Pole vault legend and IAAF vice-president Sergey Bubka congratulated all Ukrainian sports fans on the opening of ‘Olimpiysky’ National Sports Complex, speaking for the FLAU web site.
«We witnessed a really epoch-making event last Saturday. ‘Olimpiysky’ NSC is a major sport venue in Ukraine. The stadium has rich and eventful history. I have no doubt that its close future will be even more bright and memorable for Ukrainian and world sports history. Both design and technical characteristics of the arena make it worthy the final match of the UEFA Euro-2012 tournament – it was a common thought of all the guests of the Opening ceremony.
On behalf of Ukrainian athletes I would like to praise all people and institutions involved for including the track and field infrastructure in the arena’s re-construction plan. This fact gives us evidence that Ukrainian government is really keen on growth of the popularity of athletics and building modern athletics facilities in the country. I wish more and more countries to show their support to athletics by including the track and field into stadiums.
Running surfaces and other track and field equipment for ‘Olympiysky’ NSC has been already delivered to Ukraine and now ready for the installation at the stadium. If the weather conditions are favorable the equipment would be installed in the closest weeks. A short additional reconstruction is planned on the arena after the end of the UEFA Euro 2012. In six months after Euro final match it’s venue will be ready to host the world-class athletics competitions.
Ukraine which is proud of its athletics traditions – 74 Olympic medals, 30 of them are gold – will possess a brand new venue for athletics, ine of the best in the egion of Eastern Europe.
Therefore Ukraine declares intention to make a bid for hosting SPAR European Team Championships, the EAA European Athletics Championships and the IAAF World Athletics Championships in the closest future. The plans will be clarified after the end of the UEFA Euro 2012.
I am sure that Kyiv has a plenty of attractions for the world of athletics. The city will get a great hotel and trasportation infrastructure as a legacy of the UEFA Euro 2012. Ukraine has an experience of hosting athletics events. For more than 20 years Donetsk has been a host of the elite ‘Pole Vault Stars’ tournament, a number of European Combined Events, Throwing events and International matches have been held in Kyiv, Sumy (indoor arena) and Yalta. The IAAF World Youth Championships which Donetsk will host in 2013 will give us a unique experience of hosting major IAAF championships.
Another important thing is a great location of ‘Olimpiysky’ National Sports Complex – in the center of the ancient city, close to most of hotels and main tourist attractions. At the same time there is a great transport connection with two metro stations close to arena and suitable car/bus accesses which is convenient for the athletes, fans and IAAF Family members. Training ground – ‘Athlete’ stadium with separated throwing stadium is located right at the NSC territory, 150 metres from the competition venue.
Besides, Kyiv would be interesting for the IAAF strategy of expanding borders of athletics taking into consideration that the last time city the hosted major athletic competition was more than 40 years ago. The last but not least is a fact that hosting elite world or European class athletics championships in Kyiv will give a powerful boost to development of our sports in all the 47 mln country ».
