ON THE ROAD TO ATLANTA
Sports minister comments on Ukraine's preparations
Valeriy Borzov, Ukraine's minister of youth and sports, was in the United States on February 1-8 to re-emphasize that for Ukraine to re
Mr. Borzov, who is also the chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (NOC) and a member of the International Olympic Committee, traveled to Philadelphia, Chicago and New York during his seven-day stay and met with the Ukrainian communities of those cities to give them a brief overview of Ukraine's Olympic potential.
The Weekly had an opportunity to speak with Minister Borzov when he visited the UNA offices on February 8. Accompanying him was Laryssa Barabash-Temple, the U.S. representative of Ukraine's NOC. The Weekly staff editor Roman Woronowycz conducted the interview along with editorial assistant Yarema Bachynsky and Svoboda editor Olha Kuzmowycz.
Following is an edited version of the interview.
PART I
Q: Has the composition of the Olympic squad Ukraine will send to the Atlanta Games in 1996 been settled?
A: Through May of 1996, 147 athletes will still be taking part in qualifications, the process is not yet complete. That is also why we cannot say exactly how many athletes will make up the final squad. One hundred fifty-three qualified in 1995 and 147 will compete until May for the right to take part in the Olympic Games.
The number of the official delegation is derived from the number of athletes who are part of the team. For example, if there are 220 athletes (which is the goal of the Ukrainian team), for example, then we have figured we can take 83 officials, that is, administrators, trainers, doctors.
Q: What is the budget for the Ukrainian delegation to the Olympics? That is, how much will be needed for the athletes to be at their prime for the Atlanta Games?
A: The Olympics are a very expensive thing. The budget consists of the expenses involved in preparing athletes for three to four years. This includes participation in international events and special meets, supplying equipment, renting sports arenas, preparing staff, financing children's sports schools, and relevant international meetings to prepare for the arrival of the delegations.
Then there is the final preparation done immediately before participation during 1995-1996. This includes, first of all, international qualifying competitions. These are mandatory competitions. We are attempting to carry one and a half to two contingents at the Olympics, so we will look to qualify two individuals for each event [in which we are participating] to leave some room to choose.
Secondly, the International Olympic Committee, in conjunction with the international federations, has developed a catalogue of certified equipment, some of which is substantially different from that which we use. So it is imperative that we provide our athletes the same equipment that will be used at the Olympics. This is also very costly.
Besides this we must purchase parade dress for 300 people. We must charter three aircraft - two passenger and one cargo - which is also an expensive outlay. We also must pay $900 per athlete for housing in the Olympic Village during the Games, the costs for officials and, of course, costs associated with other members of the delegation staying in Atlanta during the Games; this includes official delegations such as President Kuchma's, should the president visit there during the Olympics. In that case we would need to properly host him.
We also need to consider properly honoring certain of our athletes. Another concern is to assure that we retain prominent coaches who may be approached with contracts to coach outside the country [after the Olympics]. We may have to offer them stipends to stay.
Q: So what will be the sum total?
A: In total, $1.5 million. Just chartering flights, at the very minimum, costs $500,000. The cost, let's say from the time we leave Ukraine until the time we return, that will be $1 million.
We have a government budget. Right now the [financial] climate for the spring is a plus. At first the budget was for 2.3 trillion karbovantsi. An additional 2 trillion kbv has been added. This money is not only for the Olympics but for other athletic endeavors as well. The question is: will we get any of it?
Q: What type of equipment does Ukraine still need?
A: The 24 federations all need some sort of new equipment. What type? For example in riflery, they need weapons and bullets. In archery, they need spare parts and targets.
In gymnastics they need currently sanctioned equipment. Take the beam, for example. Earlier on, there were no dampers. The Americans recently approved a design with dampers. The athlete has a completely different orientation; the beam has a totally different [feeling] when it has a degree of absorption. If the gymnastics team does not get three to four months to practice on the new equipment, they will be tentative [when they finally use it].
To solve this problem the Ukrainian Sports Federation of the U.S.A and Canada (known by its Ukrainian-based acronym, USCAK) donated money, and we are working to get the equipment to Ukraine as soon as possible.
In weightlifting, the bars were bought last year using the specifications then applicable. This year the bars are different.
And so it goes with all 24 of the federations that are scheduled to take part in the Olympic Games.
Q: What will it cost to purchase this additional equipment?
A: In all, $2.5 million, these are additional costs. But this is our problem, not the problem of the Ukrainian community in the diaspora. [Note: that figure is the amount budgeted by Ukraine for new equipment for the Ministry of Youth and Sports.]
Q: How much money has been donated by the Ukrainian diaspora, whether in the United States, Canada or Europe?
A: (This question was answered by Ms. Temple, Ukraine's NOC representative in the U.S.)
USCAK's work alone has raised $150,000. Since Lillehammer in 1994 [the last Winter Olympics], when there was intensive fund-raising, $250,000 was raised [by the diaspora]. Last year, another $100,000 was received that went for training costs. This year the work has just begun, and as you know from your coverage of the New York benefit, so far it has been successful. In New York $60,000 was received. There were also fund-raisers in Philadelphia and Chicago.
My numbers are divided by year. USCAK has kept its numbers separately all along, so I cite their sums separately.
Q: Optimistically, how much would you like to see donated?
A: I am not at all sure that gathering donations from transplanted citizens is the best thing. This is a temporary measure in a time of great difficulties. We are planning to go to a system like that used by all the other Olympic committees; to make use of the support of sponsors and businesses committed to a long term relationship.
These monies we are receiving are invaluable, but they solve only fixed, individual problems. But the over-all process needs to be covered by sums of money like those I stated earlier.
The predominant costs are covered by the government budget. The budget is there. But costs for entering international meets, where I cannot deny our athletes the opportunity to compete - calculate how much it costs for 100 or 60 athletes to travel to the U.S. and back, to compete, to pay for everything needed - these are frightful costs.
During the course of the year we send 8,000 people from youth and sports organizations abroad. We have failed to take part in very few of the meets to which we have committed. There are individual cases, but as for our over-all program, we understand that by taking part in all the meets we have entered and bringing a high degree of quality to our competitions works to strengthen and to better our image. You know how it is in America - Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, it's all the same.
Q: Do you have sponsors?
A: One of our important partners is Adidas. They provide complete uniforms for 24 federations. The gymnasts have an American sponsor.
(Ms. Temple interjects - Elite Sportswear, owned by Sally Weaver.)
Every federation has some sort of partner and this process is expanding, but not to the point that they can cover all costs outside our budget. The extra-budgetary costs, and this includes the money provided by the Ukrainian community, cover needs such as pre-Olympic preparation, training, the process of adaptation to the surroundings, which is very important to us.
We paid for airline tickets from Ukraine to New York and from New York to Atlanta [for pre-Olympic training in 1995]. But the cost of the stay in Atlanta, room and board, was covered by the Ukrainian community, by the funds it raised.
The community also raised money that was used in part to buy equipment - for gymnastics, weightlifing, rowing. The rest of the expenditure for equipment is part of the budget of $2.5 million that the government appropriated. Unfortunately, right now the budget is there, but the money isn't available.
Why do we need the equipment after the Olympics? That is why we have sought help in getting those special items. We need to get the equipment to [Ukraine] as soon as possible so that the athletes will have at least four to five months to practice with it. We only ask for financial aid concerning super important items.
Q: Mr. Minister, have Ukrainian sports stars like Oksana Baiul, Viktor Petrenko, Sergey Bubka in any way financially or materially contributed to preparation of the Ukrainian team for the Olympics? Were there any attempts to get them to contribute? This also goes for Ukrainians currently playing in the National Hockey League.
A: Generally speaking, I do not believe this is possible on a broad scale. There have been individual cases, but done more indirectly. Let's take Bubka. He supports a club in Donetske. He has organized support. Maybe he has given gifts, perhaps donated a fax machine to the federation, things like that. But there is no formal agreement between Bubka and either the [track and field] federation or with the Olympic Committee. Nor do such agreements exist with the hockey players or Baiul.
When Oksana Baiul performed in Odessa she raised at least $5,000 for the sports palace there.
(Ms.Temple interjects: The amount raised was much higher.)
Well, I don't know what the final figures were, I didn't count the money. But the money was raised through her performances, it was not her own money.
Q: You have mentioned the Ukrainian Hospitality Center. Could you please describe some of the planned activities of the center: who is expected to visit and what the role of the center will be. Finally, how is it being funded?
A: First of all, during the course of the Olympic Games every delegation strives to maintain accepted protocol. This includes not only competing in athletic events, but also in conducting yourself in accordance with the Olympic charter, fostering mutual relations with sponsors, with members of other Olympic committees, with people who have contracts with the committees, or with representatives of the International Olympic Committee. Or even with the president, if the president does go.
Everybody makes an effort to have such a hospitality house, or room, or something of the sort. Mostly due to the good-will of the Ukrainian community, we have been given such an opportunity. This is a private home that was offered for use for hospitality purposes.
(Ms. Temple interjects: The people donating the home are Eric and Diane Prockow. It's in Buckhead, right in the middle of Atlanta. It is the fancy residential area in Atlanta.)
If this indeed does happen, which seems so right now, since we have an agreement, it will give us a quality countenance, equal to if not better than the other Olympic committees.
Second of all, it is also being planned to entertain distinguished individuals, for official entertaining. Should the president visit [Atlanta], it has been proposed to have a get-together with the president and the Ukrainian community of Atlanta.
Other than that, there may be social events; for example, we may invite representatives of the Olympic committees, the U.S. Olympic Committee with whom we have close contacts, other Olympic committees, organizations or individuals with whom we have close relations, people from the organizing committee, the IOC.
We will also be hosting athletes after awards ceremonies and at the end of the competitions.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 25, 1996, No. 8, Vol. LXIV
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