The FINA World Championships Herald

The FINA
World Championships
Herald - 2015
Saturday, 25 July
№
2
Water.
of Life.
KAZAN WELCOMES THE WORLD WITH DRAMATIC OPENING CEREMONY
An aquatic wonderland launched
the big event in style at the Tatneft
Arena on Friday evening, thrilling
the audience with an audacious
performance. A packed house of
9,000 spectators, including many
athletes and tournament officials,
saw President of the Russian
Federation Vladimir Putin and FINA
President Julio Maglione officially
open the competition after a suitably
spectacular show. Breaking with
tradition, Russia opted to stage a
full opening ceremony for this year’s
event as well as the usual athletes’
flag parade. Spectators were treated
to a two-hour show, combining
dance, acrobatics and synchronised
swimming to a specially-composed
score by Igor Krutoy performed
P3
by a host of local stars.
2
The FINA World Championships Herald-2015
Saturday, July 25, 2015
JULIO MAGLIONE,
DAY 1
President of FINA:
“We have a record number of countries. 188 federations have sent
their athletes to take part in an unforgettable competition. Tomorrow people on five continents will be talking about this wonderful
opening ceremony. Kazan is an incredible city, full of energy. We are
grateful to you for such a warm welcome and we are certain that in
Kazan we will write a glittering new chapter in FINA’s history”.
OFFICIALS
DIVING
By Artur Enikeev, photo: Ramil Gilvanov
The games begin!
After all the preparations, the divers had the
honour of starting the competitive action at this
year’s FINA World Championships.
E
PRESIDENTIAL POLO?
By Daria Turceva,
photo: prav.tatarstan.ru
Vladimir Putin gets an invitation to take up water polo
R
ussia’s national team had its
traditional pre-tournament
meeting with the head of state
just before the official opening of the
FINA World Championships – and
persuaded the sports loving politician
to try playing another game.
The president is a keen judo and ice
hockey enthusiast, and that prompted
a member of Russia’s water polo team
to suggest he took a turn in the pool.
“We’ve all seen how you play ice
hockey, so how would you like to play
some water polo?” one of the athletes
asked.
Mr. Putin smiled: “If you help me, it
would be possible to try.”
The president spoke warmly about
water polo, calling it a “powerful, athletic, really beautiful sport” and reflected on how different sports can have
surprising depths.
“For a while I underestimated volleyball,” he said. “Then I had a chance
to watch a game closely and I was just
amazed by what I saw.”
The event began with Mr. Putin
congratulating his country’s representatives on earning their places at
the World Championships and wishing
them success in the upcoming competition, while recalling how he recently came here to lay the foundations of
Kazan’s sporting prominence.
“It seems like it wasn’t so long
since I joined the President of Tatarstan to lay the foundation stone of
the Kazan Arena,” he said. “Since then
we’ve already seen the arena used
as a venue for the Universiade, as a
football stadium and now it’s been
converted for the championships,”
Mr. Putin said.
After the official ceremony was over
the athletes were reluctant to let
the President of Russia go, besieging him with requests for autographs.
He signed their accreditation badges
and posed for a group photo with the
whole team.
VISITORS
By Artur Enikeev
Travellers’ tales
Kazan is getting the thumbs-up from all over the world as the FINA
World Championships kicks off.
W
ith 188 competing teams
and thousands of athletes,
officials and fans making
their way to the capital of Tatarstan,
it’s a great chance for the city to show
itself off to the wider world.
And as the action begins in earnest,
the reaction from the city’s guests is
entirely positive – whether they are
new to Russia or returning to a familiar venue.
The opening ceremony made a
big impact on the athletes who took
time out of their training schedules
to visit the Tatneft Arena on Friday
evening. Igor Krutoy’s “Piligrim” show
impressed French water polo player
Louise Guillet on her second visit to
Tatarstan.
“It was stunning, just like you’d
expect in Russia,” she said. “And,
just like when we were in Kazan in
2009, people here are very friend-
ly and welcoming. But I don’t think
the Russian team will be so welcoming in our first game against them
(laughs).”
Ashok Bajracharya, president of
the Nepalese Federation, was also
impressed by the ceremony. “What
a show! It’s marvelous,” he smiled. “I
really like what I’ve seen in Kazan –
it’s a nice place.”
Synchronised swimmer Gracy
Gomes has come all the way from
Venezuela, and rated the opening ceremony as “excellent”. And she’s been
more than happy with what she’s seen
on her first trip to Kazan, despite a
busy schedule keeping her in the pool
most of the time. “Everything we’ve
seen has been good,” she said. “We
have a big house in the athletes’ village and we’re really enjoying it. Now
we just want to do our best in the
competition.”
From Africa, Senegal’s delegation head Fadilou Seck was looking
to learn about how to develop swimming, which is a still an emerging sport
in his homeland.
“The development, the facilities, it’s
all very different from what we have,”
he said. “We can’t expect to win medals here but it’s a great chance to learn
for the future. And it will help us prepare our athletes for the next African
Games in Congo in September.”
Mexican coach Mauricio Campos
is also making his second trip to Kazan after coming here two years ago.
He, too, is happy to be back in town.
“I know Kazan quite well and it’s great
to be back,” he said. “It’s a good place
for sport, the people are really friendly. The venues for the swimming and
the open water are great and I think
we’ll have a really wonderful championship.”
ven before the Opening Ceremony started, the Aquatics Palace hosted its first events in the
diving competition.
It was just a qualification round,
but there was barely an empty seat
in the 3,600-seater arena, with the
tournament mascots Alsou and Itil
getting the crowd going before the
1m springboard event got underway.
Not surprisingly the Russian competitors, Ivan Molchanov and Evgeniy
Novoselov, enjoyed the loudest support but unfortunately it wasn’t
enough to inspire them to success.
Neither diver was strong enough to
make it to the medal round, so the
hosts will have to wait for a first crack
at gold.
Instead it seems that Mexico might
be a strong performer in these championships. Andrey Beketov, the director of the diving competitions, is expecting much from the Latin Americans. “The Mexicans have overtaken
their rivals,” he said. “Diving has almost become a national sport there,
kids are coming off the streets into
the pools. It’s a social project.”
The flamboyant Mexicans love to
entertain the crowd, dancing around
the pool to whip up the atmosphere, and their recent form has put
them alongside the renowned Chinese team. But Beketov warns that
in this competition nobody is a clear
favourite.
“Springboard diving is always a lottery,” he added. “Anyone can slip up
on the day and even reaching the final is big achievement.”
This year’s star attraction is set
to be mixed synchro diving, making
its first World Championships appearance. Kathy Seaman, Chair of
the FINA diving technical committee, explained that men and women
had been diving together since 1993
and it was high time to introduce it
into the event.
“We always thought that synchronized diving was a really spectacular sport,” she said. “At first we introduced synchro men, and then synchro
women. Now we have mixed, but because men and women have very different body shapes it is very difficult
to achieve true synchronicity.”
The mixed competitions start today, with another round on August
2. Other disciplines run throughout
the first week at the Aquatics Palace.
The FINA World Championships Herald - 2015
Saturday, July 25, 2015
VLADIMIR PUTIN,
3
President of Russia
Our country is hosting this tournament for the first time and we have set ourselves the task
of staging it at the highest possible level. I would like to express my appreciation to everyone
who took part in the preparation of the championships, especially the contributions
of the leadership of Tatarstan. Together we have done everything to make
the World Championships a success. I am sure that the athletes will display the greatest
possible skill, and that the spectators will find themselves at a first-class sporting event.
SPECTACULAR
By Andy Potts, photos Ramil Gilvanov, Rinat Nazmetdinov
KAZAN WELCOMES THE WORLD
WITH DRAMATIC OPENING CEREMONY
56
Cont. from p1.
T
he show, called “Pilgrim”, presented
a contemporary take on the
classic musicals of the inter-war
years, renowned for their spectacular
aquatic choreography. With a radically
new look, Krutoy’s production updated
that heritage in a performance that
explored man’s relationship with water
– for better or worse – and delivered
an inspiring message about how to fulfil
our potential as individuals and as part
of humanity as a whole.
There was drama, especially in the
well-executed section in which our
pilgrim’s journey took him through a
minefield, and some dazzling visual
effects as jets of water formed a
pulsating screen onto which some of the
dances were projected. And members
of the audience also played a full part in
the performance, deploying a range of
torches at key moments in the action.
“Pilgrim”, which was televised in
more than 100 countries, will run at
the Tatneft Arena for eight further
performances during the championships,
giving more fans a chance to see the
spectacle for themselves.
THE OPENING CEREMONY IN FIGURES
The circus artists spent about
their performance
1 YEAR preparing
6
ROBOT ARMS WEIGHING 250 KG featured in the show.
A special program was written for them, and their routine
was created by a choreographer. It took 1 MONTH to prepare
the dance of the industrial robots
700
COSTUMES were hand-sewn for the show
The vessel used in the show’s finale weighed 600 KG
and was almost entirely handmade
345 FOUNTAINS were used in the performance,
and their maximum height was 12M.
4
The FINA World Championships Herald - 2015
Water of Life
Saturday, 25 July 2015
MEET THE MASCOTS! ITIL AND ALSOU ARE THIS YEAR’S FINA WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIPS MASCOTS. THEY ARE SNOW LEOPARDS – BARSY – A SYMBOL
OF TATARSTAN. THEIR NAMES WERE CHOSEN IN A NATIONWIDE SURVEY.
ITIL IS AN OLD NAME FOR THE VOLGA, ONE OF THE RIVERS ON WHICH KAZAN
STANDS. ALSOU IS A POPULAR GIRL’S NAME IN TATARSTAN; IT MEANS ‘ROSE
WATER’. SINCE THE START OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP, SOUVENIR STORES HAVE
BEEN SELLING PLUSH TOYS OF ITIL AND ALSOU … SO EVEN IF YOU DON’T LEAVE
KAZAN WITH A MEDAL YOU CAN STILL TAKE A NEW FRIEND HOME WITH YOU.
FANS
By Aly Keita
A World
of Watery Fun
It’s not every day you get to see a pair of snow leopards leading
a crowd in a dance routine – but for the next three weeks that’s
one of the many sights on offer at the FINA Water World Park.
T
C
ompetitors at the FINA World
Championship are enjoying a
“home away from home” in
Kazan’s Athletes’ Village.
The Village opened on July 17 and
the first to check in was Australia’s
synchronised swimming team. As
the action gets underway, though,
more guests are checking in every
hour, sending a fleet of electric trucks
gliding around the complex to deliver
bags to guest rooms.
Athletes have a choice of staying
in a hotel or living in the village, and
most of them have opted to settle in
this special city within a city. With
all the facilities you could need –
from shops and restaurants to a
library and a beauty salon – it offers
comfortable accommodation and a
great atmosphere.
Farid Abdulganiev, mayor of the
Village, said that many people staying
in hotels have suggested they’d be
happy to move.
“We don’t know how serious they
are, but we are pleased that people
see how the Village offers something
special for the athletes. It’s a festival
atmosphere, a celebration, and it
makes us unique,” he said.
Right now there are 1,200 people
from 120 countries living in the Village
and as the media tour passed through
it attracted the attention of the
Chinese delegation.
The head of their party, Lucheng
Wang, spoke warmly of the welcome
the team had found in Kazan –
and remembered a famous former
resident of the city.
“As soon as we got off the plane
we were struck by how beautiful
it was,” he said. “Kazan is a historic
city and has been home to many
important people, including Vladimir
Lenin, who we greatly respect in
China.
“We’ve had a really great reception.
The Village is perfect – we’ve got
everything we need for the athletes
and the delegates, and when we see
the smiles of the locals it makes us
smile as well.”
Prospekt Universiady has been
taken over by a series of marquees
that make up the relaxation area for
the Village. It’s a place to unwind
«World Championship Herald-2015»
Offical publication of the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan
Editor in chief,
project director
A.N. Adiyatova
Editor (English language)
Andy Potts
Editorial address
amid the sounds of nature and focus
on the competition ahead.
As well as massage chairs and
medical services, there’s another
fashion feature on offer.
“We know that tattoos are popular
with the athletes so we’ve got someone
who can give them temporary tattoos
for the championships,” said the zone’s
manager Marat Zakirov.
A second marquee has a huge screen
with live broadcasts of the competitions.
Next door there’s a concert venue where
Kazan and Tatarstan’s top bands are
ready to provide the entertainment.
Other facilities include bike rental, sports
facilities and a souvenir shop, as well as
food from several cuisines and suitable
for all diets.
The living accommodation is in small
houses. The athletes share double or
triple rooms grouped around a reception
area and a handy kitchen. And on arrival
everyone gets a goody bag of gifts.
Those gifts will keep the memory of
Kazan 2015 alive long after the athletes
return home – but just now everyone is
focused on making sure that everyone
in the Village feels at home right here.
The Executive
Directorate for
Sports Projects is an
2, Dekabristov Ul., Kazan 420066
official organizer of
e-mail: tatmedia@tatmedia.ru
the 16th FINA World
Telephone: (843) 222-09-85 (extn. 2013)
Championship
25 JULY
For the next three weeks, Kazan’s Athletes’ Village is the city’s
most prestigious address. We went along to find out
why everyone wants to stay here.
The Water World Park is a familyorientated venue, with cartoon stars
for the kids and a music program
of top local pop stars to entertain
Mum and Dad – and keep the
cats bopping late into the evening.
The entertainment culminates in a
special show from St. Petersburg’s
famed Iskushenie (Temptation) Dance
Theatre, with its appropriately watery
dances in the rain.
Visitors can also have their say on
the championships and the whole
Kazan 2015 experience. Valeria, one
of the volunteers, was encouraging
people to jot down their thoughts
and messages to decorate a special
‘feedback wall’. “It’s really important
for to hear from people all over the
world who have come to this event,”
she said.
The park, which covers a total
of 2,800 square metres, is open
every day from 12:00-22:00. All are
welcome, with special buses set up
to give athletes the chance to come
along when their schedules allow, and
admission is free.
SCHEDULE
TIME
15:00
EVENT
Synchronised swimming.
Women’s solo technical program.
Diving. 3m board.
Women’s synchronised.
Open water swimming.
Women’s 5km.
Open water swimming,
women’s 5km.
Synchronised swimming.
Mixed duet technical program.
Open water swimming.
Men’s 5km.
Synchronised swimming.
Women’s team technical
program.
Open water swimming,
men’s 5km.
Diving, 10m board.
Mixed synchronised.
16:45
Diving, 10m mixed synchronised.
17:30
Synchronised swimming.
Women’s solo technical program.
Synchronised swimming.
Women’s solo technical program.
Diving. 3m board.
Women’s synchronised.
Diving. 3m board.
Women’s synchronised.
9:00
10:00
10:00
11:30
11:45
13:00
14:00
14:30
19:15
19:30
20:45
Qualifying
round
Qualifying
round
Final
Medal
ceremony
Qualifying
round
Final
Qualifying
round
Medal
ceremony
Final
Medal
ceremony
Final
Medal
ceremony
Final
Medal
ceremony
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56
“IT’S A FESTIVAL,
AND IT MAKES US UNIQUE”
By Daria Turceva,
photo Ramil Gilvanov
he fanzone, just outside the
Kazan Arena, opened its doors
on Friday and apart from the
dancing mascots Alsou and Itil, there’s
plenty to see and do in between the
sporting action.
It promises fun for everyone, blending
high tech with local traditions and
combining sport with music and dance.
The FINA Expo dome forms a
centrepiece, telling the story of aquatic
sport and providing plenty of interest
for both connoisseurs and newcomers.
If you’re looking to learn more about
Russia, Tatarstan, or the neighbouring
regions of Chuvashia and Mari El, a
cluster of four wooden huts – izba, as
they are known in Russian – introduce
the folklore, cuisine and traditions of
these distinctive regions united by the
mighty Volga river.
There’s also plenty about Russia’s
contemporary innovations: sponsors
include car manufacturer Lada and IT
security experts Kaspersky Lab; Lada’s
contribution is a real highlight, with the
chance to race miniature cars around
the Lada Campus circuits.