Mother, son make history at Rio

Nino Salukvadze is already a legendary figure of Olympic shooting, but in Rio she is set to make history for not one but two reasons.

The 47-year-old Georgian star is becoming only the second athlete in history to appear at eight Olympics. This time Salukvadze will be competing alongside her 18-year-old son, Tsotne Machavariani, in the shooting events.

This is believed to be the first time a mother and son will participate in the same Olympics.

Salukvadze gave birth to Tsotne a year after competing in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and returned for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

While Salukvadze won gold at her first Olympics, her son said he’s not under pressure to match her achievement.

Salukvadze briefly became a celebrity during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which took place during a war between Georgia and neighboring Russia. After winning a bronze medal, she kissed a Russian shooter on the podium in a demonstration of peace.

In the 120-year history of the modern Olympics, it has not been uncommon for fathers and sons to compete at the same games, a reflection of the historical preponderance of men’s events on the program, but mother-child partnerships are much rarer and this is the first case of a mother-son partnership.

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