Everything is ready for the opening of EYOF 2022, future sports stars will shine in Banská Bystrica

It is finally happening in Slovakia. The European Youth Olympic Festival is now a reality in the country under the Tatras. Its 16th summer edition, which will be hosted by Banská Bystrica and its surroundings from 24 to 30 July 2022, will be officially opened on Sunday from 8:30 p.m. in the  park under the SNP Museum in Banská Bystrica with the participation of athletes and implementation teams from 48 participating countries, as well as other participants and hosts of the EYOF Banská Bystrica 2022. The official opening with a cultural program and lighting of the flame of peace will introduce young athletes and visitors to the Olympic movement and the essence of this sports event.

“After a long wait and a one-year postponement, we have the biggest multi-sport event in the modern history of Slovakia. We see it as a great opportunity to make our beautiful country visible throughout Europe through sport. Sports events around the world are priceless advertising for the host country,” said the president of the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee (SOŠV), Anton Siekel.

Slovakia organises the EYOF in a difficult period. Since 2016, the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee has been developing a major initiative to make the European Youth Olympic Festival in Slovakia a success. “We had to deal with several obstacles that stood in our way. I am convinced that our Slovak hospitality and ability to organise important competitions and races even in difficult conditions will be shown,” stated Siekel, who emphasized that the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee recently paid a lot of attention to the journey of the flame of peace to Banská Bystrica. “Thanks to our Olympic clubs and schools, with which SOŠV cooperates and which participated in the Olympic Culture and Education Programme of OCEP, the message of peace and friendship reached all Slovak regions and reached thousands of people, especially younger people. Now the fiery torch is returning to Banská Bystrica and we are already looking forward to watching the sports performances of the best young European athletes under its glow in the coming days.”

Chances for young talents to show their potential

The “D” day has arrived, which was awaited not only by the organisers, but especially by the young athletes. After the opening ceremony on Sunday, the future stars of world sports will compete in the heart of Slovakia from Monday. “I am delighted to be here in Slovakia, one of Europe’s most passionate sporting countries. History is about to be made with Slovakia becoming the 5th country to host both the Winter and Summer EYOFs. This is an outstanding achievement and a sign of the country’s commitment to providing its next generation with the opportunity to excel in sport and lead an active and healthy life. I want to thank the Banska Bystrica Organising Committee, the Slovak Olympic Committee, and all their partners for their hard work, which has given our young athletes the chance to show their potential to the world. Over 2,000 future stars will shine this week, embodying the values of excellence, friendship, and respect across 10 Olympic sports. Good luck to everyone competing, enjoy the event and make memories that will stay with you for life!” wished the president of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Spyros Capralos.

The city under Urpín opens its welcoming arms

Banská Bystrica is turning into a city full of sports, most of the participants arrived at the EYOF scene during the weekend, where ten sports – athletics, badminton, basketball, road cycling, judo, handball, swimming, sports gymnastics, tennis and volleyball – will compete for twelve of ten medal collections.” I still vividly remember the feeling when I stood on the podium in Baku in 2019, taking over the flag as an imaginary relay and inviting young athletes from all over Europe to the heart of Slovakia. At that time, I had no idea how long and difficult the road would be ahead of us. Today I can state that it was a challenging long-distance run through many obstacles. Despite several pitfalls, over the past period we have managed to reconstruct and restore the sports infrastructure, accommodation capacities for youth, involve hundreds of people in the organisation, develop and promote sports in the city and the region, thanks to which we can motivate young people to do sports. We are only a few hours away from the start of the largest multi-sport European Olympic event EYOF 2022. The streets of Banská Bystrica are flooded with hundreds of volunteers, athletes and sports expeditions, as well as domestic and foreign visitors. I am convinced that in the following days we will present Banská Bystrica to the European sports world in only the best light. I warmly welcome you all to the city, which has its own charm and opens its hospitable arms to you,” said the mayor of Banská Bystrica, Ján Nosko, who is also the president of the organising committee.

His words were followed up by the executive director of the EYOF Banská Bystrica 2022 organising committee, Peter Hamaj: “Everything, including the sport venues, is ready. We are still fine-tuning the last details. We can say that we are ready for the event to begin. Expeditions from 48 participating countries have already arrived, including one athlete from refugee team. The total number of members of the expeditions is 3328 people, of which 2252 are athletes – 1125 boys and 1127 girls. We issued a total of 7369 accreditations. The smallest team is Monaco, which has a three-person representation, including two athletes. The largest team was sent by Slovakia, consisting of 210 members, 204 without referees, including 149 athletes, the second largest is German 180 members. The oldest athlete is the Turkish volleyball player Hilmi Sahin, he celebrated his 19th birthday on January 1st. On the contrary, the youngest is a Slovak basketball player Tamara Mandelíková, who will be fifteen years old on the last day of August.”

Cassar appreciates the determination, dedication and hard work of the organisers

The coordination commission of the European Olympic Committees supervised the several-year preparations of EYOF Banská Bystrica 2022. Its representatives are aware of the difficult period the organisers had to go through, even considering the situation in the world. “The European Youth Olympic Festival is by far the most prestigious Olympic multi sports youth events owned by the EOC. When the General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees entrusted the organization of the EYOF to Slovakia and in particular to Banska Bystrica, little did anyone fathom that the world would soon after go through one of the worse pandemics which hit the entire world for so many months till this day, resulting in huge financial losses and hardship and a quasi complete halt to businesses and investments. Then came the recent war against Ukraine which again continues to extend the world financial crises.  All these negative happenings had very negative effects on all the countries. Nonetheless, here we are today soon opening this edition of EYOF 2022 in Banska Bystrica , thanks to the determination and dedication of the Chairman of the Orgnsising Committee Dr Jan Nosko who realized the importance of hosting this event to regenerate Banska Bystrica and his hardworking Organising Committee, together with the support and encouragement of the President of the Slovak Olympic and Sports Committee Mr Anton  Siekel and the financial support of the Slovak Government,” said the head of the coordination commission of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) Joseph Cassar.

The pride of the ambassador at EYOF in Slovakia

One of its ambassadors, Danka Barteková, is also very much looking forward to the European Youth Olympic Festival in Banská Bystrica. “For me, as an olympism fan and a four-time olympian, it will certainly be very emotional. I feel enormous pride that an event of such dimensions is being organised here in Slovakia. I firmly believe that EYOF will ignite a love for sport in all of us and remind us of the important life values we can learn through it. Especially for young sports hopefuls, the Olympics is a great challenge and a turning point in their sports career,” said the successful shooter and member of the IOC, who arrived less than two months ago with the flame of peace for EYOF 2022 from Rome, Italy, the headquarters of the EOC.

At the event, organisers expect over six thousand accredited persons, of which approximately 2.300 will be athletes. In addition to Banská Bystrica, Zvolen, Detva, Slovenská Ľupča and Badín will be the scenes of the competitions. The heart of sports and the main sports village will be SPORT PARK EYOF, which will host 5 sports – athletics, swimming, judo, tennis and badminton. There will be gymnastics competitions at the reconstructed winter stadium in Banská Bystrica. Entry to the sports grounds will be free for spectators.

Program of sports competitions: https://eyof2022.com/program/

Program of the opening ceremony and Fan zone: https://eyof2022.com/sprievodne-akcie/