In order to popularize the ideas of Olympism among the younger generation and involve children and young people in systematic physical education and sports, the Russian Olympic Committee, after the Olympic Games in Sochi, launched a new sports and educational project Olympic Patrol, which is part of the Olympic Country program.
As part of the project, students learn about the history of the Olympic movement, various sports, Olympic values and they participate in meetings with famous Russian athletes, test their level of physical fitness as part of the ″My Olympus″ sports testing and compete in the quest game ″Faster, Higher, Stronger”.
The project was launched in the summer of 2014 on the territory of the largest children’s centers of Russia: the All-Russian Children’s Center Orlyonok, the Federal Children’s Center Smena (Krasnodar Krai), the ICC Artek (Crimea), and on the premises of 6 large camps near Moscow, the Leningrad Region and the All-Russian Sports Recreation Children’s Center in the city of Sochi.
In September 2014, the Olympic Patrol began work in the schools of Russia. In October 2015, the President of the International Olympic Committee, Olympic champion in fencing Thomas Bach took part in the project.
Since 2015 the project is regularly held at the Sirius Educational Center. In the summer campaign of 2016, over 5,000 new participants took part in the project (Children’s Recreational Camp Olympian (Novosibirsk), International Children’s Center Artek (Crimea). From September to December 2016, the project covered more than 10 cities and included 13,000 participants.
In the summer of 2017, the All-Russian Children’s Center Smena (Anapa) and the International Children’s Center Artek (Crimea) took part in the project with the participation of more than 5,000 children and teenagers.
In 2016 the Olympic Patrol started work in orphanages. Events have taken place on the territory of an orphanage in the city of Stary Oskol, Belgorod Region, and the same events were held there once again in 2017.
In addition, in June last year, the Russian Olympic Committee concluded an agreement with the Roscongress Foundation whose purpose is to develop sports. As part of this cooperation, the Olympic Patrol was held for the first time at one of Russia’s largest business events – the Eastern Economic Forum. And in October 2017, the project was included in the program of the World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi.
In total, from 2014 to 2018, more than 130,000 people from 30 regions of the Russian Federation and about 200 famous athletes took part in the project – Olympic champions, European and world champions, including five-time Olympic synchronized swimming champion Anastasia Davydova, six-time Olympic short-track speed skating champion Viktor An, four-time Olympic champion in gymnastics Alexei Nemov, three-time Olympic champion in figure skating Irina Rodnina, three-time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling Alexander Karelin, Olympic champions and medalists of the Games in Sochi, Rio de Janeiro and Pyeongchang, as well as many other famous Russian athletes.
