23 June 2021
Every year, UNESCO and the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan celebrate the International Olympic Day among children and adolescents with special needs. This year was not an exception. Despite the prolonged crisis associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents from the Children's Hospice in Almaty managed to meet their favorite athletes and champions, exchange success stories and recharge with new energy and motivation in the fight against cancer.
The meeting was held in an informal atmosphere on the park territory of the children's hospice in Almaty "I am with you". The main goal was to attract the attention of adolescents to physical activity, a healthy lifestyle and opportunities to develop, applying the key ideals and principles of sport and the Olympic Movement.
Serik Sapiyev, Olympic Champion and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Sport, congratulated the participants of the meeting on the upcoming Olympic Day and urged everyone to lead a healthy lifestyle and be guided by the core values of the Olympic Movement, such as honesty, justice, mutual understanding and tolerance to create a peaceful and equal society.
Kazakhstani gymnast, Alina Adilkhanova, on the eve of her performance at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, shared her success story with the participants, and also held a small master class in gymnastics, which attracted attention to this sport among teenage girls.
Azhar Alibayeva, a representative of the Kazakhstan water polo team, spoke about the features of this sport and conducted a lot of interactive exercises for the participants, thereby forcing them to forget about their diagnosis and plunge into the world of sports and the Olympic movement.
A pleasant conclusion of the meeting was the rewarding of the participants with commemorative diplomas and gifts from the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Permanent link: http://en.unesco.kz/unesco-x-noc-rk-stay-healthy-stay-strong-stay-active