FINA World Championships 2015 presented in Sochi
With the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in full swing, the presentation of the 16th FINA World Championships was held in Sochi. This high-profile international event will be hosted by the Russian Federation for the first time. Kazan, which has recently staged the Summer Universiade, will platy host to the championships in 2015.
The Universiade has literally given birth to volunteer movement. This form of social activity has become a new trend in Russian youth's lifestyle, made them feel important to the society and urge them start playing sports.
It should be noted that 19,970 volunteers from 81 regions of the Russian Federation and 38 countries of the world were engaged in the Games volunteer activities across more than 40 functional areas.
"The year 2015 will be marked with the staging of the FINA World Championships and Masters tournament," the Minister said. "In 2017 and 2018 Kazan will host the FIFA Confederations Cup and the FIFA World Cup matches. Simultaneously, another sporting events will be held. Among them are such 2014 events as the Fencing World Championships, European Badminton Championship, World Junior Weightlifting Championships, FINA World High Diving Cup, European U18 and U22 Beach Volleyball Championships. They will surely facilitate further promotion of the sports image of the republic and the country."
As we reported earlier, the Aquatics Palace will be one of the key venues for the 16th FINA World Championships. It's there that the video conferencing between the sports capital of Russia - Kazan and the Olympic host city took place. On the side of Tatarstan, the event was hosted by Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin.
The 27th Summer Universiade gave a new incentive to tourism development in Tatarstan. For over 2 weeks it was highlighted in news media outlets across the world and received international coverage.
The head of the city also noted that the Universiade tournaments were hosted at state-of-the-art, beautiful and unique facilities located around the entire city and attracted a capacity crowd. These venues are already a rich legacy for residents of the republic and will be reminding of the past Universiade.
The International Sports Event Management Awards 2013 (ISEM) was held in London on November 6. The 2013 Summer Universiade was named the Most Innovative Project of the Year and also took the Look of the Event award.
Later on, Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate Azat Kadyrov delivered the presentation of the 2014 FINA World Championships. As is known, Kazan submitted the bid to host this aquatics tournament in 2011. Its rivals back then were Guadalajara (Mexico), Hong Kong, Guangzhou (China) and Montreal (Canada). However, it was Russia that was awarded the right to play host to the championships. The host city was announced on July 15, 2011 at the FINA Bureau meeting in Shanghai. "The Organising Committee headed by Russia's Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko was created in the build-up to the World Championships; it comprises President of the Republic Rustam Minnikhanov, Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin, representatives of federal executive bodies, heads of involved Russian sports federations and others," Azat Kadyrov said.
As we reported earlier, the competition programme of the World Championships will comprise 6 sports: swimming, open water swimming, synchronised swimming, water polo, diving and high diving. The latter was represented at the 20th FINA Technical Congress and was officially included in the FINA World Championships programme starting from the 2013 edition in Barcelona. This sport comprises the men's 27m and women's 20m diving events.
The competition programme will feature 72 medal events, which is a record number in the history of the championships. The expected number of participants is 2,400 athletes and 1,800 officials from 180-185 countries of the world, 259 referees and judges.
"It is expected that the existing infrastructure will be used to host the competition; it will include new state-of-the-art sports venues, most of which are considered to be unparalleled and among the best in Europe. Each venue will be replenished with temporary infrastructure, which meets the FINA regulations and requirements," said the Director General of the Kazan 2013 Executive Directorate. "The Kazan Arena Stadium and the Aquatics Palace will be the main venues. They will be part of the cluster with a total area of 45.6 ha. The cluster will have a common security perimetre. Two 50-metre temporary pools - one for warmups and one for competition - will be installed in the Kazan Arena Stadium. The latter will host swimming and synchronised swimming events. The capacity of the venue will be 12,000 spectators."
The Aquatics Palace will host diving and water polo events, whereas water polo events will also be staged at an outdoor temporary pool with a capacity to seat 4,500 people.
A new location - the bank of the Kazanka River, near the Farmers' Palace - was selected to host the high diving and open water swimming events. The site is located in the historical part of the city, offering a panoramic view of entire Kazan, which is especially advantageous in terms of global television broadcasting. On October 29, 2012 a decision was made at the FINA Bureau meeting to include the Masters tournament in the FINA World Championships beginning 2015. This competition for athletes aged 25 and older will be held in different age categories. The Kazan edition of the Masters tournament will take place from August 5 to 16, 2015. It includes 5 aquatic sports: swimming, open water swimming, synchronised swimming, water polo and diving. Up to 5,000 athletes from 100 countries of the world are expected to take part in the event. Among them are champions and runners-up of the Olympic Games, world championships, continental championships. Competition will be held in 14 age categories, from 25 to 100 years old.
During the 27th World University Summer Games, Kazan has proved to be not only the sports capital but also the cultural centre of Russia. The Universiade Park was the main cultural venue, which offered a rich entertainment programme to its visitors.
The same programme will be organised for the 16th FINA World Championships. "Market Street will be the main cultural site of the city; it will be located between the Kazan Arena Stadium and the Aguatics Palace," said Azat Kadyrov. "The park's throughput capacity will reach 30,000 people. The following activities will be featured there: cultural and competition programmes, folk performance area and crafts fair of peoples of Russia and Tatarstan, children's area. Over 1,000 performers will contribute to the cultural programme."
It should be noted that FINA inspection visits are held in the run-up to the tournament to scrutinise the preparation for the championships. Moreover, the city hosts international test events in aquatic sports. "The most important competition where we tested operations of all involved services, including the aquatic events, was the Universiade. After the Universiade, between November 14 and 20, the Russian Swimming Championship was held in the Aquatics Palace. Between December 4 and 9, the Four Matches Diving Meet took place here as well and brought together athletes from Russia, Germany, Italy and Ukraine. On January 14, 2014 there was a match between Russia and Serbia as part of the FINA Men's Water Polo World League. In August of 2014, Kazan will host the first FINA World High Diving Cup."
The tournament logo represents a stylised image of Kazan located on the banks of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers. Six images inside he logo are six aquatic sports of the FINA World Championships. A pair of snow leopards were chosen as mascots. They symbolise mastership, quickness and strength.
It is already known that 2,500 volunteers, 500 of which were from regions of Russia and past and future organising committees for the FINA World Championships (Italy, Spain, Mexico, Korea), will help stage the event.