men's 60 kg.[23] He qualified via a universality place from the International Judo Federation.[24][a] This was Namgyel's debut appearance at the Olympics as well as the first appearance of a Bhutanese judoka.[14]

Competing in the men's –60 kg event, Ngawang Namgyel lost to Mihraç Akkuş through a juji-gatame. He lost in 2:56 minutes on 24 July. Despite the loss, the Bhutan Judo Association described Namgyel's performance as "good positive judo" noting that the judoka attempted a seoi nage on his Turkish opponent. Namgyel's loss was attributed to the lack of left-handed senior judoka in Bhutan to spar with during training, as well as newaza or ground training not being a significant part of Namgyel's preparations.[23]

Athlete Event Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Repechage Final / BM
Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Rank
Ngawang Namgyel Men's 60 kg  Akkuş (TUR)
L 00–10 		Did not advance

Shooting

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Main articles: Shooting at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Shooting at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Bhutan was represented by one female athlete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in shooting: Kunzang in the women's 10 m air rifle.[5] She qualified via a universality place from the Tripartite Commission.[26] This was Kunzang's second appearance at the Olympics.[27] On 24 July, she participated in the qualifiers of the women's 10 m air rifle. She got 681.1 points, putting her in 43rd place overall, failing to advanced to the final.[28]

Athlete Event Qualification Final
Points Rank Points Rank
Lenchu Kunzang Women's 10 m air rifle 618.1 43 Did not advance

Swimming

[edit]
Main articles: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics and Swimming at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

Bhutan was represented by one male athlete at the 2020 Summer Olympics in swimming: Sangay Tenzin in the men's 100 m freestyle. He qualified via a universality place. This was Tenzin's debut appearance at the Olympics as well as the first appearance of a Bhutanese swimmer.[18] On 27 July, he participated in the heats of the men's 100 metre freestyle in heat one. He finished the race in 57.57 seconds, in 68th place overall, and failed to advanced to the semifinals.[29]

Athlete Event Heat Semifinal Final
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Sangay Tenzin Men's 100 m freestyle 57.57 68 Did not advance

Notes

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  1. ^ Universality places are places awarded to countries that send small delegations to the Olympics. They let the nations' best athlete qualify for the Olympics.[25]

References

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  1. ^ "About". Bhutan Olympic Committee. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  2. ^ Nestler, Stefan (19 July 2024). "Paris 2024: Adventure of a lifetime for Bhutan athletes". DW News. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Bhutan". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  4. ^ "Tokyo 2020 New Dates: 23 July to 8 August 2021". Canadian Sport Institute Ontario. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d Chen, Ashley (29 July 2021). "Bhutan competed in the Olympics through historic qualification". Daily Bhutan. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  6. ^ "The flagbearers for the Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. 23 July 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  7. ^ "List of flagbearers for the 205 NOCs and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team" (PDF). olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  8. ^ Stanley, John (5 August 2016). "For Bhutan, Rio Hopes Rest With Karma (Literally)". Archery 360. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  9. ^ "Karma". World Archery. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  10. ^ "How Karma's helping raise the Gross National Happiness for Bhutan". Olympics.com. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  11. ^ Basu, Hindol (24 July 2021). "Archery Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: Bhutan's archer Karma waits to challenge Deepika Kumari | Tokyo Olympics News – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  12. ^ "OCA » Bhutan archer Karma shoots a rare 'Robin Hood' on road to Tokyo 2020". Olympic Council of Asia. Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  13. ^ "Judoka Ngawang Namgyel to be trained in Japan". Kuensel Online. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
  14. ^ a b "JudoInside - Ngawang Namgyel Judoka". www.judoinside.com. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  15. ^ a b Younten Tshedup (15 May 2016). "Shooting her way to Rio". Kuensel Online. Archived from the original on 16 May 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  16. ^ Younten Tshedup (15 May 2016). "Shooting her way to Rio". Kuensel Online. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  17. ^ "Rio 2016". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  18. ^ a b "Sangay Tenzin: A new peak for swimming in Bhutan". World Aquatics. 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  19. ^ Race, Retta (12 July 2024). "Initial Olympic Swimming Entries Published for 2024 Paris Games". www.swimswam.com. SwimSwam. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  20. ^ Wells, Chris (28 November 2019). "Karma qualifies Bhutan an Olympic quota place for the first time in history". World Archery. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  21. ^ "Tokyo Olympics: Archery - Women's Individual Results". BBC Sport. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  22. ^ "Results Round of 64 Women s individual Archery | Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Marca.com. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  23. ^ a b Namgay, Thinley (29 July 2021). "Bhutanese Olympians miss medals at 2020 Tokyo Olympics". Kuensel. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  24. ^ "Ngawang Namgyel is the first judoka to contest in Olympics". Kuensel. 28 June 2021. Archived from the original on 10 July 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  25. ^ "What are Olympic universality places and how many countries will be represented in Paris?". 25 July 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
  26. ^ "Bhutanese shooter Lenchu Kunzang prepares for her second Olympics". Olympic Council of Asia. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
  27. ^ "10m Air Rifle Women". olympics.com. International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  28. ^ "Shooting – 10m Air Rifle Women – Qualification Results" (PDF). olympics.com. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. 24 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  29. ^ "Heats results" (PDF). olympic.com. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
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