Minister of Culture and Sports Dauren Abaev demands a tougher selection process of athletes for the 2024 Summer Olympics, QazMonitor reports.
The culture and sports ministry organized a meeting yesterday to discuss preparations for the summer games in Paris. Abaev put major emphasis on increasing the number of gold medals. According to him, this could be achieved only through conducting a transparent selection of athletes for international competitions.
“A lot of money is allocated for the development of high-performance sport, the necessary conditions are created and support is provided. At the same time, people should understand that the Ministry is not engaged in charity. There will be tough demand. High-performance sports are about concrete results – the rest is P.E. We need new victories.”
To improve transparency in selection procedures, Abaev revealed that the ministry will launch an e-sport system, which will track all achievements of each athlete and participation schedules in competitions.
“This is a matter of fairness. There should be a healthy competition,” the minister said.
Other preparations for the Olympics also include improving the quality of athlete training programs and boosting medical support and anti-doping centers.
The Paris games will feature 329 medal events, which is 10 less than the Tokyo games in 2021 (339 medals).
Since the beginning of this year, our national teams have won 140 medals—35 golds, 40 silvers, and 65 bronzes—by taking part in 19 World Championships and 20 Asian Championships in Olympic sports. By the end of 2022, our athletes will take part in three more world championships and three Asian championships.