Albania at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Albania at the 2008 Summer Olympics
IOC code	ALB
NOC	Albanian National Olympic Committee
Website	nocalbania.org.al  (in Albanian)
in Beijing
Competitors	11 in 6 sports
Flag bearer	Sahit Prizreni
Medals	Gold 0 Silver 0 Bronze 0 Total 0
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1972 1976–1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

Albania sent a team to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China which was organised by the National Olympic Committee of Albania.

Albania competed with eleven athletes, seven of whom were men and four were women, competing in several sports such as athletics, and for the first time in judo. Other sports are swimming, weightlifting, wrestling, and shooting.^[1]

Although Albania didn't win any medals, it was an improvement on their performance at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Weightlifter Romela Begaj came the closest to the medal rankings as she finished 5th in the Women's 58 kg category, lifting 216 kg in total.^[2]

The Albanians also showed good performances outside weightlifting. Sahit Prizreni, the world wrestling bronze medalist from 2007 in Baku competing for the second time for Albania in the Summer Olympics,^[3] He advanced to the round of 16 in Men's freestyle 60 kg, where he lost to Bazar Bazarguruev from Kyrgyzstan.

Elis Guri made his debut at the Summer Olympics in wrestling in the Men's Greco-Roman 96 kg category. In the round of 16 he defeated the Olympic champion of 2004, Karam Gaber, after three matches. In the quarterfinals he faced Mirko Englich of Germany. Despite a first-match win, Guri lost the other two matches and didn't qualify to the semifinals.^[4] He finished in 7th place, the best result for Albania so far at this sport.