Today, ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov met with the Head of the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan Rustam Shaabdurakhmonov and the Director of the Republican Research and Practical Centre for Sports Medicine Abdushukur Sadikov.
The meeting took place in Moscow and also included Andrei Konokotin, Director of Sports and Head of the Main Directorate for ensuring participation in Olympic sports events.
Stanislav Pozdnyakov, first of all, thanked Rustam Shaabdurakhmonov for the participation of the Uzbek delegation in the work of the International Forum of Young Olympians, which was held in Moscow on 1 June.
– IOC President Thomas Bach was impressed by the scale and level of organisation of the Forum, highlighting the connecting role of the Russian Olympic Committee for the NOCs of all countries and, above all, for our historical neighbours, including Uzbekistan, – said the head of the ROC.
Stanislav Pozdnyakov also spoke about ROC’s pilot educational programme and the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU), inviting his colleagues from Uzbekistan to proactively participate in it.
– More than 50 National Olympic Committees are now participating in various RIOU projects that are supported by the IOC. This year we launched a pilot programme to improve the qualifications of the coaching staff, which skiers and skaters have already mastered. We now invite our colleagues from neighbouring NOCs to take part in these programmes. The modern world seeks to erase borders through sports and the Olympic movement. We are ready to open the doors to our friends and partners in order to find the relevant common points, – continued Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
The President of the ROC expressed hope that today’s meeting would further strengthen ties between the NOCs of Russia and Uzbekistan and would contribute to the successful performance of the Olympic teams of the two countries at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
– Today you visited the ROC Innovation Centre, which became the legacy of the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. High achievement sport widely uses modern technologies to obtain the necessary results. The ROC has a large research base in the field of training athletes in difficult climatic and geographical conditions and is ready to share these results with you, – added Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
Rustam Shaabdurakhmonov, whose visit to Moscow was the first official trip after being elected head of the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan, noted the importance of continuing cooperation established by the Presidents of the Russian Federation and Uzbekistan Vladimir Putin and Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
– Now we are seeing a dynamic development of relations between our countries in matters of politics and the economy. Our new President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is well versed in sports, which allows us to expand cooperation in this area and share our accumulated experience with colleagues from other countries.
In some sports we have issues in regard to the preparation of the coaching staff and the performance level of athletes. We are counting on your support and we are ready to assist the ROC in international initiatives, – said Rustam Shaabdurakhmonov.
At the end of the meeting, Stanislav Pozdnyakov invited the delegation of Uzbekistan to Moscow in order to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1980 Olympic Games, which will be held on July 4, 2020 at Luzhniki stadium.
Afterwards, both sides exchanged souvenirs. Stanislav Pozdnyakov presented his colleague with the mascots of the Russian Olympic team – a cat-like ushanka and a roly-poly bear doubling up as a matroshka, while Rustam Shaabdurakhmonov, in his turn, presented the head of the ROC with a handmade wall carpet from Samarkand which took more than six months to make.
– This relic will have a special place in the Olympic Museum that we are creating, – noted Stanislav Pozdnyakov.
Furthermore, the guests from Uzbekistan visited the ROC Innovation Centre and met with its Director General, Sergei Zotkin.
Items on the agenda were prospects for cooperation in areas such as conducting comprehensive testing, developing nutrition programmes and helping to adapt to the climatic-geographic conditions of athletes from Uzbekistan who are to perform at the 2020 Olympics, as well as the 2022 Winter Olympics and the 2024 Summer Olympics.
– In many sports, our athletes have not yet won Olympic licences in order to participate in the 2020 Games, – said Rustam Shaabdurakhmonov. – Most of all we are interested in the development of boxing, wrestling, karate and judo. We have far-reaching plans to create a research centre and several high-altitude training bases. Uzbekistan is ready to become a partner of the ROC Innovation Centre, at the very least for the next three Olympic cycles.
– We have all the opportunities to increase the competitiveness of your Olympians, – said Sergey Zotkin. – The Games in Tokyo will be held at extremely high temperatures and humidity, which must be considered when making a training plan. Our research teams are currently working in the Japanese capital. We are ready to share the accumulated information and conduct a series of educational seminars for your specialists.
The presentation of the project “Adaptation” was made by the deputy head of the Main Directorate for ensuring participation in Olympic sports events of the ROC, Alexander Grushin.
– Initially, such topics were discussed in 1968 at the Olympic Games in Mexico City, – said the expert. – Since then, we have accumulated and summarised the experience gained over
the years. The process of adaptation is not only observing the athlete’s body, but it also encompasses familiarity with the sports infrastructure, food and weather in the Olympic host city. Sports representatives who took part in our project were able to significantly improve their results. Before September 2019, athletes from nine All-Russian sports federations will hold adaptation camps in Tokyo.
One of the priorities of NOC Uzbekistan is the development of mass sports. Specialists from the ROC Innovation Centre presented an active school programme to their counterparts from Uzbekistan aimed at recruiting children into regular physical education.
– Events as part of Olympic Day in our country were attended by 2.5 million people. We are going to develop this sports festival even further. It is necessary to show the children that a healthy lifestyle cannot only be beneficial, but also interesting, – emphasised Rustam Shaabdurakhmonov.
