Republic
20.09.2007
During a visit to the Minsk water sports compound on September 20 Alexander Lukashenko has urged rich people of Belarus to invest in sports.
Getting certain economic preferences rich people of Belarus could help developing sports in the country, particularly water sports which development is especially costly, the President said.
The head of state examined the Minsk water sports compound, swimming and jumping pools, special training gyms. The compound is designed to train sportsmen for the whole variety of water sports competitions of the international level.
Alexander Lukashenko talked to coaches and athletes of the national swimming team of Belarus. The President said he expected them to deliver during the coming Beijing Olympic Games. “You have a very good training facility. After track-and-field athletics swimming is the highest medal-yielding sport. Therefore I expect the highest results from you,” the Belarusian leader said.
There are 154 swimming pools in Belarus, seven of them are 50 meters deep. The Minsk water sports compound is the only training facility which has a jumping pool and a 50-meter pool. The facility meets Olympic standards and is used as a training ground for the Belarusian national team.