Katerina Nycova: "EYOF 2017 Erzurum Will Surprise People"

Erzurum is a rising winter sports center in Europe and the city will host European Youth Olympic Winter Festival from 11 to 18 February. Katerina Nycova, the EYOF manager of the European Olympic Committees (EOC), arrived in Erzurum to supervise the organisation’s preparations.

Nycova, who was also the EYOF Manager of the EOC during 2011 European Youth Olympic Summer Festival which was held in Trabzon, said that she understands the way things work in Turkey and added: "In Trabzon, it was a Summer EYOF and the environment was different but of course there are some similarities. Turkey offers hospitality and a big budget for the organisation. So even though one was a summer event and the other is winter event, there are similarities.

"FOR ME, IT’S A WINTER PARADISE"

While she was in Erzurum, Nycova inspected the preparations. "Venues in Erzurum are amazing for sure. When I was here first time, it was five or six years ago, I was already amazed by that. You have perfect venues. The quality is very good. For me, this is a winter paradise."

Nycova stated that there’s a big progress in Erzurum but there are still things to do. "Venues are basically ready except some few things certainly will be fixed very soon. The weather is great and no need to produce artificial snow. So, the organisation is getting there."

EYOF 2017 ERZURUM WILL SURPRISE PEOPLE

Nycova also stated that people outside of Turkey don’t realise the country is actually a winter sports center but EYOF 2017 will help to change this perception and it will surprise people. "In terms of winter sports, there is a progress in some areas but there is also a decrease in some other areas. For example in Ski Jumping, Turkey doesn’t organise so many events. There are still things to improve but in general, Turkey is getting better in winter sports."

"EYOF IS A PROOF THAT YOU ARA CAPABLE OF ORGANSING OTHER EVENTS"

And lastly, Nycova talked about what will be the EYOF’s benefits for Erzurum:

"There are few positive things that EYOF brings to the organisers. Infrastructure is one of them. Each organiser improves the sports infrastructure with the EYOF. Turkey re-built the ski jumping hills for EYOF. Also, Turkey put together a great team that can be used again for some other event. But for me, main legacy of EYOF and also each sport event is to show that you’re able to organise and you can get more events in the future. So you can show to the world you’ve already organised events and you can attract the international federations to award you more events. This is a great thing for sport environment in Turkey and also for the development of sport and youth sport especially. I hope that EYOF in Erzurum can motivate young people and kids in Turkey can set a goal to participate in this event to gain first Olympic experience and maybe to become Olympians in the future."

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