Vladimir Leonov
Minister of Sport of the Republic of Tatarstan
"Development of aquatic sports in the Republic of Tatarstan"
On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan, Ministry of Sport of the Republic of Tatarstan and myself I would like to welcome participants and viewers of today's panel session during 100% Tatarstan online platform.
Today, our partners and accomplices are taking part in the work, and in this regard, let me thank you for your participation and support of all our initiatives and projects implemented in the Republic of Tatarstan. Without our joint work, their successful implementation would not have been possible.
As Dr. Julio Maglione noted in his welcome speech, professional relations and close cooperation between the Republic of Tatarstan and FINA (International Swimming Federation) began to develop during the preparation of Kazan for the 16th FINA world aquatics Championships, which Kazan hosted in 2015, and continue to this day. We successfully held a number of test events for this water world Cup, then the world Cup in diving, the world Cup in swimming. Today Kazan, the Republic of Tatarstan, has become a traditional place for the world Cup stages in swimming, diving, water Polo and synchronized swimming. The city has everything necessary to ensure that competitions under the auspices of FINA are held at the top level — experience, infrastructure, and the love of local people for aquatic sports.
I would like to note that these achievements are not accidental; it is a huge work of a large team led by our President of the Republic of Tatarstan Mr. Rustam Minnikhanov. Only competent, wise policies and systematic work allow us to achieve such results. Let me remind you that more than 10 years have passed since the right to host the world summer student games (the Universiade) was given to Kazan. The Universiade set the momentum and gave us invaluable experience in carrying out large, responsible projects.
Today, this obliges us to raise the bar for the preparation and holding of the next tournaments to a qualitatively new level.
These concerns to the 2021 European swimming Championships and the 2024 European aquatics Championships, the right to host these competitions is entrusted to Kazan.
In 2022, the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m), and in 2025, we will once again host the world's largest event - the world aquatics Championships.
We thank our colleagues from the international, European and all-Russian water sports federations for their trust and joint work.
Water sports are particularly popular in Tatarstan. First, as I have already said, this was made possible by the legacy of major sports events that were held in Kazan. The population of the Republic was drawn to sports sections and swimming pools. In addition, the Republic's leadership is implementing targeted work to create a material and technical base for aquatic sports.
For the development of water sports, training and competitions, the necessary infrastructure is available: Republic have 237 swimming pools, 16 of which are 50-meter long.
Last year and this year alone, we have introduced 16 swimming pools in 12 municipalities, one of which is the wonderful 50-meter Miras swimming pool in Almetyevsk. (1 – to 50-meter, 9 – 25 meter).
Today, all municipalities of the Republic of Tatarstan have a modern swimming infrastructure. The percentage of pool availability is 20,83%, which is higher in the country as a whole (9,9%).
If in the whole country there are 32 thousand people per 1 pool, and in the Republic of Tatarstan there are 17 thousand people per 1 pool. At the same time, about 5 thousand citizens of the Republic of Tatarstan can visit our swimming pools.
Swimming pools are the most visited and popular objects among the population, followed by ice rinks, sports halls and football fields.
The water infrastructure includes both jump baths and bowls for synchronized swimming. There is one of the largest complexes in the country, the Aquatics Palace, where the state aquatics school is based, which cultivates 3 kinds of sports.
The created swimming infrastructure directly affects the coverage of water sports.
In the Republic of Tatarstan, more than 33 thousand people are engaged in water sports (32,013 – swimming, 555 – water polo, 355 – synchronized swimming, 135 – diving).
Currently, swimming ranks 4th in popularity among the population of the Republic (football, volleyball, basketball, swimming) and 3rd among 77 sports cultivated in sports schools of the Republic of Tatarstan (8.78% of the total number of students).
In sports schools and Kazan school of the Olympic reserve of the Republic of Tatarstan there are 45 departments for water sports (38-swimming, 3-synchronized swimming, 2-water Polo, 2-diving). In these departments, 8,952 young athletes are engaged (8,037-swimming, 454-water Polo, 326 – synchronized swimming, 135 – diving). The number of full-time trainers of teachers is 196 people. 131 coaches have higher professional education in the field of physical culture and sports, 16 coaches have secondary professional education, 22 coaches have the highest qualification category, 33 – the first.
We started cultivating many sports from scratch and today we have results in training our athletes to the level of the national team. For example diving. Thanks to the involvement of the leadership of the sports Federation, and the existing database, Tatarstan is represented by the following athletes who are part of the national team:
Nikita Schleicher and Alexander Belevtsev won the European diving championship; Nikita Schleicher is the 2018 European champion;
Victoria Milashechkina – prize winer of the Russian Championship.
It is gratifying to note that every year the number of high-level swimmers competing for the Republic of Tatarstan is growing. There are also victories. So, Alexander Krasnykh became a silver medalist at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in South Korea.
Grigory Tarasevich and Yegor Kuimov are the winners of the World Summer Universiade in Napoli. At the moment, the expanded Russian national team for participation in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo 21 includes 38 athletes from Tatarstan in 13 sports. Swimming athletes have the largest representation.
Specialized centers at the Kazan School of the Olympic reserve and the Volga region Academy of sports became platforms for training athletes. This school is Tatiana Pokrovskaya's synchronized swimming School, FINA Development center.
With the support of commercial structures, the Sintez aquatics club operates, which unites almost all water sports. This club includes leading and promising athletes of Tatarstan with the opportunity to receive additional financial support. Next, my colleagues will tell you more about these centers.
The club system is becoming quite effective. We will continue to work on other team and individual sports.
What is important is that today Federal sports and training centers have been set up on the basis of many of our sports facilities to train the sports reserve to attract the main, youth and Junior teams of the Russian national teams. In cooperation with the leadership of all-Russian federations, conditions have been created to improve the sport skills of Tatarstan athletes.
We also invite our international partners to conduct joint training events. Together with teams from your countries, we can conduct joint training camps in many sports. We already have successful experience in this area with China, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkmenistan, Turkey, etc.
The advantage of our region is a convenient, high-tech, sports infrastructure;
High standard of service and hospitality;
Modern educational and sports techniques combined with the best traditions of the Soviet school;
Qualified coaching staff;
Comfortable climate;
And of course, the unique, original culture of Tatarstan and Kazan.
Dear colleagues, despite all the difficulties associated with the epidemiological situation, we are gradually getting out of quarantine. Countries are opening their borders, and we expect to fully implement our activities soon.
Thank you for your attention, Welcome to Kazan!