Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, June 22, 2020: This year's Olympic Day celebration in Kazakhstan will be special – not only because it will be conducted online due to COVID-19 but also because of its participants.
The kids in question have a special kind of charisma, willpower and a great desire to win - to conquer their illness, to overcome stereotypes and stigma in society and to overcome the loneliness and isolation in which they find themselves due to strict quarantine measures.
The NOC of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the UNESCO Almaty Cluster Office conducted three-day online talks with Olympic champions for children with disabilities in order to inspire them with amazing stories, share Olympic values and use the power of sport to achieve their goals. Moreover, the children had a chance to receive valuable advice and motivation from the best athletes in the country.
This was one of the important initiatives to celebrate Olympic Day 2020 in Kazakhstan under the theme "The Olympics starts with childhood".
As part of the celebration there will be a competition of children's drawings, online training with famous athletes on YouTube channel, a series of online quizzes and many more activities.
On June 17, the Olympic boxing silver medalist Vassiliy Levit shared his Olympic story with children and told them how important it is to keep doing what you love no matter what.
On June 18, Olympic swimming champion Dmytriy Balandin held the first conversation with children and talked about his path to the gold medal, the difficulties he had to overcome and the immeasurable will to win.
On June 19, Kazakhstan's best freestyle acrobatics athlete Zhanbotta Aldabergenova and 2016 Paralympic swimming champion Zulfiya Gabidullina shared their success stories and their childhood dreams.