Our Olympic Stadium is ready and it has been the greatest wish of both our government and the public to host the Olympics in our country since 2000. Yet the Olympics never come. Our facilities are ready. But can we say the same thing for us?
Imagine the Olympics being held in Turkey. The athletics competitions are taking place. Imagine the finals, not the eliminations; that last magnificent day when the athletes run the 4×100 final. How many people do you think would populate the stadium on that day? How many spectators watch athletics competitions in Turkey today?
According to a research conducted among mothers between the ages 25-45 who have children between the ages 5-12, only two of 10 children in Turkey play sports regularly and consciously. One of the most striking results is that the rates of children and families with regular sports activities is very low, despite the increase in the number of sports facilities in Turkey. The provinces with the lowest rates of doing sports are metropolises; what is more interesting is that only 1 out of 100 families carry out a research before directing their children to a sport.
Projects such as the TOHM project of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the “Olympic Mothers” project sponsored by big companies and the “Olympic Day” in our country all aim to familiarize children and young people with all sports and to create awareness among mothers of athletes.
Kovan Sports Culture Center is a project not different from them. Being introduced to different sports at a young age in Kovan, children will find the best sport for them; maybe they won’t win a medal, but they will learn that winning one takes a lot of hard work, the deserving will win and fair competition is more valuable than anything else…
Although not all athletes of Kovan will be champions, they will all be goods athletes, good people and good citizens… They will fill the tribunes of the Olympic Stadium as physically, morally and culturally wholesome individuals.