Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 3 February (BelTA) – As of today Belarusian athletes have earned 81 licenses to participate in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, First Vice President of Belarus’ National Olympic Committee Maxim Ryzhenkov said as he attended the meeting in the Sport and Tourism Ministry of Belarus, BelTA has learned.

Maxim Ryzhenkov noted that the ministry met many of the goals in 2015 such as an increase in the number of international competitions in Belarus. However, he drew attention to the fact that in the same period before the Olympic Games 2008 and 2012 Belarusians had many more Olympic licenses. "As of today, 3 February, we have 81 licenses as against 100 at the start of the previous Olympic year. The goal for the coming Olympic Games is 150 licenses for Belarus. If we keep moving towards the games at such a pace then we will not be able to reach the goal,” Maxim Ryzhenkov said addressing the heads of the national Olympic training centers.

He also touched upon the optimization of sports schools in the regions. If children’s sports schools get closed as a result of this optimization, then where from our future athletes will come from? It is in the regions that many Belarusian athletes started their way to the big sport. Optimization is necessary but it should not be at the expense of development of sports, he said.

Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be held from 5 to 21 August 2016. The 2008 Summer Games in Beijing were the most successful for the Belarusian Olympic team where it won 19 medals, including four gold.