Vladimir Leonov: ‘The question is how much it will cost and who will invest’

“Brazilians are in shock! They don't know how to hold the BRICS Games after Kazan”

Vladimir Leonov, remembering that after the press conference he had to start at a friendly table tennis tournament, began communicating with journalists straight away.

“Tatarstan is the only region that, in the absence of practice in holding international competitions, was able to successfully hold two global international events — the Games of the Future phygital competition and the BRICS Games,” he said.

“The scale of the BRICS Games can be assessed over time, as, for example, with the same Universiade. At the time of its holding, it seemed that all foreign guests of Kazan were almost exclusively amateur students, until they began to perform and win awards at world championships, European championships and even the Olympics.” Realnoe Vremya's interlocutor Pavel Galanov recalled that at the Universiade he had to babysit the ill, skinny Japanese Koki Niwa who had matured before the upcoming Olympics winning silver and bronze at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

At a time when not even all of our compatriots still recognise the scale of the BRICS Games in Kazan, our partners from Brazil are in shock, as Igor Stolyarov, director of the Games of the Future, said: “I recently spoke with colleagues and I can tell you that the Brazilians are in shock! They don't know how to hold the BRICS Games after Kazan — the level has been set so high here. I'm serious, this is not a joke.”

Tatarstan athletes won 1,013 medals

The bottom line of the outgoing 2024 is 1,013 medals won by Tatarstan athletes at all-Russian and international competitions (in 2023 — 965), of which 307 gold, 341 silver and 365 bronze. Moreover, it is clear that with participation in the international calendar, there could have been more medals.

However, among the positive trends, Vladimir Leonov noted the return of Tatarstan athletes to international competitions. Somewhere it turned out to be triumphant, like at the World Short Course Championships in Budapest, where, according to Leonov, confirmed by numerous comments, there was not a single incident related to the participation of Russians. And the aftertaste from the championship was such that it will be remembered for a long time. A gold medal and a world record in the men's relay, Kazan swimmer Andrey Minakov was one of the participants. The representative of the Sintez sports club who was noted among others at the Athlete of the Year ceremony was even called his own students by one of the speakers, although this is not true. Minakov is from Petersburg, but Tatarstan has an athlete (by the way, not the only one), who compensated the city on the Neva River for Minakov's transfer to the national team of our republic.

“A triumphant return after three years of absence from the international arena,” this is how Leonov summed up his impressions of the World Championship and shared information that representatives of water sports are in close contact with the international and European federations so that Kazan can return to swimming and as a host of international competitions. Alas, it will no longer be the World Long Course Championships, the beautiful comeback of water sport return to Kazan after 10 years has been postponed indefinitely. Having been initially postponed by one cycle, since Singapore will host the 2025 World Championships, we can now aim for 2031 at the latest, since Budapest and Beijing have booked water competitions for 2027 and 2029. But there is talk of the same short course, the 2028 World Championships will crown the Olympic season in Los Angeles. There are plans to return the World Cup stages, in other words, the parties are in the negotiating process, after almost three years of silence.

At the beginning of the year, Kazan will host the Cup stage and the national championship in cross-country skiing

By the way, the upcoming 2025 year, which ends the first quarter of the 21st century, will immediately hit Kazan with an avalanche of sports starts. First, the Russian Cup stage in cross-country skiing, and then the national championship. Since there is no rush to return skiers to international competitions, and the World Championship in Trondheim, Norway, will obviously take place without ours, Russian ski enthusiasts will be able to literally enjoy the competition of the best of the best on their native soil. It is no secret that skiing, like tennis, for decades has delegated leaders to world championships and World Cup stages, as a result of which the home national championship at the end of the season resembled the starts of demobilized soldiers tired of the international season. Now, thanks to the efforts of the International Federation, all the leaders compete within Russia, and thanks to the efforts of the President of the Tatarstan Skiing Federation Ilshat Fardiyev, the lion's share of these leaders has accumulated in the national team of our republic. Alexander Bolshunov and other stars of skiing of the first magnitude will be in Kazan in January and February, as Leonov reminded the audience. Alas, in tennis, whose national championship Kazan traditionally holds in September, fans will not wait for this, and the Minister of Sports reminded that in this sport no one has exempted the strongest Russians from international starts.

By the way, the minister himself has recently started to work hard on a brother of classical tennis — table tennis, and this sport has great prospects. Together with the Russian Table Tennis Federation, several centre for this sport will be built in Tatarstan, and they will be multifunctional, allowing representatives of other indoor sports to train.

In Russia, it is customary to measure life stages in decades, and Vladimir Leonov took this benchmark as a mark, remembering that ten years ago he headed the Ministry of Sports, accordingly, in the first year of his ministry, the Kazan International Marathon was held in Kazan, which celebrated the round date with the start of 28,000 participants. Leonov said that they planned 30,000, but taking into account logistics, when it is often difficult for foreigners to get to Russia and Kazan, then 28,000 is a completely workable figure.

“The temporary name is the Alina Zagitova Figure Skating Centre”

Kazan, along with the swimming championship, which is already becoming a tradition, has also set its sights on the Russian track and field championship. There are historical analogies here too. The 2008 pre-Olympic national championship in Kazan was the first for Vitaly Mutko as Russian Minister of Sports. Five years later, there was the Universiade, and five years later the Central Stadium was among those used as a reserve arena for the World Cup. In 2025, the Central Stadium should appear in all its glory, having been renovated before the BRICS Games and hosting the best of the best runners, jumpers, throwers and pushers. This is the third column of departmental achievements of the sport minister of Tatarstan — sports construction, which began with ice arenas and swimming pools, is moving to the next level: point construction of football arenas, arenas for table tennis of various profiles in the regions of the republic, and the cherry on the cake — the Fencing Centre and the Alina Zagitova Centre.

“We have not finally decided on the name. So far, the working name is the Alina Zagitova Figure Skating Centre. The area of the facility will be 6,000 square metres. This is not a standard project, in a standard one — 4,000 square metres. Additional premises will be occupied by halls for choreography,” Vladimir Leonov said and added: “We will present the project at the end of January, all technical issues have already been resolved. Now the main question is how much it will cost and who will invest in this project. But I think we will find a solution.”