Azerbaijan organized the Olympic Festival in Baku at the Olympic level, Austrian gymnast Elias Mayer said, speaking with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza on the sidelines of the XV Summer European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku.
"It is the first time that I take part in the European Youth Olympic Festival and the first time I perform in Baku. I can say that the tournament is organized at the Olympic level," he said in the first place.
"It is very important for me to be at a competition here because being in Baku feels like being at the Olympics. It makes the Baku competitions special, as well as the wonderful arena in which I perform today. I am glad to be here," Elias Mayer admitted.
The Austrian gymnast also mentioned the beauty of Baku. "It's a beautiful and very clean city filled with modern buildings," he noted.
"I heard a lot about Baku and those tournaments organized here. Next year Baku will host the European Junior Gymnastics Championships, and I hope to come here again as part of the Austrian national team. The Baku competitions is a great experience. It's great here," Elias Mayer concluded.
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.
