Irkutsk region is sending a record number of athletes to the London Olympics, seven representatives will compete in athletics, cycling, and shooting. Preparations are complete, and about 20 million rubles have been allocated from the regional budget.
About this, the First Deputy Minister for Physical Culture, Sports and Youth Policy of the Irkutsk Region, Ilya Reznik, said at a press conference the day before.At the Olympic Games, the track and field athletes Vladimir Krasnov (Bratsk), Ivan Tukhtachev (Angarsk), Olga Kurban (Irkutsk), Ivan Yushkov (Irkutsk), cyclist Larisa Pankova (Shelekhov), and target shooters Alexander and Denis Sokolov (Irkutsk) will compete. Ilya Reznik noted that this is the largest contingent of representatives from the Irkutsk Region in the entire history of participation in the Olympic Games; in 2008, at the Beijing Olympics, the number of athletes from our region was five. Ilya Reznik emphasized that although shooter Denis Sokolov is from Irkutsk, at the London Olympic Games he will compete for the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
The director of the Irkutsk Regional School of Higher Sports Mastery, Anatoly Borisov, said that all necessary measures to prepare the athletes for the Olympic Games have been completed 100%, and there were no funding problems. In total, about 20 million rubles have been allocated from the regional budget for the preparation of the Olympians, of which about 10 million rubles were spent on sports equipment.
Ilya Reznik also noted that work is underway to organize a broadcast of the most interesting events of the London Olympics on the square in front of the N. M. Zagursky Musical Theater. It is planned to install a screen on which Irkutsk residents will be shown Olympic events, including those featuring athletes from the Irkutsk Region.
Based on materials from the press service of the Governor of the Irkutsk Region and the Government of the Irkutsk Region