On June 18, the new Sports Palace with a swimming pool and gyms was opened in Aksai. This sports facility is part of the Gazprom for Children program. the opening ceremony was attended by the Head of Directorate of the Gazprom company Viktor Zubkov and Governor of the Rostov Region Vasily Golubev.
After the official part the students of different sports schools gave show performances. They showed their skills in such sports as Judo, Karate, Rhythmic Gymnastics, and Handball. A symbolic opening tip was performed by Anna Sedoykina and after that young Handball players gave their performance. Honored guests of the fest were presented commemoratives of the Russian Olympic team.
The opening ceremony of the new sports facility was complemented by a meeting with Olympic champions at the Olympic Lesson, which is part of the Olympic Patrol project. Olympic Handball champion (2016, Rio) Anna Sedoykina, Olympic Basketball champion Elena Shvaybovich, and Olympic champion in Greco-Roman Wrestling Varteres Samurgashev. They told the kids about the Olympic movement, its history and principles and share their opinion.
Olympic Handball champion of the XXXI Olympic Summer Games (2016, Rio de Janeiro) Anna Sedoykina thanked Viktor Zubkov for the unique Sports Palace and presented him the book about the historical victory of the Russian women’s Handball team at the Olympic Games in Rio called Handmade Gold. She also stressed the importance of such events for future development of sports. ‘I am sure that thanks to such sports facilities we will get new Olympic champions. I would like to wish the kids to reach the heights, and I hope that very soon Sports Palace will bring up dozens of athletes,’ she said.
The Olympic Lesson was held in Aksai with the support of the Gazprom company, which is not only General sponsor of the Russian Olympic Committee, but also a company, which supports numerous sports projects in Russia and abroad. One of them is the Gazprom for Children program. Within this program a new modern sports and recreation complex was built in Aksai, where residents will have an additional opportunity to practice their favorite sports.
The Olympic Patrol project is part of the Olympic Country program aimed at promoting mass sports development.
Olympic Patrol is the all-Russian sports and educational project of the Russian Olympic Committee.
The project was launched in July 2014 at the largest children’s centers of Russia, including Orlenok, Smena in Krasnodar Region; Artek in the Crimea, as well as on the basis of 6 large camps of the Moscow and Leningrad Regions and the all-Russian sports and health children’s center in Sochi.
In September 2014, the Olympic Patrol was launched in Russian schools and by May 2015 45,000 new participants from 60 schools of 24 Russian regions joined it.
More than 19,000 children and juniors aged 8 to 16 took part in the summer campaign of 2015, held at Ocean, Orlyonok and Artek children’s centers.
In October 2015 the project was attended by the President of the International Olympic Committee, Olympic fencing champion Thomas Bach.
More than 5,000 new participants took part in the summer campaign of 2016. From September to December 2016, the project covered more than 10 cities and 13,000 participants joined it.
In summer 2017, the project came to the all-Russian children’s center Smena (Anapa) and the international children’s center Artek (Crimea). More than 5,000 children and juniors took part in its events.
Also in 2017-2018, the ROC held the Olympic Lesson and football matches within the framework of the international children’s social program of the Gazprom company called Football for Friendship. Football for Friendship is an international children’s social program, launched in 2013. It includes a number of sports and educational events held in different countries of the world to promote tolerance, respect for other cultures and nationalities, friendship between children from different countries, human values, youth sports and a healthy lifestyle and develop children’s football.
Thus, in the period from 2014 to 2018, the project was attended by more than 150,000 people and about 200 famous Olympic, European and World Champions. Among them were:
- Anastasia Davydova, five-time Olympic champion in Synchronized Swimming;
- Victor An, six-time Olympic Short Track champion;
- Alexey Nemov, four-time Olympic champion in Gymnastics;
- Nikolai Zimyatov, four-time Olympic champion in Cross-Country Skiing;
- Vladislav Tretiak, three-time Olympic champion in Ice Hockey;
- Svetlana Romashina, five-time Olympic champion in Synchronized Swimming;
- Natalia Ishchenko, five-time Olympic champion in Synchronized Swimming;
- Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitry Soloviev, Olympic Figure Skating Champions;
- Irina Rodnina, three-time Olympic champion in Figure Skating;
- Alexander Karelin, three-time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman Wrestling;
- Maria Kiseleva, three-time Olympic champion in Synchronized Swimming;
- Elena Zamolodchikova, two-time Olympic champion in Gymnastics;
- Alexander Lesun, Olympic champion in Modern Pentathlon;
- Sofia Velikaya, Olympic champion in Fencing;
- Alla Shishkina, two-time Olympic champion in Synchronized Swimming
and many others.
Russian Olympic Committee (ROC)
As an organization, heading the Olympic movement in Russia, the ROC represents the RF at the international arena, in the relationship with the IOC, international sports federations and national Olympic committees of different countries. Within its international activities, the ROC is holding major Olympic official events, such as the General Assembly of the EOC (November, 2011, Sochi), the General Assembly of the NOCs (April, 2012, Moscow), the first World Forum of Olympians and the Session of the General Assembly of the All-Russian Olympians’ Association (October, 2015, Moscow).
The Russian Olympic Committee regularly provides funding to the all-Russian sports federations, including participation of athletes in various competitions, their travel, accommodation and food, purchase of sports equipment, foreign and Russian coaches and specialists, treatment and adaptation for candidates for the Russian Olympic team (more than 2,500 athletes in total).
In accordance with the state policy of the Russian Federation in the field of physical culture and sports and the IOC Charter, the Russian Olympic Committee annually implements a number of national projects and programs related to the development of mass, youth and amateur sports, which involve huge amount of people across the country. The total number of participants of the all-Russian Olympic Day in 2015 amounted to about 2.4 million people, Winter Sports Day attracted more than 1 million participants. Traditional projects of the ROC Olympic Patrol and Olympic Changes United hundreds of thousands of children and adults in different regions of the country, more than 150 Olympic champions and prize-winners took part in these events.
GAZPROM, GENERAL SPONSOR OF THE RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
Gazprom is a global energy company focused on geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sales of gas, gas condensate and oil, sales of gas as a vehicle fuel, as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.
One of the Company’s key social projects is the Gazprom for Children program aimed at creating a favorable environment for harmonious intellectual, cultural and physical development of children and youth, as well as attracting as many youngsters to sports and arts as possible.
The program has been implemented in 73 Russian regions since 2007.
More than 1,600 modern sports facilities have been built throughout the country, including 120 sports and recreation complexes. In many places children and teenagers for the first time had the opportunity to play sports in comfortable conditions. Today, more than 100 thousand people are engaged in these sports facilities. In addition, Gazprom implements the international Football for Friendship project, including a number of sports and educational events in different countries of the world.
The history of active cooperation between Gazprom and the ROC began in 2001 when a long-term cooperation agreement was signed. Gazprom provided support to the ROC during preparation for the winter Games in Sochi, and created unique sports facilities.
On October 23, 2014 Gazprom and ROC signed a Memorandum of Cooperation, the company became the General sponsor of the Russian Olympic team.
