As part of scaling up the international sports camp Olympic Dreams project, which is implemented by "The Future for Children" Charitable Foundation, famous Ukrainian performer Dmytro Shurov (Pianoboy) and the first world judo champion in Ukraine, Georgii Zantaraia joined the project as its ambassadors.
Oleksandra Novikova, CEO of the project and founder of the communication agency Novikova Agency informed us about this.
"We are very proud that Dmytro and Georgii have joined the team of our ambassadors. Of course, they will be able to bring their experience, recognition and influence to the development of the Olympic Dreams project and raise the level of interest in our work among potential patrons and partners who can support Olympic Dreams and our athletes," Novikova said.
The Olympic Dreams International Sports Camps project was launched in the summer of 2022 with the support of the NOC of Kyiv Region, the Embassy of Ukraine to the Hellenic Republic, and the personal initiative of philanthropist and co-founder of the NGO IT Education Development Anatoliy Boyko. The main goal of the project is to support the country's Olympic reserve and provide young athletes from the affected regions of Ukraine with a safe training process in friendly neighbouring countries.
"Our youth is the future of our country. Our defenders are now resisting the occupiers also for the sake of youth. This war has already brought a lot of grief to Ukrainians, but children must continue to live, learn, develop and dream. The Olympic Dreams project is precisely about this, about children's dreams of becoming future Olympic champions and world championship winners, which, of course, must be supported," said Dmytro Shurov.
"I am glad to be a part of this project because now more than ever, young athletes need support and conditions for normal, first of all, safe training. After all, sports do not forgive pauses. Therefore, despite the war, we must provide the young generation with the opportunity not to interrupt professional sports so that they can worthily represent our country at international and world competitions in the future," added Georgii Zantaraia.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, the embassies of Ukraine to the Hellenic Republic and the Republic of Cyprus, as well as partners and patrons of "The Future for Children" Charitable Foundation, support The Olympic Dreams project.
We will remind you that in the summer and autumn of 2022, three groups of athletes went to Greece, where the first format of such camps took place. A friendly international judo tournament was also organized, in which athletes from Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Ukraine participated. The result of the tournament was 9 gold, 4 silver and 9 bronze medals, and after the camp, Ukrainian athletes won 5 more medals at official international tournaments.
Also, in February 2023, another group of athletes trained on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus and joined the Cyprus International JudoTournament 2023, in which more than 700 participants represented 8 countries worldwide. In five age categories, Ukrainian judokas, pupils of the Olympic College under the leadership of Honored Coach of Ukraine Karen Balayan and Coach Oleksandra Starkova, won 30 medals: 14 of which were gold, 10 silver and 6 bronze.