FISU Seminar in Krasnoyarsk kicks off

KRASNOYARSK – The FISU Seminar has started in Krasnoyarsk. Its task is to gather all parties concerned and coordinate the work. Milan Augustin, FISU WU Director, emphasized in his welcoming speech that the FISU team does not pursue the goal of teaching, but rather sharing its knowledge and learning something new themselves.

The FISU seminar is being held at the Congress Hall of the Siberian Federal University. This has a symbolic meaning, as the International Information Centre will be set up in this very building during the WU2019.

Pavel Rostovtsev, Advisor to the Governor; Sergey Alekseev, Minister of Sports; Viktor Kardashov, Chairman of the Committee for Preparation for the WU2019 within the Legislative Assembly of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Maxim Urazov, Director General of the Executive Directorate of the 29^th Winter Universiade Krasnoyarsk 2019 are taking part in the Seminar as well. Representatives of all bodies and authorities involved in the preparation of the international event to be held in 2019, namely the Organising Committee, municipal government, the Ministries of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, WU partners, media, as well as sports managers in different sports and managers of the venues have gathered in the Hall.

The seminar started with a plenary session. Pavel Rostovtsev addressed the participants on behalf of the Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory with a welcoming speech. “The issues related to the preparation and staging of the Winter Universiade are under the special supervision of the Governor. He is holding weekly meetings where he monitors the progress in preparation for the Winter Universiade, as well as deals with various issues, which require making prompt administrative decisions. We do not have that much time left, but I believe that due to your [FISU] support, your knowledge base, due to this discussion, which has gathered all parties concerned, we will be able to come up with an optimal solution to the tasks that we are yet to fulfil.”

FISU WU Director Milan Augustin

The key speaker at the plenary session was Milan Augustin, WU Director, who has the experience of organising 15 Universiades under his belt. He once again pointed out that the Universiade is the second largest multi-sport event in the world after the Olympic Games. In his speech, Milan noted that the level of the Universiade is getting higher, with many participating countries, hundreds of medal events, millions of spectators watching the competitions on TV. Eight records were set just during the last Universiade. There are Olympic medal winners among the participants of the Universiade, which once again emphasizes the importance for the countries to take part in this event.

“We believe that this Winter Universiade will be a mutual success for all of us—both for Russia and FISU. It is very important for our President, Oleg Matytsin, that we have a dialogue during this Seminar. I have arrived here three days ago. My first impression is very positive. Krasnoyarsk is a beautiful city. After 2019, it will be renowned not only for being the major aluminium producer, but also for being a sports city. A lot of work is to be done in the coming three years. First test events, then celebration of the 390^th anniversary of the foundation of Krasnoyarsk, and then the Winter Universiade itself. This requires increased mobilization of forces and high professionalism on the part of the team”, said Milan Augustin in his speech.

The following areas will be addressed:  Planning and management, FISU relations, attraction of partners, organisation of sports competitions, publications, collaboration with the national sports federations.

Intense area-specific work will continue within the following days. All key functional areas as specified in the Master Plan will be addressed, starting with the Universiade Village management and finishing with transportation of guests and participants.

(Source: Krasnoyarsk 2019 OC)