MOSCOW, Aug 10 Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin awarded sports workers institutions of Moscow on the eve of the Day of the Athlete, noting that in Moscow there are 120 thousand professional athletes and 5.5 million Muscovites who are engaged in physical education.
The All-Russian Day of Athlete is celebrated on August 12th.
The awards were held as part of a solemn event dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Moscow sports and the day of the athlete, in the concert hall «Moscow» in the «Island of Dreams».
The mayor noted that this year two holidays are celebrated at once — the Day of the Athlete and the 100th anniversary of Moscow sports.
“I want to say thank you to the sports organizers who have been doing everything for a century to ensure that Muscovites go in for sports and reach world heights. There are 120 thousand professional athletes in Moscow and 5.5 million Muscovites who love and go in for physical culture, not on holidays But every day. We congratulate them on this holiday,» Sobyanin said.
He stressed that in recent years, Muscovites have been increasingly involved in sports, and the Moscow authorities are creating the appropriate infrastructure for this. “Our parks and squares have been rebuilt, thousands of sports grounds, running tracks, bicycle tracks have been created … Hundreds of skating rinks have been built in the city. Now they have begun to create a ski track with artificial snow,” Sobyanin added.
According to the mayor, open-air swimming pools are opening in the capital. «And we conceived that almost every district of Moscow would have its own beach area,» the mayor said.
He added that Moscow is the sports capital of the country, and Muscovites win half of the Olympic gold medals.
«We have built about 200 cool sports facilities and a dozen or two world-class ones, and, of course, I hope that this will make it possible to continue, despite the well-known international restrictions, to play sports of great achievements. I would like to sincerely thank the coaches who are engaged in our athletes, and the athletes themselves, who have dedicated their lives to sports,» Sobyanin concluded.