Stanislav Pozdnyakov:
Honorable colleagues, Forum participants, and dear friends!
First of all, I am glad to see you all today in the Olympic capital of our country. Several years ago Sochi hosted the Olympic Winter Games, which gave a serious impetus to the development of high-achievement sport and Olympism in our country. A little more than two months ago, the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo came to an end. These Games were very difficult from all points of view — organizational, diplomatic, and medical. Despite all the difficulties, our team performed very well winning 71 medals. This was the best result during the past 17 years since the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
The road to victory in Tokyo was quite difficult. The preparation process for the Games lasted for five years instead of the usual four. In connection with the successful performance of our team, I would like to thank all of you for your contribution to the training of our Olympians. At the final stage of preparation, athletes perform in their national teams, but we perfectly understand that forming skills and mastery takes place much earlier — in Specialized Children’s and Youth Sports Schools of the Olympic Reserve. All those people who, with their imperceptible, but extremely important work, create the basis of our sporting success, today I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart and ask you to convey to your colleagues words of sincere gratitude and recognition from the Russian Olympic Committee.
The successful performance of the ROC Team in Tokyo was the result of joint work of athletes and coaches, sports federations, the Russian Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation and regional authorities, Olympic Councils, as well as the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, which provided all the necessary conditions for athletes to take part in the Olympics against the backdrop of rigorous Covid-19 safety requirements.
As you know, in Tokyo, our athletes took PCR tests on a daily basis, and I am glad that during the entire time of our team’s stay at the Games, we did not have a single positive case at the Olympic Village. We have gained tremendous experience that we will be able to use in the very near future.
Now back to the main topic of today’s meeting. I would like to emphasize that today the Olympic Councils function in 81 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. One of the main program documents governing your activities is the Main Directions of Regional ROC activities for the period 2019-2022. Let me remind you that we approved this document at the All-Russian meeting of the heads of the Olympic Councils on December 11, 2018, and later the document was rubber-stamped by the decision of the ROC Executive Board’s Bureau.
Taking this opportunity, I sincerely thank you for your involvement and the most responsible attitude in preparing our athletes for the Tokyo Games, as well as for the events in the field of mass sport implemented in your respective regions.
Thanks to your efforts and active work in each of the regions, the Russian Olympic Committee regularly implements events on a federal scale. One of the forms of such joint work of ours is the “Olympic Country” Program for the Development of Mass Sport, aimed at increasing the physical activity of citizens, forming a stable motivation to engage in physical education and sport, as well as promoting Olympic ideals and values.
It is no coincidence that the key role in implementing the activities of the Program — the All-Russian Olympic Day, Winter Sports Day, Walking Day, and the Olympic Patrol sports and educational project — is assigned to you, the Olympic Councils. You have become the link with the executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the field of physical culture and sport. Each of the listed events of the Program has a unique format and history. These sports festivals are held across the country and attract millions of participants every year, regardless of age and level of fitness. Proof of this was the recently held All-Russian Walking Day, organized in the city of Ufa, where all participants covered a distance of 2022 meters, symbolizing support for our Olympic team at the upcoming Games in Beijing.
One of our central tasks in the regions is to increase the efficiency of interaction of the Olympic Councils with federal and regional government bodies, local authorities, public associations and organizations, and most importantly with the population.
The relevance of this approach is reflected in the Strategy on Developing Physical Culture and Sport in the Russian Federation until 2030, which was recently approved by the Order of the Government of the Russian Federation.
One of the most important ideas is partnership within the sports community, taking into account the regional characteristics of the development of physical culture and sport.
The action plan for the implementation of the Strategy-2030 stipulates that by 2023 a roadmap will have been developed and approved to improve measures of state support for regional sports federations and regional Olympic councils as part of implementing measures to improve the management system of the industry and interaction between the subjects of physical culture and sport.
In this regard, within the framework of improving the activities of the Olympic Councils, I propose, in particular, to actively promote and use the following aspects in cooperation with regional executive authorities and other representatives of the sports industry.
The first aspect. The experience and systematic approach of the ROC in training and retraining personnel of the Olympic Councils and regional federations, as well as arrangement of employment. Expansion and development of targeted practice-oriented programs and specialized courses. Financing their implementation in the interests of the sports industry.
Now I will elaborate. As many of you already know, the Russian Olympic Committee has begun systematic work with the All-Russian Sports Federations. In a number of areas, together with our colleagues from the RIOU, we carry out training, primarily in those areas that, from our point of view, require serious improvement — international and anti-doping activities, as well as planning training programs. In this part, of course, we take responsibility for the training of personnel so that they can obtain the corresponding high qualifications, then we allocate the funds necessary for the employment of these specialists to the national sports federations and reserve the right to carry out their certification in the future in order to ensure their most efficient work. I can say that the overwhelming majority of our federations have already responded to our proposal, which is not one-off, but long-term. And they have expressed gratitude.
Now there is a lot of talk about the fact that Russia must get out of the doping crisis that existed in our country with a new culture, new knowledge and opportunities in terms of anti-doping activities. We also want to offer these opportunities to the federations.
The second aspect: international activity. You have noticed how important our representation is in international sports federations and organizations, as well as in specialized commissions and technical committees that directly influence the development of sports. Of course, we need not only to increase our presence through the integration of qualified experts and specialists with a wide range of knowledge, but also to actively promote our position through practical, accumulated experience.
The third aspect. A question related to the objective need for the active involvement of the Olympic Councils in the development of Olympic sports at the regional level. Today there are federal programs for the development of sports, but many of them are based on a certain template. We would like the regions to get involved in this work more actively.
In my opinion, it is high time for the Olympic Councils to be included in the process of creating regional programs for the development of sports, which, in turn, form the basis of programs of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, financed from regional budgets and extra-budgetary sources, including from the funds of partners and sponsors of the ROC. It seems expedient to introduce appropriate regional programs with adaptation to regional characteristics of acceptable standards to accompany and support the work of regional sports federations by the Olympic Councils similar to the approaches of the ROC in relation to the national sports federations.
I think that the Olympic Councils could take a leading role here in uniting the efforts of all colleagues who work in the regions to form such programs. In this regard, the Russian Olympic Committee is certainly ready to help you.
I would also like to talk about additional marketing and communication opportunities, which the Olympic Councils have due to their direct association with the Olympic Movement. Based on the successful experience of joint work and implementation of ROC projects in the field of mass sports, together with the authorities of several regions, it can be noted that regional events that are held with the participation of Olympic Councils and with support from the ROC have a significantly higher marketing potential.
This means that with coordinated positioning and a proper approach to the organizational part, we can reasonably predict the growth of the attractiveness of such events for local business, partners and sponsors of the ROC and all interested parties.
I’m talking about the medium term here. It is clear that in connection with the pandemic and its consequences, many business representatives are now reluctant to go into sports. But this situation is temporary and will gradually improve. We need to be ready for this today so as to realize our full potential in the future.
The fourth aspect: anti-doping activities. We regularly face the common misconception that anti-doping work is relevant and necessary only at the national team level. In fact, it is necessary to understand that in order to avoid serious problems, this work should begin at the primary level — in sports schools, youth sports schools, sports clubs, and athletics classes. We are talking about complex, large-scale educational processes. And in this regard, we can see great potential on the part of Olympic Councils, which can organize this work on-site.
Here, we are ready not only to help, but also to provide material assistance. Because it is necessary to take into account the mistakes that were made in previous years, when anti-doping measures were not given due attention at the youth level, or when coaches tried to give results to their trainees at an early age through actions that did not correlate with the future career of a novice athlete thereby inflicting irreparable damage.
Among other things, these are also purely economic consequences. The costs of various kinds of litigation, appeals against disqualifications and other similar events are very high. And then there are the crucial reputational costs. In this regard, forming a culture of anti-doping at the initial level is our common goal.
The Olympic Councils will take the lead, the role of centers of expertise and planning of regular anti-doping courses and seminars with the expert and organizational support of the ROC. This is how we will continue to move towards a clear distribution of responsibilities in this area between the main players of physical culture and sports.
In addition, we will actually form a weighty prerequisite for the Olympic Councils to be recognized as full-fledged subjects of physical culture and sports at the level of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
Thus, when forming the roadmap for improving measures of state support for regional sports federations and regional Olympic councils in the main areas of activity, we will rely not on theoretical goal-setting, but on practical experience and clear indicators.
At various stages of implementation, of course, certain parameters will be revised and adjusted, but this way we will approach the stage of full implementation of the relevant ROC proposals even more integrally.
Based on the above, I propose to finalize our program documents for regional activities. I am convinced that this will allow you to establish the necessary interaction with regional government bodies, with regional sports federations and other subjects of physical culture and sports.
Based on the positive experience of past years, we will summarize all the aspects that the Russian Olympic Committee encountered while implementing these proposals in order to further discuss any other problematic points with you and find effective ways of interaction.
I would like to reiterate the opportunities and proposals of the ROC for training and advanced training of your personnel, representatives of the coaching community and regional sports federations.
We need to be actively involved in conceiving and approving regional sports development programs, taking into account the characteristics of each of the regions.
The XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing are scheduled to kick off on February 4, 2022. Our team is approaching this sports event, having both experienced athletes and younger contenders for medals. Our common priority now is to ensure that they reach their best versions and fully realize their potential.
We have positive experience in conducting the final stages of preparing national teams for the Games, and in this regard, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues from the Primorsky Territory for their proactive approach in implementing this valuable project.
I am sure that using the experience of working in various regions of our large country and clearly coordinating our efforts, we will be able to provide our athletes with all the necessary conditions for a successful performance at the Games in Beijing.
Dear friends, we have everything you need to work together effectively in the medium term. The most important thing is that we have great human potential. We have a large, serious team capable of solving the most ambitious tasks, we have material resources, and the trust of government agencies. Our task is to build effective interaction, move forward and do everything necessary for the development of Russian sports.
I wish all the participants of this Forum productive work, good health, and I hope that this occasion becomes one of the landmark events of the new Olympic cycle.
Thank you for your attention!
