European Athletics – (EAA) – News – Donetsk to stage the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships

 

The Ukrainian city of Donetsk was awarded the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships at the IAAF Council meeting in Monte Carlo on Saturday.

The 2011 World Youth Championships will also be held on European soil in the French city of Lille between July 6-10.

Donetsk is famous as the home to the annual ‘Pole Vault Stars’ indoor meeting, a European Athletics Indoor Permit Meeting which next year will be held on February 12, and the event has witnessed many world indoor records including three by Ukraine’s legendary pole vaulter Sergey Bubka, who is now an IAAF senior vice president and whose club organises the meeting.

The city also staged the 1977 European Athletics Junior Championships, though visitors arriving in 2013 will find many changes. Donetsk is also one of the host cities for the UEFA Euro 2012 football tournament and there has been a huge transformation in transportation, with a new airport being built, as well as the public and sports infrastructure.

Leading Donetsk’s celebrations in Monte Carlo was Borys Kolesnikov, the vice-president of Ukraine who is the president of the Bidding and Local Organising Committee.

Kolesnikov was accompanied by Ravil Safiullin, minister of Family, Youth and Sports of Ukraine, and the high level of government support for the event was a key factor in Donetsk being awarded the Championships.

“I thank the IAAF Council for such a swift and emphatic acceptance of Donetsk as host of the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships,” said Kolesnikov after the official signing ceremony had taken place with IAAF President Lamine Diack.

“I can assure you that the holding of this event has the full personal support of the President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovych and the Government of our country.”

“During my term as head of the Donetsk Regional Parliament, I got this idea of holding the World Championships. The realisation of this dream took a few years for us (to achieve). Our team will manage this task with honour. Ukraine is ready to host the competitions of the World Youth Championships at the highest level.”

“What impresses me most is their enthusiasm especially that their Vice-Prime Minister has flown to Monaco for this presentation, and their bid is backed by such Olympic stars as our great friends Sergey Bubka and Valeriy Borzov (Ukraine athletics federation president and the 1972 Olympic Games 100m and 200m gold medallist),” added President Diack.

“For the last 3 to 4 years we have discussed the possibility of making a bid for a World Championships and the Vice-Prime Minister has always been very enthusiastic about this project. The senior World Championships were the original goal and the staging of the World Youth Championships is the first step to that higher level and will be important to the general development of athletics in Ukraine. What especially encouraged us about holding this youth competition were the very good results that Ukraine experienced at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore,” said Bubka.

Donetsk is the current home and training centre for many of the best athletes of Ukraine including the 2010 European Athletics Championships medallists Olga Saladuha and Maksym Mazuryk.

European Athletics – (EAA)