President Lamine Diack with his Doctor Honoris Causa certificate (© IAAF)
IAAF President Lamine Diack was elected as a Doctor Honoris Causa in a special ceremony at the State National University of Donetsk this morning.
President Diack , who is on a three day visit to Ukraine, was presented with his certificate by the Rector of the University Vladimir Shevchenko, who expressed his pride at honouring the leading representative of the sport of athletics. Mr Shevcheko highlighted the great importance of Donetsk within Ukrainian sport, pointing out that as well as Sergey Bubka, the city had produced no fewer than 12 Olympic champions over the years, with the football team Shachter Donetsk also overpowering the famous Dynamo Kiev to win the First Division title last season. He also pointed out that Donetsk State University, which is noted for its research and teaching, is one of the biggest in Ukraine, with 25,000 students and that Valeriy Brumel, the legendary world record holder and Olympic champion in the high jump, was a former student.
President Diack said it was a great honour to receive a doctorate on behalf of the Athletics Family, and then spoke at length about the importance of sport to the educational development of young people as well as the specific contribution of Ukraine, and Donetsk, to the development of athletics. “I see Donetsk – the industrial heartland of Ukraine, as a place which has been built on solid and honest foundations, and where success is something that is hard earned, but all the sweeter because of that,” said Diack.
“I am especially pleased to be here at the University, because I believe that we must never forget the educational importance of sport. I believe in the universal power of sport to celebrate physical and intellectual gifts and also to build moral values. In sport, an athlete challenges body and soul, and can build self confidence, gain respect for others, respect for the rules, take pride in victory and learn to accept defeat with dignity. I have always believed that sport is the best way to prepare young people for the challenges they will face in life.”
Following the ceremony, President Diack visited the headquarters of the Dontesk Regional Board where he was received by Boris Kolesnikov, and then toured sports installations in the city accompanied by the Director of the Sergey Bubka sports school Anatoly Kucherov and its vice-President Alex Bilaze. During the tour, it was revealed that the Donetsk region has no fewer than 48 special sports schools offering athletics on the curriculum, and that its status as an athletics stronghold was first earned during the Communist era. The first indoor track ever built in Ukraine was in Donetsk, which is one of the main reasons why the Bubka brothers, Vasily and Sergey, moved here permanently in 1979.
The city of Donetsk, with 1 million citizens, is the heart of the Donbass region which has a total population of 5 million. As well as coal mining, the region is noted for steel and chemical industries, agriculture, food processing, textile manufacturing, heavy machine building but also for the production of sparkling wine, candy and chocolates. 23% of the entire Ukrainian economic output is generated here.
Athletics is deeply ingrained in all the 24 cities and 13 towns of Donbass, with 2 sports clubs nominated as Olympic training centres, including the Sergey Bubka Sports Club which is part of the IAAF’s network of HPTCs. In total, there are 7,000 athletes of all levels and 142 full time athletic coaches in the region. No fewer than 93 different athletics competitions will be organised in 2003.
Yesterday, upon his arrival in Ukraine, President Diack met Valeriy Borzov, the 1972 Olympic 100m/200m champion and now President of the Ukrainian Athletics Federation as well as Nikolay Kostenko, the Chairman of the Ukrainian State Committee for Physical Culture and Sport. Mr Kostenko expressed his Government’s continuing support for athletics and told Diack that Ukraine were keen to bid for major IAAF events in future.
IAAF
