Sports and physical culture in Belarus

Physical culture, sports and tourism constitute major factors contributing to the health of the Belarusian people. It has long become the basis of the health preservation policy of the Government to campaign for people's active participation in sports and to encourage healthy life-style. To this end, necessary legislative and economic framework was created, facilitating stable development of physical culture, sports and tourism.

Since adoption of laws "On physical culture and sports" and "On tourism" the Government has worked on achieving their goals through implementation of a series of budget-backed programs. Special attention is devoted to developing the network of sports venues. So far Belarus with population of 10 millions has 228 stadiums, 31 sports arenas, 238 swimming pools, 4825 gyms, more than 730 mini-pools in kindergartens, as well as bases of Olympic training, multifunctional ice-skating palaces, and more than 10 thousand public sports grounds. About 24 thousand professionals work in the sports and physical culture areas.

Traditionally close attention is directed at cultivating love for sports among young generation. In all secondary schools and special secondary education institutions students attend three classes of physical culture a week, while in higher educational institutions it's 4 hours a week. Authorities support regular tournaments among youth in different disciplines. Most popular among them are "Leather Ball" for soccer and "Golden Puck" for ice hockey championships.

The Government supports regular sports festivals for athletes of different levels, including those for physically challenged children and adults. In all, more than 30 percent of Belarusians are active in sports. Annually Belarus hosts more than 80 international competitions in different sports disciplines. For instance, in 2004 Belarus hosted European Biathlon Championship, World Hockey Championship for juniors, World Heavy Athletics Championship for juniors, Davis Cup matches and so on.

Sport of the highest achievements and training of Olympic reserve are integral parts of the sports movement in Belarus.

The most distinguished Belarusian athletes are six time Olympic Champion Vitaly Shcherbo, six time World Champion in skating Igor Zhelezovsky, five time Champion Nelli Kim, four time Champions Olga Korbut (gymnastics), Victor Sidyak and Elena Belova (fencing). Svetlana Boginskaya (gymnastics), Alexander Medved (wrestling), Vladimir Parfenovich (canoeing), and Tatiana Samusenko (fencing) ascended the Olympic podium three times.