Sports centre in Tskhinval

How did the idea of building a sports complex in Tskhinval arise?

After the events of last August in South Ossetia I visited the republic’s capital – the town of Tskhinval. I had seen on TV, of course, how viscously the town had been shelled and all the damage that had been done, but when I saw for myself the wrecked houses and streets, the burned villages…it’s hard to express in words.

But I was struck (I wrote about this in my blog) by how much kindness and hope there was in the eyes of the city’s inhabitants, how much faith – it’s simply astonishing. I really wanted to support them, to get involved with them in restoring the city’s ruined life.

The hostilities had damaged residential buildings, schools, kindergartens and sports facilities, and some of the gyms were completely unusable. On my first visit to Tskhinval I took with me some gymnastics mats and various items of sports equipment, but I saw that this was a mere drop in the ocean; they needed much more serious support.

So that’s how the idea of building a modern sports complex in Tskhinval came about. I hope it will be completed in just two years’ time and that it will be able to host competitions not just at the republican level, but at international level too. And I believe that young kids will be able to train in that new facility and that the older generation will come here to cheer on their children and grandchildren.

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  19.08.2010
  Status of Building Work in Tskhinval (August 2010)
  
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  29.06.2010
  Status of Building Work in Tskhinval (June 2010)
  
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  01.06.2010
  Status of Building Work in Tskhinval (April 2010)
  I didn’t expect that so much would be done in one year. Last year, when I went there for the laying of the foundation stone (on 2 April 2009) the future building site was nothing more than an empty space. One year has passed, and what a huge difference! It’s terrific! I’ve uploaded some photos so you can see it for yourselves.
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  22.01.2010
  Construction update in Tskhinval - January 2010
  
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  21.10.2009
  Construction update in Tskhinval - October 2009
  
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  24.09.2009
  Visit to Tskhinval – August 2009
  

  Some of the staff of my charity foundation paid a visit to Tskhinval on 17 August. It was a working trip: there were some issues to resolve around the construction of the new sports centre, and of course they wanted to see how the work is going and what changes have taken place.

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  02.04.2009
  Laying the Foundation Stone of the New Sports Complex
  

  On 2 April 2009 a very moving and – for me – important event took place: the laying of the foundation stone of the sports complex.

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