Second edition of the European Games
The 2nd European Games 2019 (, "Jeŭrapiejskija huĺni 2019"; , "Yevropeyskiye igry 2019"), also known as the 2019 European Games or Minsk 2019 (; ), were held in Minsk, Belarus, from 21 June to 30 June 2019. The games featured 200 events in 15 sports (23 disciplines). Around 4,000 athletes from 50 countries participated. Ten of the sports offered qualification opportunities for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. The opening ceremony at the Dinamo Stadium was held on 21 June, and the closing ceremony at the same venue was held on 30 June.
The logo of the games was "paparać-kvietka"—a plant that plays an important role in the culture of the Slavs. The slogan of the event is "Bright Year, Bright You", which also makes reference to the national domain of the Republic of Belarus and the official international shortening—BY.
Host selection.
A number of countries and cities expressed their interest to host the second European Games in 2019 but only the Netherlands submitted an official bid. At the meeting of an Extraordinary General Assembly on 16 May 2015, the Netherlands was unanimously approved as host of the second edition of the Games. The competition intended to be nationwide and based in seven cities, including Amsterdam, The Hague, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Utrecht. On 10 June 2015, the Netherlands announced their refusal to hold the second European Games after insufficient funding for the Games, projected to cost €57.5m. The European Olympic Committee president, Patrick Hickey said the news was "disappointing". Following this, a number of countries expressed interest in hosting the games: Belarus (Minsk), United Kingdom (Glasgow), Poland (Poznań), Russia (Kazan and Sochi), Turkey (Istanbul).
In November 2015, Russia was announced as a future host country for the II European Games. At the same time, the WADA began its investigation of the doping scandal in Russia which led to the IOC's refusal to support the holding of major sports events in Russia, including the second European Games.
During the meeting of the EOС General Assembly, held in Minsk on 21 October 2016, Minsk was selected as a host city for the second European Games. A contract was signed on 1 September 2017 by the chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Andrei Shorets, the president of the EOC Janez Kocijančič, the Minister of Sport and Tourism of Belarus Alexander Shamko, first Vice-President of the NOC of Belarus Andrey Astashevich, Director of the 2nd European Games 2019 Georgy Katulin, Secretary-General of the European Olympic Committees Rafael Pagnozzi.
Organising Committee.
On 12 May 2017, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree on the Foundation of the Directorate of the II European Games 2019. The founders of the foundation are the National Olympic Committee, the Minsk City Executive Committee and the Ministry of Sports and Tourism. Georgy Katulin, General Secretary of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus, was appointed the CEO of the foundation in August 2017.
In November 2017, the management launched the official website of the games.
In April 2019, Lukashenko announced that the Games were on budget and on time and that "everything should meet the highest standards". Sergei Rumas, Belarus's prime minister and the head of the Organising Committee also said that all the facilities would be finished by 15 May and that "95 per cent of the equipment has already been installed".
On 20 May 2019, Lukashenko signed Decree No.191, entitled "On security measures during the 2nd European Games in Belarus". It gave the Ministry of Defence the power to restrict access to certain areas and placed a ban on drones, unmanned aerial vehicles and model aeroplanes at competition venues. Drones and planes violating the decree will be seized until 2 July, when the Games end.
Volunteers.
The start of the volunteer selection began in September 2017 during the "Dobrofest" and registration ended on 1 April 2019. In April 2019, the head of the volunteer network for the Games, Nadezhda Anisovets, said that the appeal resulted in 24,000 applications, much larger than the 8,000 needed for the Games. Most of them are students of Belarusian universities. Applications were also received from 52 other countries including Russia, Australia, the USA, Mexico, and Egypt. The basic requirements for the candidate are communication skills and high English-language proficiency. The selected volunteers will be involved in over 34 functional areas. Each volunteer will be given a special uniform, badges and souvenirs.
On June 30, 2019, Tony Moore performed his composition “We Are The Light” at the closing ceremony of the European Games 2019 in Belarus. The song was written to honour the 8000 volunteers who helped host the Euro Games in Minsk 2019.
Opening ceremony.
The Opening ceremony was held at National Olympic Stadium Dinamo and ran from 22:10 to 00:45 FET. It was produced by Russian company Art City 5, and was directed by Alexander Vavilov (Belarus) and (Russia). Augmented reality imagery was used during the ceremony. The main musical performers were Anna Netrebko, Ilya Silchukov with Elena Salo and Dimash Kudaibergen. During the parade of nations, Greece entered the stadium first. The host nation Belarus marched last, while other countries entered in English alphabetical order. Each delegation is escorted by girls in dresses representing the Kupala wheel, a symbol of the sun for Eastern Slavs decorated with traditional Belarusian ornaments. Attending the ceremony was President Alexander Lukashenko, who opened the games, Janez Kocijančič of the European Olympic Committee, as well as other foreign delegations such as Igor Dodon representing Moldova, Aleksandar Vučić representing Serbia as well as Dmitry Medvedev and Ramzan Kadyrov representing Russia. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who was due to attend the ceremony, left early due to the civil unrest in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
Closing ceremony.
The Closing ceremony was held at National Olympic Stadium Dinamo and ran from 22:00 to 23:50 FET. In attendance were IOC President Thomas Bach, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, and Armenian President Armen Sarkissian.
Transportation.
On 27 December 2017, it was announced about the finalising of the development of a comprehensive transport service plan for the competition, based on the needs of all stakeholders and the experience of the previous Olympic and European Games host cities: Beijing, London, Baku. The main goal of the developed plan is to optimise the routes in such a way that any participant can get to any stadium in no more than half an hour.
Rail services between Masyukovshchina (Minsk-Arena), Belarus (regatta course Zaslawye) and Loshitsa (Čyžoŭka-Arena) will operate with higher frequency during the event. In addition, the existing bus network will be expanded by 10 to 12 new routes to the competition sites, which will run up to 300 buses and trolleybuses.
In August 2018, new digital information boards were unveiled in order to improve the public transport network for foreign visitors. Valery Shkuratov, the director of Metropolitan Transport and Communications (the firm which manage the transit systems in the city), said that more than 270 displays had already been installed.
In October 2018, it was announced that the Minsk metro would have full 4G coverage by the time the Games began.
The next month, fourteen taxi companies in Minsk as well as several governmental and administrational departments signed a memorandum of understanding to guarantee fair prices during the Games. In March 2019, it was announced that the taxis adhering to the scheme would carry a logo to enable customers to identify them.
Venues.
The Organising committee plans to involve already existed sports facilities after their renovation. The Opening and closing ceremonies, as well as competitions in track and field, will be held at the Dinamo Stadium (Minsk, Kirov, 8).
Athletes, team officials and other team personnel will stay on the grounds of Minsk University, which has the capacity to host up to 7,500 people. The students have been evicted for the duration of the Games and given alternative accommodation. Part of the village facilities has already been put into operation, part of it will be completed by April 2019. Each apartment has two bedrooms and can hold up to 4 people. The village also has a canteen, gym, merchandise store and cultural centre.
Participating countries.
Fifty European Olympic Committees member countries competed at the games. Numbers in brackets denote the number of athletes being sent to the Games.
Games.
A total of 15 sports were presented: archery, athletics, badminton, basketball 3-on-3, beach football, boxing, canoe sprint, cycling, gymnastics, judo, karate, sambo, shooting, table tennis and wrestling. A number of disciplines were dropped after the 2015 European Games: all aquatics (diving, swimming, synchronised swimming and water polo), BMX racing, mountain biking, fencing, taekwondo, triathlon and all volleyball (beach volleyball and indoor volleyball). Ten of the sports offered qualification opportunities for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
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Calendar.
The competition schedule consists of 200 events. The agenda as the competition schedule may change.
Archery.
At the 2019 European Games in Minsk, eight events of archery will be contested. Archers will shoot at the Olympic Sports Complex over seven days of competition. The 2019 Games will be the first to include compound archery.
Athletics.
Athletics competitions will held be from 23 to 28 June at the Dinamo Stadium with a seating capacity of 22,000. Athletes will compete over six days in men's, women's and mixed track and fields events.
Badminton.
Badminton competition will take place at the Falcon Club with a seating capacity of 2,000 from 24 to 30 June. The competition will be held over a seven-day period and include five medal events in men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed.
Basketball 3x3.
Basketball competitions will be held from 21 to 24 June at the Palova Arena with a seating capacity of 1,000. The competition will take place in the half-court 3x3 format, and both the men's and women's tournaments will feature 128 athletes.
Beach soccer.
The beach soccer tournament will be held from 25 to 29 June at the Olympic Sports Complex with a seating capacity of 1,500. Ninety-six male athletes will compete over five days of competition.
Boxing.
Boxing competitions will be held from 21 to 30 June at the URUCHIE Sports Palace. The competition consists ten weights events for men and five for women.
Canoe sprint.
Canoeing will be contested between 25 and 27 June at the ZASLAVL Regatta Course. A total of sixteen medal events in canoe and kayak across both genders will be held. The European Games will replace the 2019 Canoe Sprint European Championships. Therefore, the winners of each discipline will be considered as European Champion 2019.
Cycling.
Two disciplines of cycling will be contested at the games: road cycling and track cycling. A total of 24 medal events will be held. Competitions on-road cycling will take place in Minsk city and region from 22 to 25 June. Competitions on track cycling will take place at Minsk Arena velodrome from 27 to 30 June. Road cycling will take place in Minsk City centre.
Gymnastics.
Gymnastics at the games will be held in five categories: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampolining, acrobatics, and aerobics. All competitions will take place at the Minsk-Arena with a seating capacity of 8,000. The acrobatics competitions will take place from 22 to 23 June. The competition will be held over a two-day period and include six medal events in women's trios and mixed pairs. Competitions on aerobics will take place from 24 to 25 June. The competition will be held over a two-day period and include two medal events in mixed pairs and teams. The gymnastic trampoline competitions will take place from 24 to 25 June. The competition will be held over a two-day period and include four medal events. The artistic gymnastics will take place from 27 to 30 June. The competition will be held over a four-day period and include twelve medal events. The rhythmic gymnastics will take place from 22 to 23 June. The competition will be held over a two-day period and include eight medal events.
Judo.
Judo competitions will be held from 22 to 25 June at the Čyžoŭka-Arena with a seating capacity of 8,800. The competition will consist of seven weight events and one team event in each gender; a total of 15 medal events. The European Games will replace the Judo European Championship.
Karate.
Karate competitions will be held from 29 to 30 June at the Čyžoŭka-Arena with a seating capacity of 8,800. The competition will consist of twelve events, six in each gender—individual Kata and ten weighted Kumite.
Sambo.
Sambo competitions will take place at the Minsk Sports Palace from 22 to 23 June