VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
"I propose taking a decision today <...> to establish an organising committee for the 2018 World Cup bid race. <...> But no matter what happens, we will continue to do what we have been doing recently, that is, building football fields and other sports facilities, and establishing sports clubs, above all for children and teenagers. We will promote football. Much has been done in this field, and so I think Russia has the right to bid for the honour to host the 2018 World Cup."
"By 2015, we plan to get 30% of the population involved in physical fitness and sports, and the relevant figure for young people should reach 60%. I've already mentioned the absolute figures."
"Today, more than 22 million people in Russia regularly participate in sports. This number increases by an average of one percent per year. The relevant figure for children and teenagers is even higher - 7.5 million, or more than a third of the total population. The figures are not insignificant, but we should not rest on our laurels. Neighbouring Finland has completely different statistics - more than 70% of its population participates in sports."
"Sports have become a way of life for 22 million Russians. We must double their number, at least. All Russian school students must be able to regularly exercise free of charge."
“I would like to say a few words about doping control. <…> I want to draw the attention of the National Olympic Committee, the concerned ministries and departments and the Russian Federation's Government to the fact that we have no right and will not shift responsibility onto athletes alone. Sports-events organisers must also comprehend their own responsibility. We must create modern and effective mechanisms at every sports agency in order to protect sports interests and those of athletes on the international scene.”
“Last decade, primarily in the early and mid-1990s, the system of sports schools for children and teenagers was discontinued. This is obvious: We have lost a lot of professional coaches and must now reinstate these programmes. Although we have made some strides in the last few years, it is not enough. We will step up these efforts despite all difficulties.”
“We are implementing a football-field construction sub-programme under the federal target sports-development programme. We are doing this in conjunction with the Russian regions. This implies construction of small football fields and large stadiums. All this is part of our plans which will not be downsized.”
"As for the Continental Hockey League, I believe that it is not just a sports project. It will make it possible to consider seriously the restoration of a single social and cultural space on post-Soviet territory, because a shared interest in hockey will unite people from former Soviet republics. Hockey was popular in the Soviet Union. If we manage to attract Central European countries to the League, some Scandinavian states, and other Europeans, it will acquire European configuration."
"We have a young and promising team. To turn promise into reality, the sports organizers - the Ministry, and the National Olympic Committee - should do everything to create the conditions for the training of athletes who are capable of winning such stunning victories and making such achievements as we have seen now in Beijing".
"Today we should review a draft programme, one of those we spoke about earlier, the programme aimed at developing football, the most popular sport in our country. <…> The programme in question should provide for a significant improvement of facilities and equipment at youth sports schools. Why don’t we have enough players to qualify for the national team? Isn’t it because there are many foreign players while we have for a long time failed to support youth sports? In the near future over 500 new football fields, seven indoor arenas, and a training centre for our junior national team will be built. Advanced training of coaches to meet UEFA qualifications has been arranged. For the above purposes, we need to allocate 19.1 billion roubles between now and 2015, with 10.6 billion to be financed out of the federal budget".
