The National Gymnastics Arena in Baku is gorgeous, head coach of Norway's national team in artistic gymnastics Alexandra Smirnova said in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza on the sidelines of the 15th Summer European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku.
"Everything is gorgeous, very rich. Almost like a hotel. Halls of this arena are amazing. This is my fifth festival, so I can really compare it to previous ones," she said, noting that the opening ceremony of this festival was very beautiful.
She stressed that right now Azerbaijan now, just like in Soviet times, has high level gymnasts. “There have always been strong kids, a lot is being done to help them,” she noted.
The XV Summer European Youth Olympic Festival is being held in Baku on July 21-27. The festival will be attended by more than 3,900 athletes from 48 European countries. Athletes will compete in ten kinds of sports - gymnastics, athletics, basketball, cycling, handball, judo, swimming, tennis, volleyball and wrestling. In total, athletes will compete for 135 sets of medals.
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