More than 40 athletes from the Vitebsk region are preparing to participate in the 2012 London Olympics

July 29, Vitebsk / Sergey Kotovet - BELTA/. More than 40 athletes from the Vitebsk region are preparing to participate in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. This was announced today to journalists by the Deputy Head of the Department of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Regional Executive Committee, Petr Nemenonok, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.

 Vitebsk region can be represented at the Olympics in 15 sports. Of the total number of contenders, six athletes have already met the personal qualification standards for participation in the games: Marina Domantsevich (marathon running), Elena Matoshko (hammer throw), Maria Arzamasova (800m run), Alina Talay (100m hurdles), Natalia Mikhnevich (shot put), Ivan Trotsky (20 km race walk). Nikita Bukatkin and Dmitry Gushchenko have also earned the right to travel to London as part of the Belarusian national football team.

In addition, there are a number of athletes from the region who are demonstrating worthy results in various competitions. "There are many more starts ahead, so it is possible that the number of Vitebsk athletes in the Belarusian Olympic delegation for the upcoming Summer Olympics may increase," said Petr Nemenonok.

All necessary conditions have been created for the athletes of the region to prepare for the games, emphasized Petr Nemenonok. Almost 30 athletes receive personal scholarships from the Regional Executive Committee, and in general, the authorities of the region and the regional center have established 140 scholarships for promising athletes. In 2010, almost Br410 million from the regional budget were allocated for these purposes and for the remuneration of coaches. In addition, 18 athletes receive scholarships from the Presidential Sports Club. The NOC representative office in the Vitebsk region also provides targeted financial support to both already famous athletes of the region and talented young athletes, for whom seven scholarships were established for the first time in 2011. -0-