Victor Yushchenko has presided over a meeting of the National Council for Physical Culture and Sports.
Vitaly Klytchko, NCPCS Deputy Head and boxing champion, Volodymyr Bazhenkov, Head of the Council of the Spartak Sports Association, Valeriy Borzov, President of the Athletics Federation and member of the National Olympic Committee, Ivan Vasyunyk, First Deputy Chief of Staff and member of the National Olympic Committee, Oleksandr Volkov, Olympic basketball champion, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, Humanitarian Premier, Markiyan Lubkivsky, Head of the Secretariat Humanitarian Office, Stanislav Nikolayenko, Education Minister, Yuriy Pavlenko, Youth and Sports Minister, Volodymyr Platonov, Rector of National Sports University, Liliya Podkopayeva, Olympic gymnastics champion, and Yuriy Polyachenko, Health Minister, were present at the meeting, the president press office informs.
They discussed a presidential decree on sports policies. The Head of State said these policies should be based on three priorities.
First, the government must promote healthy lifestyles. “I am convinced that acountry that does not develop physical culture has to develop health care by building new hospitals and facilities for the disabled,” he opined.
Second, we must develop the system of so-called reserved sports. President Yushchenko pointed out that villages and towns had almost no gyms and added that Kyiv also lacked sports facilities.
Third, it is incumbent on the government to develop the sports infrastructure building new gyms and fields and re-equipping those which need to be renovated. The President said Ukraine was unfortunately lagging behind the rest of the world having fewer sports facilities than other countries, "when it is important to have a developed network of such facilities to help our athletes succeed at competitions."
Yushchenko stated that achievements of our athletes should be seen as an important indicator of national development and improvement of Ukraine’s international reputation and image.
The Head of State then said effective sports polices "depend not only on material resources but also on cooperation of state and public agencies. He reiterated that the National Council was created for such cooperation.
Youth Minister Yuriy Pavlenko presented a detailed analysis of the current state of sports and physical culture in Ukraine. He said only 13% of the population did sports and also outlined a few mechanisms of resolving urgent problems in the field.
