Author: Interview by Ramin Naziev, Baku, exclusively to VK
On December 8, the General Assembly of the European Olympic Committee (EOC) at its 41st meeting in Rome, decided to hold the first European Summer Olympic Games in 2015 in Baku. The candidature of the Azerbaijani capital was supported by 28 members of the General Assembly. The Head of the Main Administration of Youth and Sport of Baku, Ragif Abbasov, told "Vestnik Kavkaza" about the structure of the Games and preparations for them.
- How is the idea of the first European Games put into practice?
- Discussion of the first European Games went on for two years. Other summer continental games have long been conducted and are considered a springboard to the main Olympic Games, as licensed competitions and as the right to participate in the main Olympics. European countries are active members of the International Olympic Committee. The results of European states at all Olympic Games are higher than the results of other continental countries. Virtually all sporting events are developed in Europe - not only team sports, but also single combats. Therefore, continental European games, in their competitiveness, importance, in terms of audience attention and the television audience, will not yield to the Summer Olympics, and sometimes will even surpass them. We will see new sports, which in the future can enter the Olympic program. We can also see non-Olympic sports.
- Why did the EOC turn precisely to the Azerbaijani National Committee (NOC) with the idea of conducting the first European Games?
- The right to held the first European Summer Olympics is the result of long hard work. At the initiative of the President of Azerbaijan and the NOC President Ilham Aliyev, our country ran to hold the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. Every time our application grew larger, more capacious, more convincing. European Olympic movement, in which Azerbaijan is represented as a full member, closely monitored the sporting events that took place in our country, and not just sporting events. The latest results of Azerbaijani sportsmen, state support for sports, the proclamation of 2012 as the Year of Sport, success at the Olympics, the attention to Olympic, Paralympic and non-Olympic sports in the country, increased financial and technical resources, construction of sport and training complexes, conducting international competitions, appropriate to the philosophy of the Olympic Movement - all this gave the country the right to host the first European Olympic Games in Baku. Leaders of the European Committee on behalf of the EOC President Patrick Hick, and members of the executive committee said: "We believe, and are more than convinced that Azerbaijan will hold the contest here at the highest level."
- Previously, Azerbaijan has only held world championships in various sports in the capital. Will the country cope with a more global and demanding task?
- Complex competitions are fundamentally different from other international competitions. For today we are speaking about 15 disciplines.Perhaps the number will increase, but there will be not only Olympic sports. There are certain requirements for the Olympic Games. These requirements are not only meeting the standards of sports facilities, but also the city's infrastructure, the availability of transportation services, training of volunteers, preparing the environmental component of the city, accommodation, and visa issues. We described all this in detail in our set of documents. We already have practice conducting European and World Championships in some sports in Azerbaijan. This time it will be necessary to combine our efforts and experience in large-scale events.
We have a strong infrastructure, established relationships between the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the NOC, and the national federations.There is a harmonious mechanism. We provided funding for these games, only the technical details are being worked out. The most important are the weather and climatic conditions, the safety factor and our philosophy of holding the contest - it should be mass-scale, using the latest technology for making it a "green" games in terms of the environmental component. One of the main priorities, stressed by Mr. President repeatedly in meetings with athletes, is that every great event should be designed not only for the duration of the event. That is, what will be done prior to the event will be rationally used afterwards, and not just in sports.
- Will adjustments be made to the infrastructure of the city?
- It is possible that Baku people will face moments of discomfort, but this discomfort will be offset by a great holiday, good humor, innovation, employment and more. It is possible that there will be new ground public transport interchanges. There might be limits on the duration of other major events. Naturally, work will be done on simplification of visa procedures. The infrastructure will be updated. The cuisine will be more varied. We will see the implementation of cost-effective tourist facilities. Probably, a media center will function, with the right to broadcast the games; they will cooperate with various TV channels. Test competitions might precede the main competitions. Naturally, there will be a large working group, which will finalize some drawbacks. By the beginning of the games we will have arrived at full readiness.
- Is the construction of new sports facilities directly for these games planned in the next three years in Baku?
- On the orders of Mr. President, the NOC, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan laid the foundation for the new Olympic Stadium, which will seat 65,000 spectators. Most likely, the opening and closing of the Games will be exactly at this stadium. Also, the foundation of a new gymnastics center has been laid. Large indoor sports complexes, such as the sports complex named after Heydar Aliyev, the showroom Expocenter, the stadium named after Tofik Bakhramov and temporary sports facilities will also obviously be used; they are needed to minimize the financial costs and streamline post-contest use of sports facilities.
- How do Azerbaijani citizens react to the European Olympic Games?
- Before we applied for the right to hold the games, public opinion research and sociological polling had been conducted in new country. According to these surveys, the majority of the population is clearly in favor of an international competition, because it is fun, it is fashionable, it is the proper promotion of the country. The country benefits from this, many people find jobs in this period, or may present themselves in the best light, because there is a new audience; our recent monitoring, conducted not only in the city, and not just with the citizens of Azerbaijan, but also with Azerbaijanis living outside the Republic's territory, showed that the majority supports the event. But in any situation, there are always those who may not like it.
To be continued
