MINSK, 28 April (BelTA) - The international Olympic movement is experiencing a serious crisis today. The principles of Olympism are violated not through the fault of the athletes, President of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov said at the National Athletes Forum in Minsk on 28 April, BelTA has learned.
According to the head of the Russian Olympic Committee, right now the cooperation between the Belarusian and Russian athletes should promote one of the main Olympic principles - building bridges between the countries. Stanislav Pozdnyakov thanked his Belarusian counterparts for the opportunity to meet with like-minded people and work out further forms of cooperation.
President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Belarus Viktor Lukashenko stressed that the participation of a representative delegation of Russian sport stars in the forum was a new step in the development of cooperation. In his words, the athletes of both countries should reach a new level of interaction, conduct joint training camps and competitions, showing high results. Speaking about the complicated situation that the Russians and Belarusians are facing now, the head of the National Olympic Committee recalled the events of the 1980s. Back then, due to political reasons the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980 and in Los Angeles in 1984 were not as representative as usual. In those years the fates of athletes from many countries were broken, years of hard training turned out to be of no use to anyone. Unfortunately, a similar unpleasant story is repeating today, said Viktor Lukashenko. Nevertheless, athletes should definitely continue working, training, competing and trying to improve their professional level.
Outstanding Russian wrestler Aleksandr Karelin, three-time Olympic champion, expressed confidence that Belarusians and Russians would overcome the difficult times together. He added that they had all opportunities for that, and the main thing was the true fighting spirit and the will to win.
Attending the event are many famous athletes from Belarus and Russia, including Olympic champions Aliaksandr Bahdanovich, Sofia Velikaya, Yuri Borzakovsky, Roman Vlasov, Alexander Legkov and others.
About 250 Belarusian and Russian athletes and coaches, as well as directors of physical education and sport organizations are taking part in the forum. The event is held in the format of an interactive training seminar-conference. The forum aims to promote socialization of retired athletes, acquire new knowledge and develop skills in personal brand promotion.
The 1st National Athletes Forum was held in Minsk in April 2021. Then the experts of the famous Russian marketing companies and the Russian International Olympic University shared their best practices in sports marketing.
