MINSK, 31 December (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko signed decree No.485 on 31 December to confer the president’s special prizes Belarusian Sports Olympus for the year 2024, the press service of the Belarusian leader told BelTA.
In recognition of a significant contribution to the development of physical culture and sports and active efforts to popularize them, in recognition of development of physical culture traditions and sport traditions, which contribute to the formation of a harmonious person the president awarded the prize to Gennady Vishnyakov, Irina Kurochkina, and the staff of Vitebsk specialized Olympic reserve school for children and young people No.1.
Gennady Vishnyakov, an honored coach of Belarus, senior coach of the national parasport team at the Republican Center for Olympic Training in Paralympic and Deaflympic Sports, has trained the 21-time Paralympic champion Ihar Boki, other winners and awardees of Paralympic Games, world and European swimming championships for the visually handicapped (including Uladzimir Izotau, Dzmitry Salei, Anastasiya Zudzilava, and Hryhory Zudzilau).
Iryna Kurachkina is an Honored Master of Sports of Belarus in freestyle wrestling. She was a silver medalist at the 2021 Olympic Games, bronze medalist at the 2017, 2019, 2024 world championships, a three-time European champion, and a champion of the 2019 European Games. She earned a license to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games, but she was not allowed to participate. The athlete is currently ranked No.3 in the world ranking in the under-55kg category.
Vitebsk specialized Olympic reserve school for children and young people No.1 is among the main institutions for training reserve athletes for the country’s national teams in trampolining and other gymnastic sports (40 athletes, who are students at the school, were included in their composition in 2024). Three Olympic gold medals were won by the school’s students in trampolining: Uladzislau Hancharou (in Rio de Janeiro in 2016) and Ivan Litvinovich (in Tokyo in 2021 and in Paris in 2024).
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