FINA 2015 presented for the first time ever at ANOC General Assembley
The assembly opened with a series of speeches given by President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach, ANOC President and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah and IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper. All of them outlined key milestones of the Olympic Movement’s strategic roadmap until 2020 when the Summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo (JPN). Under the presidency of Dr. Thomas Bach, the IOC Executive Board commenced work on the future strategic direction of the Olympic Movement. In order to achieve this goal, the EB identified five key themes that need to be addressed: 1) The uniqueness of the Olympic Games; 2) Athletes: at the heart of the Olympic Movement; 3) Olympism in action: keep Olympism alive 365 days a year; 4) The IOC’s role: unity in diversity; 5) IOC structure and organisation. The IOC Executive Board assigned working groups which will present concrete recommendations for each theme in December at an extraordinary IOC Session. Among other things, the forum also featured presentations made by the organising committees of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, Lillehammer 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games, Buenos Aires 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games, Baku 2015 European Olympic Games (that are due to kick off in a couple of months), and by candidate cities for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games - Beijing (CHN) and Almaty (KAZ).
For the first time ever, a presentation of a non-Olympic sporting event was held during the forum. The 16th FINA World Championships were a separate item on the agenda. The presentation was delivered by Director General of the Executive Directorate for Sports Projects, Azat Kadyrov. During the speech, he specified the ins and outs of holding major sporting events in Russia and provided information about the host nation: its traditions, sports potential of Russia and, in particular, of Tatarstan and Kazan, both in terms of developing the Olympic Movement and high performance sports and promoting grassroots sports. Azat Kadyrov also stressed that Kazan is the sports capital of Russia, that it has an extensive infrastructure and is one of the country's key economic and scientific centres. All these factors resulted in Kazan's hosting the 2013 Summer Universiade and an array of other international sports projects. What is more, in the years to come the sports capital of Russia is going to play host to 25 high-profile sporting events, including the IAAF World Junior Championships (2016), FIFA Confederations Cup (2017), and FIFA World Cup (2018).
FINA 2015 is the most important project in this list (July 24-August 9, 2015) and has a number of special features: the largest number of participants ever (2,500 representatives from about 200 countries), uniqueness of a venue where the tournament will be held (swimming events will take place in the football stadium; two 50-metre pools will be installed on its pitch), holding of the main event simultenously with the FINA World Masters Championships.
"We think that in July-August 2015 our city will host some kind of Olympic Games in aquatic sports," Azat Kadyrov said. "It is suggested by the project's scales."
ANOC President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah expressed special gratitude to the Tatarstan delegation for delivering the presentation and called Kazan 'the city of high hopes and lots of potential for hosting major sporting events'.
On the sidelines of the forum, Vladimir Leonov and Azat Kadyrov met with President of the European Olympic Committees, Patrick Hickey, and discussed the development of international sports projects in Russia. In addition, the delegates had a meeting with FINA President Dr. Julio Maglione and FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu and adressed issues arising in the build-up to the 2015 FINA World Championships.