Today’s session of the 100tatarstan.com project featured a panel discussion, Kazan as the Centre of Attraction and Development in Aquatics. Oleg Matytsin, the Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation, was one of the speakers.
In his welcome speech, the minister congratulated the Republic of Tatarstan on its one-hundredth founding anniversary, and remarked on its contribution to sports development: “It’s delightful to see that, even despite the pandemic, the introduction of new sports venues is not slowing down here. Tatarstan is opening new swimming pools, hockey ice palaces, and football pitches. It has rightfully earned the title of one of Russia’s most sporting regions.”
FINA President Julio Maglione also acknowledged the robust and lasting partnership between FINA and the Republic of Tatarstan in when it comes to hosting international sports events. He thanked the republic for its achievements in sport: “I am confident that FINA will keep on making every effort to support Tatarstan and Russia in general, because you are one of FINA’s most important partners, and also our dear friends.”
Other discussion speaker included: Dale Neuburger, FINA Vice President for America; Marco Birri, LEN Operations Manager; Lisa Schott, Chair of the FINA Technical Artistic Swimming Committee; Graham Hill, Chair of the FINA Coaches Committee; Vladimir Leonov, Minister of Sport of the Republic of Tatarstan; Olga Pavlova, Deputy of the Russian State Duma and Vice President of the Russian Synchronised Swimming Federation; Irek Zinnurov, Deputy of the Russian State Duma and President of the Sintez Kazan Water Polo Club; and Yusup Yakubov, Doctor of Political Science, Rector of the Volga State Academy of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism. The event was moderated by Ranko Tepavcevic, Deputy Director General of the Directorate for Sports and Social Projects, Head of the FINA Development Centre in Kazan.
The session contributors discussed future prospects for the development of aquatics in general, as well as some specifics: supporting the FINA Development Centre in Kazan, synchronised swimming, and water polo, in addition to training aquatics experts. The speakers also touched upon international and inter-regional cooperation in the field.
Aquatics in Tatarstan has become to the heritage of the 2013 Summer Universiade and the 2015 FINA World Championships, as well as the result of regional authorities’ commitment to accumulating material and technical resources for aquatics training. As of today, the people of the republic have 237 pool decks at their disposal, 16 of which are Olympic-grade. More than 30,000 children in Tatarstan are taking aquatics classes. 56 members of Russia’s national aquatics team represent Tatarstan.
“All of the republic’s municipalities are currently equipped with a state-of-the-art swimming infrastructure. The swimming pool ratio is 20.83%, which is a whole order of magnitude higher than the national average (9.9%). In other words, the average number of swimming pools across Russia is 1 per 32,000 people, whereas in the Republic of Tatarstan, the number is 1 per 17,000 people. Our swimming pools are capable of accommodating about 5,000 people at the same time,” said Vladimir Leonov during the session.
This discussion is particularly relevant right now, as Kazan is preparing to host several major international sports events:
– the 2021 European Swimming Championships and the 2024 LEN European Aquatics Championships;
– the 2022 FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships and the 2025 FINA World Championships.
For reference: the 100% Tatarstan online event is a smart business platform that brings together regular people, business community members, government officials, and leading experts for an open discussion of the key issues relevant to Tatarstan’s further strategic development. Its agenda includes panel discussions, live streams from opinion leaders, interviews and workshops, and analyses of strategic economic initiatives. The event will be taking place from 30 August to 10 September at www.100tatarstan.com. Participants from around the world are free to join in, ask questions to experts, and receive prompt responses in real time.
Press Office of Directorate for Sports and Social Projects