Russia – country of sports forum: day 2 highlights

On October 11, the 6th Russia – Country of Sports International Sports Forum resumed its work in Vladimir Oblast. The second day of the forum started with a mass race dedicated to the upcoming 19th World Youth and Students Festival in Sochi in 2017.

The race’s opening ceremony was attended by Russia’s Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko, two-time Olympic artistic gymnastics champion Svetlana Khorkina, Olympic speed skating champion and GTO Ambassador Svetlana Zhurova, two-time Olympic figure skating champion and GTO Ambassador Irina Slutskaya, and multiple world kickboxing champion Batu Khasikov. The race saw famous athletes run together with GTO students – freshers who succeeded to enroll at Russian universities thanks to their GTO badges. As was reported earlier, in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, this year’s school leavers who had earned gold GTO badges had been granted additional points to their Unified State Examination results, which facilitated their enrollment at a university.

The second day of the forum was headlined by a plenary session, ‘Sport 2030: Agenda of Future’, which was attended by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. In his speech, he stated that the sports industry should become a factor of economic growth and Russia will continue working to create conditions for physical fitness and sports and to revive the GTO Movement.

“The sports industry is primarily socially oriented. However, we understand that at the same time, it should be a factor of economic growth and economic development, should contribute to the development of modern sports infrastructure and industry, and should stimulate small and medium-sized enterprises to manufacture sporting goods and equipment,” Vladimir Putin said during the plenary session.

He assured that Russia will “certainly support athletic and sports organisations and the revived Ready for Labour and Defence movement”.

“These efforts of the state, society, and numerous sport enthusiasts have already produced visible results. Sport has reclaimed its appeal, most importantly, among children and young people,” he said.

Tomorrow, October 13, is the closing day of the forum and will feature a number of events, among them the meeting of Sport Minister Vitaly Mutko with GTO students and signing of license agreements as part of the GTO marketing programme.