Sports in Belarus тема

Sports in Belarus

Promotion of healthy lifestyle and sports has become one of the priorities for the present-day Belarus. It is reflected in the development of sports infrastructure, particularly in small and medium-size towns, and creation of world-class training facilities for Belarusian athletes.

The number of big international tournaments held in Belarus increases every year. The largest of them included the 2014 IIHF World Championship, the 2015 IBU Youth/Junior World Championships, the rhythmic gymnastics world cups, and the 2018 UCI Track Cycling World Cup. In 2019 the Raubichi Olympic Center hosted the Summer Biathlon World Championships. The major sports event of 2019 was the 2nd European Games in Minsk.

The government policy is to make sports accessible to all in Belarus. Along with the development of elite sports, the country also supports mass, children's and youth sports. The country has excellent sporting facilities in pre-schools, schools and higher education facilities.

Over 130 sports are played in Belarus. The most popular are: track-and-field athletics, football, gymnastics, skiing, hockey, tennis, fencing, wrestling, volleyball, handball, swimming, chess and checkers.

Belarus has some extensive training facilities both for general public and professional athletes. They include 243 stadiums, 250 swimming-pools, 5140 gymnasiums, 46 athletic centres, 20 ice-rinks, etc. Such sports facility as the Raubichi Centre near Minsk is considered to be one of the best biathlon centres in the world. Minsk-Arena is a newly built multi-use indoor facility in Minsk that has no analogues in Europe. It includes a multi-sport and entertainment arena for 15,000 spectators, a skating stadium and a velodrome. It is one of the main venues for the 2014 World Ice-Hockey Championship. The Republican Olympic Equestrian Sports Centre “Ratomka” and the Olympic Camp “Staiki” have won recognition of both Belarusian and foreign athletes.

The state also focuses much attention on the development of professional sports. The country has an excellent record at the Olympic Games. For the first time Belarusian athletes participated in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki as members of the USSR team. The first Olympic medal (silver) was won by hammer thrower Mikhail Krivonosov in 1956. The first Olympic gold medals of Belarusian athletes were presented to canoeists L.Geishtor and S.Macanenko in 1960 in Rome. The first independent Belarus team took part in the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer and won two silver medals.

Present-day Belarus is rich in sports talents. The Republic is proud of Alexandr Medved (a three-time Olympic champion), Vitaliy Schcherbo (a six-time Olympic champion), Yecaterina Karsten (a many-time World and European champion) and others. At the 2008 Bejing Olympics Belarus won 19 medals including four gold ones. The team was most successful in athletics, canoeing and weight lifting. The participants of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games Grishin, Novikov and Domrachyova brought home three Olympic medals (gold, silver and bronze) in freestyle aerials, men’s and women’s biathlon. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Belarus won 7 medals including 1 gold, 3 silver and 3bronze ones.

Belarusian people try to keep themselves in good physical condition. More and more people are involved in regular sports exercises.