Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 25 November (BelTA) – The 2019 Summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Minsk will be organized at the highest level possible, Chairman of the Minsk City Hall Andrei Shorets said in the Topical Interview show on the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA has learned.

“We have gained the experience in hosting large-scale sports events, the city has an appropriate infrastructure, so the European Youth Olympic Festival will be organized at the highest level possible,” Andrei Shorets said.

Minsk won the right to host the 2019 Summer EYOF. Belarus’ bid was supported at the General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees in Baku (Azerbaijan) on 22 November.

The Summer European Youth Olympic Festival is held each odd year and is a complex sports event, the program of which includes competitions in nine kinds of sports: basketball, cycling, volleyball, handball, judo, athletics, swimming, gymnastics, and tennis. Generally, the participants of the festival are between 14 and 18 years old. The country hosting the festival gets the right to participate in all the competitions at full strength without passing the pre-qualification round. According to the official protocol, the organizers of the EYOF should follow the procedures of the International Olympic Committee (IOC): the torch relay and the lighting of the Olympic flame, the parade of nations and the opening ceremony, the Olympic athletes' oath and the Olympic judges' oath, and the raising of the Olympic flag.