[Info-Prim Neo article from the series “2011: how it was and how it wasn’t”] {The Olympic prospects of the Moldovan sport, in the opinion of Nicolae Juravschi, chairman of the National Olympic Committee (NOC).} The 30th Summer Olympic Games are closer, not yet for many of the Moldovan athletes. Only six of them in 2011 qualified for this important sporting event. “I’m not satisfied with this situation. Compared with 2008, we have two times fewer athletes who qualified for the Olympics. The last preparatory stage will be decisive,” Nicolae Juravschi said when asked to take stock of the results achieved in 2011. The fact that the national weightlifting squad failed to earn qualification for the Olympics at the World Champs is a great disappointment of 2011. It was expected that at least four weightlifters would qualify for the London Olympics, but this objective wasn’t achieved. ”Large sums were spent on training, but the weightlifters did not meet the expectations. Mistakes were made in 2011 and we thus achieved no major results. We must draw conclusions so as to avoid making the same mistakes,” said Nicolae Juravschi. Even if the situation is not the best, Nicolae Juravschi is still optimistic. “We have several worthy sportspersons, including judo player Sergiu Toma, athletes Ion Luchianov and Zalina Marghiev and boxer Veaceslav Gojan. I hope we will be represented by 20-25 sportspersons at the summer Olympics, in such events as yachting, archery and WTF taekwon-do,” said the chairman of the NOC. According to Nicolae Juravschi, the sportspersons who have chances to qualify for the Olympic Games must train at centralized grounds and be provided with the necessary equipment. He said that for the first time in the last two years, the Moldovan athletes benefited from a separate budget for training for the Olympics. “The state allocated 10 million lei only for the sportspersons’ preparation,” he stated. Asked if Moldova can win medals at the London Olympics, Nicolae Juravschi said he trusts the abilities of the Olympic squad. “Toma, Marghiev and Gojan are among the leaders in their events. We must believe and hope that we will achieve results,” he stressed. Among those who qualified for the 2012 summer Olympics are athletes Ion Luchianov, Iaroslav Mushinski, Zalina and Marina Marghiev, Natalia Cerchez and boxer Vasile Belous. In 2012, qualification can be earned in such events as judo, athletics, freestyle wrestling, female wrestling, boxing, weightlifting, and swimming. The London Olympics will take place between July 27 and August 12, 2012.