European Games Athletes’ Village to open in mid June

The Athletes’ Village of the European Games will be ready to accommodate athletes from mid June, Andrei Polovinkin, a manager at the Minsk European Games Organizing Committee (MEGOC), told the media, BelTA has learned.

The official opening of the village in Dzerzhinskogo Avenue is slated for 18 June. “Delegation heads and team managers will be able to settle in and check living conditions on 15 June,” the manager noted.

Andrei Polovinkin said that the Athletes’ Village is one of the most challenging sites of the games as it has to function around the clock. “The European Olympic Committees set high requirements for this site. We, in turn, do our best to comply with them,” the manager added.

The Students’ Village will be used as the Athletes’ Village during the games. The students will leave the village by 1 February, Eduard Tomilchik, the head of the main department for education and youth policy at the Education Ministry, said at the press conference. “Students’ rehousing is planned thoroughly and will be finished by 1 February. Students of five universities will move to other halls of residence. This issue is under control of the Education Ministry. To create more convenient conditions for studying, we have allowed students to undertake on-the-job training at their places of residence and to study online. Students understand the importance of the European Games, many of them will work as volunteers. All students were notified of this six months in advance, we are guiding them through the process. I assure you that everyone will get a place in other halls of residence,” Eduard Tomilchik said.

During the European Games, around 4,000 athletes, coaches and managers will be accommodated in the village. The construction of a catering site for the participants is now underway.

The European Games will take place at 12 sport sites in Minsk. Over 4,000 athletes from 50 countries will compete for 199 medal sets in 15 sports. Eight of them will act as qualifiers for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, with the European Games also counting as the official European championships for badminton, boxing, and judo.

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