Д.Медведев.Россия спортивная держава.23.10.09

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niknikolay
November 12, 2009

Speech at National Sports Forum: Russia the Sports Power
October 23, 2009
Kazan

Выступление на церемонии открытия Первого всероссийского спортивного форума «Россия спортивная держава»
23 октября 2009 года
Казань

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, friends,

I will say a few opening words. Today marks the start of the first National Forum: Russia the Sports Power. This is the first such forum and I hope it will not be the last, because it is to become a regular annual event. Today we are launching a new sports tradition in Russia.

Present here today are representatives of Russias regions and international sports organisations, prominent sportspeople and their trainers, heads of public organisations, and Moscow bigwigs (laughter from the audience).

I am sure that we are all united by the attention we give to sport and by our awareness that without coordinated work we will not be able to achieve the desired level of sports development in our country, and at stake here are our peoples health and our countrys reputation and prestige.

Russia has long been renowned for its sporting achievements. Russias wrestlers, figure skaters, gymnasts, and representatives of other sports have won honours at the most prestigious competitions, at European and world championships, and have set hundreds of Olympic records. I do not recall the exact figure, but the president of the IOC gave it to me recently, and I think it was around 1,000. This is certainly reason to feel proud of ones country.

Russia today continues to multiply these achievements. I will not list all of your victories, though it would give me pleasure to do so, but I must note nonetheless that we have regained our champions title in ice hockey, have performed well in football of late, and have produced excellent results in the pole-vault, tennis, the walk, and many other sports. This is great to see.

What is equally pleasing to see is that sport and physical culture are once again becoming mass activities. Federal programmes and, most importantly, regional programmes have seen active construction of large sports centres and ordinary gyms, swimming pools, skating rinks, stadiums and physical culture and health centres. Good equipment is being installed in these facilities. We realise that there is still much work to do, even though more than 200 new facilities have been built this year alone, and we expect another 170 to be ready for use by the end of the year. But we need to do more. Despite the financial difficulties we face, I think that all regions budgets should make funding for physical culture and sport a priority item. (Applause). Thank you for your support.

The regions and the business community should play their part in developing sport. We need to get the whole public involved, make a common effort. We can see what happens when there is a real desire to improve the situation with sports. The results are clear and evident for all. Kazan is a good example in this respect.

Whether we are talking about big cities with more than 1 million people, small towns, or rural settlements, our common goal is to give everyone, every neighbourhood the chance to play sport. We therefore need to work hard on developing our sports clubs and groups and increase the number of children and adults taking part in them. We have numerous examples of how amateur sports groups have helped develop the talents of our most outstanding sportspeople. Practically all of our sporting legends started off as ordinary children who joined ordinary sports groups, and only then went on to develop their talents the way they did.

I am very pleased that this forum is taking place in Kazan, the host city of the 2013 World University Games. Kazan is well known for its sporting traditions. We all saw the citys sports facilities today and are in one such facility right now. It is a real delight to see how the city landscape is changing. I just visited School No. 177, and if we have such schools throughout the entire country we will indeed become a world leader in sports. What sets this school apart is not just that it is new. There are other new schools, and there are schools that are not so new, but what sets this school apart is that right from the start it has put the emphasis on sports facilities and sports equipment, thus creating a magnet for sports and physical culture activities for the districts residents. This is the most valuable thing. The local children play sport at the school, and so do their parents. Similar facilities are being built elsewhere around the country too. I am pleased to have seen this particular facility here in Kazan today.

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