One of the topics that Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko raised during a working meeting on October 24 was the successful organization of domestic sports tournaments.
The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that despite the coronavirus pandemic, and then the ban on previously planned international competitions, competitive activity in the country was generally maintained at a high level.
“We had the same numbers in a single calendar plan, and the pandemic reduced them.
But now we are returning them, despite the fact that many international competitions have, in fact, been stopped for us and not given the opportunity to participate in them.
Thus, they greatly impoverished their competitions and punished themselves, ”the Kremlin press service quotes him as saying.
In response, the president noted that the government and sports authorities manage to organize good starts in the Russian Federation.
The main one was the All-Russian Sports Contest, which began in August and ended in early October.
It was held in 12 regions and brought together the strongest domestic athletes in 39 events.
The Deputy Prime Minister called it an analogue of the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR, which was held until 1991 and was, according to Chernyshenko, "in fact, a powerful alternative to the Olympic Games."
At the same time, the participants of the competition managed to secure worthy prize money.
In particular, the owners of gold awards will receive 358.4 thousand rubles, silver - 179.2 thousand rubles and bronze - 107.5 thousand rubles.
The coaches who brought up the medalists will not be left without payments.
“The most important thing is that thanks to Mikhail Vladimirovich (Mishustin. -
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) we were able to provide them with bonuses at the same level as at the Olympic Games and World Championships, because this is extremely important for athletes,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
The authorities do not refuse plans to hold new launches that can attract additional interest from the audience.
For example, in March 2024 Kazan will host the Games of the Future youth tournament, which will unite cyber and technical sports.
According to Chernyshenko, no analogues have been carried out in the world yet.
Separately, he mentioned the proposal of the head of state to open an association of sports organizations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
“The potential audience of the involved population is 4 billion people, this is just our future, and not the segment that the International Olympic Committee serves, about 1 billion. This, of course, is a shame, but I think everything will return to normal,” — emphasized the vice-premier.
An equally important topic was the integration of Crimea, Sevastopol and new regions into the all-Russian sports space.
Chernyshenko stated that considerable progress in this direction has been achieved in football.
“We agreed with the Russian Football Union that we will integrate new territories into our regular championships.
All this is being done so that all regions feel like full-fledged Russian participants, ”the official explained.
At the end of August, the country's second most powerful league, the FNL, announced the creation of a working group to audit Crimean clubs with a view to their subsequent inclusion in its composition.
Later, the head of the RFU, Alexander Dyukov, did not rule out that this could happen as early as the 2023/24 season.
Moreover, according to the Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev, the corresponding decision has already been finally made.
“In addition, starting in 2023, our youth teams will be able to participate in all-Russian competitions.
The football players of Sevastopol and the entire peninsula have been waiting for this decision for more than eight years - in 2015, FIFA and UEFA banned the participation of Crimean clubs in Russian competitions, ”he wrote in his Telegram channel.
However, with regard to the new regions of the Russian Federation, the initial task, according to Chernyshenko, is to restore the infrastructure damaged by Ukrainian strikes.
He said that work is underway, in particular, at several facilities in Mariupol (Illichivets, Azovmash, the Neptun swimming pool) and in Donetsk (the Druzhba Sports Palace).
“Since Marat Shakirzyanovich (Khusnullin. -
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) is dealing with this issue, our construction is just concentrated in his jurisdiction, there is no doubt that he will do it as soon as possible.
We see the pace at which construction is being mobilized there,” the official assured.
He also noted that 800 athletes representing the reunited territories have already been helped to continue their competitive practice.
No less significant than the support for elite sports is the increase in the proportion of the country's population that regularly goes in for it.
Chernyshenko reported on progress in this direction.
According to the plan, by the end of 2022 it should be 51.3%.
But already in the first half of the year, an indicator of 65 million people (53%) was recorded.
The President previously instructed to increase the proportion of Russians who systematically go in for sports to 70% by 2030 - this level is fixed in the decree on the national development goals of the country.
“The number of sports schools is increasing, the number of people involved in sports in schools is growing.
This is a quality indicator.
They focus on our stars, on those who show the best results in international competitions.
You instructed us to be in the top three.
Just as you can see: in the summer Games we moved to third place, and in the winter - to second.
This is also, in general, the results of the work,” said Chernyshenko.
He also noted that the head of the Cabinet, Mikhail Mishustin, instructed, despite the existing difficulties, to complete the construction of all started sports facilities, especially those within walking distance.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, only by the end of 2022, 70 such facilities will be commissioned at the expense of the federal budget.