Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hosted today the athletes and coaches of the Armenian team participating in the Summer Olympic Games. The meeting was also attended by Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vahram Dumanyan, President of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia Gagik Tsarukyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Karen Giloyan, Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia Hrachya Rostomyan.
In his welcoming remarks addressed to the Armenian Olympic team, the Prime Minister said,
”Good day, dear colleagues,
First, let me thank our Olympic team for representing the Republic of Armenia at Tokyo Olympics. I also want to congratulate our award winners on successful competitions. We did not win any gold medal in this Olympics, but I think we are not dissatisfied with our participation. Of course, the situation, the atmosphere existing in the country has its impact on our athletes, on sports in general, but I think that in this situation we were able to present ourselves properly. Of course, in some cases we were extremely near to winning an Olympic gold medal, but I think that our athletes and our team properly represented the Republic of Armenia at the Tokyo Olympics.
Now I want to speak about the following; I think that for recording more achievements at the Olympic Games, we have to do the following: We have to promptly sum up the results today and immediately start preparing for the next Olympic Games. I think it’s necessary that the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, together with the National Olympic Committee of Armenia develop a roadmap for understanding our tasks for the next Olympic Games and implementing them. I think this should be our working manner in general. What we are doing today should be aimed at the medium term goals, because it takes some time for activities to turn into success. We must work in a coordinated manner with the federations and our athletes and move forward.
I think, in general, it is on our agenda, we must take measures to really popularize sports. Because in practice, today we have professional sports, but we have some problems with mass sport in terms of interest among the people and infrastructure. We are already developing concrete programs here, we will start implementing them in the near future. And here, of course, the support of our professional athletes is very important.
I would like to thank all of you once again, I would like to hear from you with what impressions you have returned, what analyzes and conclusions you have made, and what proposals you have that we can implement”.
Summing up the performances of the Armenian team at the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Karen Giloyan noted that these were the 7th Summer Olympic Games in the history of independent Armenia, in which our team participated, and the 3rd in terms of quality of medals. He referred to the problems, including related with the referees, and it’s necessary to discuss and understand what has happened in reality and how to stand against such incidents.
President of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia Gagik Tsarukyan also highlighted team work in terms of dividing the works between the Government, the Olympic Committee and the federations and moving forward with joint efforts. ”Mr. Prime Minister, the Olympic Committee is also ready to discuss and understand what the Government does, how it supports the ANOC. The main issue is about the conditions: there are no sports schools, they are not renovated, there is no inventory. The Olympic Committee can undertake the renovation works, while the Government should provide with the inventory. We must solve the problems in a coordinated manner, with the federations and the Olympic Committee, and this time we should be ready to send, for example, 6 weightlifters or 8 boxers, because the conditions will be already created”, said the ANOC President.
Nikol Pashinyan once again emphasized that it’s necessary to make conclusions and focus on future activities starting from today. ‘’Our management must be strategic. If we have set a goal for Armenia to have 24 Olympic gold medals by 2050, then we must act starting from today, without stepping back from our goals’’, the Prime Minister emphasized. In this context, the Head of the Government highlighted the permanent contact between the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the ANOC and the sport federations.
During the meeting the athletes and coaches referred to the results recorded during the Olympic games, thanked the Government and the Prime Minister for the support and noted that they spared no efforts to properly represent the Republic of Armenia at the Olympic Games.
The future activities were discussed in the context noted by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Information was provided on the construction process of sports schools named after famous athletes, works done for the development of gymnastics, shooting and improvement of sport infrastructures.
Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vahram Dumanyan reported that based on the instruction of PM Pashinyan, the issue of reopening a sports unit in the Armed Forces is in process.
On the instruction of the Prime Minister, an agreement was reached to organize a meeting with the participation of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, ANOC and the national sports federations in the near future to discuss the short and medium term activities.
