Kazan Olympic Bid Could Follow Successful Swim Champs

ATR) The head of the Kazan 2015 organizing committee hints at a forthcoming Olympic bid by Kazan.

"If, let me say, all the stars come together and this way can be opened for us, of course we are ready to go to make the first letter of interest and make a bid book because time for a bid book is almost two years," Azat Kadyrov, director general of the Executive Directorate for Sports Projects, told Around The Rings.

"This project is very interesting, and of course we are ready to go. We are ready to compete with other cities, to compete with other countries to host such a great event as an Olympics."

Asked how soon that could be, with the IOC deadline for 2024 applications Sept. 15, Kadyrov said it would be up to the Russian Federation, Republic of Tatarstan and City of Kazan, who ultimately control his committee.

"This should be spoken between them."

Kazan already has the endorsement of Russia Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov, who told the Tass news service late last month that he was "sure [Kazan] could cope with hosting the Summer Olympics."

To its credit, Kazan has two big pieces of the puzzle in place: the sport hosting organizing committee under Kadyrov and an athletes’ village. Both are legacies of the Kazan 2013 Summer Universiade, which attracted more than 10,000 athletes from 162 countries.

"We chose another route, not like other organizing committees which close after big events," he said. "A lot of our people went to Sochi, came back to Kazan, and joined us to prepare this event."

Rather than folding up after the event, as many organizing committees do, the 2009-formed Executive Directorate for Sports Projects already had two additional projects before the 2013 Games: to organize the the 2015 FINA World Championships and the local matches for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Kadyrov said it has 200 people on permanently and another 600 are working temporarily.

Sport hosting is a key strategy for the city of 1.2 million, Russia’s sixth largest but now its third-biggest tourist draw.

"Kazan is the sports capital of Russia now, and we won famous international awards after the student games. It’s becoming a famous city on the world sport map."

The 14,000-bed athletes’ village is getting its biggest test since the Universiade. It’s the site of the main international center, the hub for athletes, coaches and officials. It remains student accommodation and Kadyrov said it could be used for an Olympic bid, subject to the IOC’s requirements.

While Kazan 2015 boasts permanent assets, it is also pioneering on the temporary venue front.

In preparing the FINA bid while the Kazan Arena football stadium was in the design phase, the Executive Directorate conferred with the stadium architects to make it possible to build and operate a temporary pool system.

The result is two pools, one for training, the other for competition with an 11,000-seat stadium within the stadium and a roof — just in case it were to rain. Kadyrov concedes that the natural grass pitch will have to be replaced after it being under a pool for a month.

"All coverage and all infrastructure below all this venue will keep engineering systems, below the pitch, heating system, water system, drainage and so on. We’ll just put new grass, and soon the swimming people will become a stadium."

Including opening and closing ceremonies, Kadyrov said half the 400,000 available tickets have been sold. He expects that to increase as swimming begins Aug. 2, but isn’t worried that some of the sport’s biggest names of the moment will be absent for various reasons.

"We have other athletes who are less famous but also strong, that will come and compete with each other and will show the high level of sport competition."

Written by Bob Mackin

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