The Alley of Glory of the Russian sports opened at VDNH

Here one can see real gold medals won by our compatriots at international competitions. On the eve of its official opening the Alley of Glory was inspected by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to the RUSSIA EXPO.

Alley of Glory, dedicated to prominent Russian athletes and their achievements, is organized by the Society "Knowledge" with the support of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation and the Russian Union of Martial Arts. In the future it is planned to expand the "Alley of Glory": along with martial arts and wrestling there will be new steles dedicated to achievements in winter sports, gymnastics, hockey, synchronized swimming.

To personally lay their main awards in the exposition, the opening ceremony of the Alley was attended by: Alexander Karelin, Buvaisar Saitiev, Oleg Saitov, Vladislav Larin, Tagir Khaibulaev, Evgeny Mamro, Edgar Kolyan, Daria Tarasova, Islam Bochkaev, Andrey Kress, Olesya Gladkova, Artyom Vakhitov, Artyom Osipenko, Alan Karaev, Alexander Drozd.

"It is a wonderful occasion to include evidence of our achievements in the Glory Alley at VDNH. We do not separate our reputation from the reputation of our state. Therefore, everyone who sees these medals will realize that we are not only fellow citizens, we all are large and diverse nation of winners, and, I hope, will be ready to apply their efforts, perseverance, discipline to make Russia even stronger, even more victorious. I congratulate everyone on this event and wish us more reasons to be proud of our achievements!", — greeted the participants of the ceremony Senator of the Russian Federation, Hero of Russia, three-time Olympic champion Alexander Karelin.

Maxim Dreval, Director General of the Russian Society "Knowledge" talked about the project:

"The Alley of Glory is a unique project, no one has done anything like this before. Legendary Russian athletes brought their gold medals from international competitions, from the Olympic Games to the Glory Alley. And looking at this Alley, everyone will agree with the words of the President of the Russian Federation: the main gold reserve of Russia is its people. We are sure that after walking along the Alley of Glory, many children will be inspired by sports and will start to train. They may not become champions, but they will definitely develop a champion character".

While opening the Alley of Glory, Oleg Matytsin, Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation, expressed his gratitude to the Russian Society "Knowledge", the Russian Union of Martial Arts, athletes and their coaches.

"It is very symbolic and appropriate that the Alley of Glory is being opened as part of the RUSSIA EXPO, because sport has always been and remains a significant part of the life of our society, our history of victories. Today it is more important than ever to educate the new generation on the examples of labor, examples of pride in our great sports union. We have won about a thousand gold medals at the Olympic Games, several tens of thousands of medals at world championships - this is a whole army, a whole generation, which today is the foundation for the education of young people, a sign of respect for our culture, for the traditions of our great country. I would like to wish everyone to work, fight and win", — said Oleg Matytsin.