It is necessary to say that the Asian winter games have existed for less time than the summer games. They have existed since 1986, and up to now for the organization of the Asian winter games have been fighting three countries that are economically powerful and strong in the winter sports: Japan, China and South Korea. They started in Japanese city of Sapporo where the teams from seven different countries arrived in 1986. The program of the first Asian winter games included seven events and the winner of the first games was the Japanese team with 29 gold medals. This record has not been broken up so far in spite of the extension of the competition program.
The second games were conducted in Sapporo too. In 1990 there were ten events and the winners were the Japanese sportsmen with 18 gold medals.
The third Asian games were conducted in the Chinese city of Harbin in 1996. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan joined the games and our countrymen took the second place after the Chinese team who took the first place. The next games were conducted in the South Korean province of Kangvon in 1999 where the winners were the Chinese team. Our national team took the third place and one gold medal was given to the owners of the Asian games.
In 2003 the fifth Asian Games were conducted in Aomori, Japan. The sportsmen of China won three times the unofficial team classification and our team took the forth place. This gap was catastrophic: the owners of the Games won 24 gold medals while our sportsmen got only seven.
In 2007 the sixth Asian games will be conducted in Changchun, China and then in January-February 2011 they will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The Olympic games cannot happen without the Asian games
So, we are the owners of the Asian games of 2011. We have been told for a long time that our city has been nominated to the winter Olympic games of 2014 shall conduct the winter Asian games or the Winter Worldwide Student Games. It was included in the conception “Almaty-2014”. It is not necessary to search here for any Kazakhstan know-how because it is the world practice to entrust the Olympic Games to test the candidate-cities. The former president of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, both in Tashkent at the first Central Asian games and in Almaty at the second games, repeatedly said that it is necessary to conduct the Asian games without the Central Asian games in order to confirm the request for the Olympic games in Tashkent and Almaty. It is necessary to obtain experience in the sphere of organizational works, to put in order the sport bases, to construct new structures etc.
For this purpose we need the winter Asian games. They are not as expensive as the Olympic games. Each host country shall choose the events which it can “bear”. But there are compulsory disciplines in the program such as ski race, biathlon, speed skating, figure-skating, ice hockey, short track, ski mountaineering and others. Since bobsleigh and sledge are not popular in Asia, they have never been included in the program of the Asian games. For example, the Japanese always include skiflying in the program of domestic starts, but the Koreans do not include this event.
In the preliminary program of the Asian games – 2011, 11 competitions are planned, amounting to a set of 59 medals. Seventeen countries, more than 800 sportsmen, 700 trainers, and 1000 representatives of mass media, 700 volunteers, operational staff of 1500 persons, and about 60 thousand of tourists are expected to take part.
It challenges us to build everything …
The work team composed of representatives of the Akimat of Almaty city, of the National Olympic Committee, the Ministries of Tourism and Sport, Economics and Budget Planning, Transport and Communications, Industry and Commerce, Environment Protection, Emergencies, Internal Affairs, and Culture and Information, defined the list of construction and reconstruction of the sports facilities and infrastructure facilities, and the preliminary settlements of the required expenses have been made.
According to this list, a universal Sports Palace shall be built with the capacity of 15 thousand people at the expense of the republican budget which consists of $ 722,2 million. This Palace shall be used not only for hockey, figure-skating and short-track, but also for volleyball, basketball, handball, mini-football, all types of single fight, and gymnastics. This new Sports Palace will be on the same place as the old Sports Palace named after Baluan Sholak and of the sports and concert complex in “Samal” microdistrict. It is necessary also for the conduction of the concerts, exhibitions and other mass arrangements in Almaty. There will be built the ski and biathlon stadiums, ski-jump (K-90, K-120), and the “Medeo” Sports Complex and the Sports Palace named after Baluan Sholak will be reconstructed. Part of the monetary assets shall be used for the purchase of transport, construction of roads leading to the sports facilities and the Olympic village, development of the technical-and-economical and design estimate documentation.
The release of the areas for the construction, provision of the material for electric and water supply, decision of other organizational questions, including the preparation and conduction of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Asian games-2011 will cost $218,4 million of the local budget.
The investor’s monetary assets in the amount of $480 million shall be directed to the Ski Mountaineering Center and the Olympic village.
Regarding the terms of implementation of the plans,the full design and beginning of the construction works are planned for 2007 up to an amount of 5, 5 million KZT from the republican budget, in 2008-2009 – the construction of the sports facilities according to the design estimate documentation, in 2010 – the activation of the sports facilities, conducting of the official international competitions and in January-February 2011 – conducting of the seventh Asian winter games -2011.
Thus, the construction and modernization of the sports facilities, in the opinion of the members of the working team, allow not only the conduction of the Asian games at a high level but also the further use of these sports facilities for the organization of competitions of international level. Moreover, Almaty will receive a full complex of sports facilities both for the development of the winter sports and for the entry and internal tourism. Generally, there are many objects for the construction, and the Kazakhstani people have the monetary assets, desire, and time. It is not only an investment in the image of our country, but also to the health of the younger generation.
