Laying the Foundation Stone of the New Sports Complex

Since I had the idea of building a sports centre in Tskhinval in August 2008, a lot has happened.

The idea of building the sports centre has been supported by South Ossetia’s government and land has been allocated inside the city park. We’ve hired some specialists and drawn up a plan for the building, right down to the smallest details…The future sports centre will have halls for teaching rhythmic gymnastics, choreography and wrestling. And there will be two swimming pools - a professional pool and a training pool - as well as a medical centre. The experts say that building will be ready in about 2 years.

On 2 April 2009, the foundation stone of the new sports centre was laid. This was a very moving and, for me, very important event. There was a huge turnout: children, parents, grandmothers and grandfathers…so many joyful faces. Maybe this is another reason why my impressions of Tskhinval are so different from the terrible state it’s in: people there have not forgotten how to be happy, to share their warmth, kindness and love. And this made me all the more determined to push ahead with the difficult task we’ve begun.

I really lope that the building will be finished in two years’ time. Even earlier would be better, but there are some problems that can’t be avoided: you can only get to Tskhinval along the Trans-Caucasian highway, so it might be difficult to deliver the building materials and equipment due to weather conditions. But I’ll do everything in my power. And as soon as the sports centre is built I’ll go to the opening ceremony and take some other sportsmen with me. We’ll run a master-class, and not just for gymnasts!