2013 SU Update: Sochi 2014 Will Profit from Kazan 2013 Experience

The Vice-Mayor of Sochi Anatoly Rykov, the Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin and the Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Committee Vladimir Leonov

KAZAN – This unanimous opinion was expressed at the Moscow-Kazan-Sochi spacebridge titled «From the 2013 Universiade to the 2014 Olympics: impact of sporting events on regional development».

The event saw participation of the Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin, the Vice-Mayor of Sochi Anatoly Rykov and the Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Committee Vladimir Leonov.

After Kazan’s presentation spot that demonstrated to the attendees from Moscow and Sochi the positive results of the preparation of the 2013 World University Summer Games, Ilsur Metshin reported that 24 out of 30 sports venues, the construction of which was financed within the federal programme, were already put to use.

‘By the end of this year we plan to open another two venues. Thus, we have only four Universiade sports venues left for construction. All of them are large size – the 45,000-seat football stadium, the Gymnastics Centre, the Rowing Channel and the Aquatics Palace’, the Mayor of Kazan said.

Kazan pays close attention to the development of other significant branches as well. ‘Special priority is given to transport infrastructure as well. We plan to build 12 junctions and 37 pedestrian overpasses in addition to the existing 12. Of course, construction works of this scale will cause some inconveniences to the citizens of the millennium city, but people in Kazan are permeated by spirit of the Universiade. Everything we do, we do for the good of our citizens. Thanks to all these changes, we start marketing Kazan as a city of international scale’, Ilsur Metshin stated.

One of the key questions within preparation of the Universiade is safety control at the Games. ‘We’ve been exploring this issue in detail. We’ve already founded a Security Operations Centre and now we develop the concept of safety control which will be considered and approved at the next session of the Organizing Committee for the 2013 Summer Universiade. The Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Committee pointed out that successful delivery of the games was made possible thanks to staging test events in sports venues of the Universiade: ‘This year we held only two European University Championships – in table tennis and beach volleyball. In the coming years we will stage about 60 such championships.’

According to Vladimir Leonov, there is also another thing of no little interest that the Sochi 2014 organizers might learn from Kazan – legacy of the Games. This is no longer in question in the capital of Tatarstan as the Universiade Village already accommodates students in its residence halls and 18 sports venues are transferred under supervision of Kazan’s universities and institutes. Apart from that, all the newly constructed venues provide free access to their facilities to the citizens of Kazan. ‘At weekends the citizens of Kazan, following the principles of a healthy and athletic family, can attend sports training sessions in any Universiade venue put into service. These measures are taken within the Five Year Plan for Health Development that was adopted earlier this year. According to this program we must increase the number of Kazan’s citizens involved in sports on a regular basis. At present this indicator is 17%. By the end of the Five Year Plan one in three of citizens of Kazan will do sports on a regular basis’, the Mayor of Kazan reported.

In conclusion, both Ilsur Metshin and Vladimir Leonov stated that the measures taken had a positive impact on the spirits of Kazan’s citizens and their mindset. They demonstrated it by their own example. ‘Before Kazan won the right to host the Universiade, I had a liking for only football and hockey but now I’m devoted to all the 26 sports of the Universiade program’, the Mayor of Kazan explained. ‘It’s a good thing that Russia was awarded the 2018 FIFA World Cup as preparation for it will become our major task in the years coming after the Universiade. We are not only to host a group stage but we also will pretend to the right to hold round of 16 and quarter-final matches as well’, the Mayor of Kazan remarked.

‘We understand Sochi like no one else’, said Ilsur Metshin and got a straight away answer. ‘Our projects are similar in many respects, so the time has come for Sochi and Kazan to establish twin city relationship’, Anatoly Rykov summarized.

(Source: kzn.ru & Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Committee)
(Images by Ekaterina Krasutskaya, Tatar-Inform News Agency)

 The Boxing and Table Tennis Venue, one of the new venues for the 2013 SU