The XXIX All-Russian Olympic Day was celebrated on a big scale today in the Sokolniki park. The big sports festival started with a solemn ceremony on the Fountain Square, where the President of the Russian Olympic Committee, four-time Fencing Olympic champion Stanislav Pozdnyakov addressed those gathered.
– For many years sports specialists are trying to give accurate definition of the concept of Olympism, said the head of the ROC. – Although, there is an Olympic Charter, where it is said that Olympism is a philosophy of life, centered around the balance of body, spirit and mind. Its final goal is all-around physical and spiritual development of a person, when such qualities as speed, agility, power are organically combined with moral education and will to win.
We must strive to build the society, based on these values. Hence the main task of the Olympic movement is to make as many people as possible share the ideals of Olympism.
Today, our Olympic champions, coaches and heads of all-Russian sports federations are standing next to me on the stage. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all of them for their contribution to the development of national sports.
Many participants of the Olympic Day performed at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang this year. For our athletes due to certain reasons these Games were not easy, but thanks to the unity of our team and its fans we gave a worthy performance in Korea. We all remember great performance of our figure skaters, skiers, representatives of other sports, and the brilliant victory of our hockey team, although they made us worry a little in the finals!
These achievements are not only the reason to be proud for our country, but also a motivation for dozens of thousands of our young guys to go in for sports, which is especially important on the eve of the Summer Youth Olympic Games, to be held in October in Buenos Aires. let us wish the young Olympians success in their first Olympics!