National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Tajikistan National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Tajikistan The National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Tajikistan (NOC) is a sports governing body that was established in 1992 to manage Tajikistan's activities in relation to the Olympics. The office of the NOC is located in the center of the city, on Aini Street in Dushanbe. The current National Olympic Committee of Tajikistan is headed by Bakhrullo Radzhabaliev (President) and Shirinjon Mamadsafoev (Secretary General). Tajikistan made its debut as an independent nation at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, United States. The most recent Olympics in Beijing 2008 marked the country's
Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic as Soviet Uzbekistan. Beginning 20 June 1990, the Uzbek SSR adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty within its borders. Islam Karimov became the republic's inaugural president. On 31 August 1991, the Uzbek SSR was renamed the Republic of Uzbekistan and declared independence three months before the Soviet Union's dissolution on 26 December 1991. Uzbekistan was bordered by Kazakhstan to the north; Tajikistan to the southeast; Kirghizia to the northeast; Afghanistan to the south; and Turkmenistan to the southwest. The name, Uzbekistan, literally means "Home of the Free", taken from an amalgamation of "uz" (Turkic: "self"), "bek" (Turkic: "master", "bey in