The ceremony dedicated to the 25th anniversary of GNOC opened with the meeting of IOC president Thomas Bach, European Olympic Committees president Patrick Hickey and Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia. Journalists did not attend the meeting. After that, monumental-sculptural exposition “Ode to the Olympic Champions” by Levan Vardosanidze was opened in the yard of the GNOC. The sculpture shows all Georgian Olympic champions who have won the mentioned tournament. The GNOC president Leri Khabelov, Garibashvili and Bach made a speech at the opening ceremony of the sculpture. Almost all living Olympic champions attended the ceremony. “World Sport” talked to some of them.
Irakli Garibashvili: “I want to congratulate the GNOC on this important date and wish you good luck. Hopefully, number of Georgian Olympics will increase. Our state will do its best to help young sportsmen and Olympians reach success…”
Sergey Bubka (European, world and Olympic champion): “I congratulate the Georgians on this important date. I hope the Georgian athletes will show themselves again…”
Levan Kipiani (minister of Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia): “I want to congratulate the GNOC on this important date and wish you the best of luck…”
Now PM Irakli Garibashvili and IOC president Thomas Bach are holding a meeting with foreign participants of the jubilee.
Roland Labuchidze
