European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen arrived to Kyiv on 18 December for a two-day visit to the Ukraine.
Upon arrival, President Hansen discussed the sport’s reform in Ukraine with Ihor Zhdanov, the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Ihor Hotsul, First Deputy Minister and President of Ukrainian Athletic Federation, and Mykhaylo Medved, General Secretary, during their meeting on Friday.
Federation representatives then presented their bid for Kyiv to stage the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships in May 2016, on the Independence square and Khreshchatyk-street. Hansen found the idea to hold the race in the city centre very strong and symbolic. There were also discussions about organising future European Athletics events in the Ukraine.
“It’s important for European Athletics that the 2016 World Race Walking Team Championships are held in Europe and we will assist the Ukrainian federation with their bidding application,” said Hansen.
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Later in the evening, Hansen attended the ceremony honouring Ukraine's best athletes and coaches 'Sports constellation-2015'. He not only spoke at the opening of the event, but also presented the awards for the best representatives of winter sport in Ukraine – biathlonist Valentyna Semerenko and for the President of the Ukrainian Biathlon Federation, Volodymyr Brynzak.
On Saturday, Hansen spoke about the future changes in European athletics during the seminar for the representatives of the regional athletics federations and presented his view on how to bring athletics closer to people, to fans.
He also mentioned the idea of creating races for only European middle and long distance runners. Hansen spoke about Norwegian sport and sports and youth clubs in Europe too.
After the seminar, Hansen accompanied by Viktor Grinyuk, the Kyiv Athletic Federation President, visited athletics arenas and training facilities in the city. They also discussed the possibility of creating a European centre for kids’ athletics development in the “Pioneer” stadium.