Inspiration and pride: Alley of Glory with achievements in summer sports opened at the RUSSIA EXPO

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On January 26, the RUSSIA EXPO hosted the opening ceremony of the fifth exposition of the Alley of Glory — in honor of the achievements of our compatriots in the world sports arena.

Moscow residents and guests of the capital will be able to see steles dedicated to the victories of Russian athletes in summer sports: track and field athletics, weightlifting, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, trampolining, acrobatics and others.

The heroes of the new exposition are Russian athletes who in different years brought the country victories at the Olympic Games, world championships and other major competitions. Larisa Latynina, 9-time Olympic champion, 8-time world champion, 7-time European champion; Alexey Nemov, 4-time Olympic champion, 5-time world champion, European champion; Andrey Moiseev, 2-time Olympic champion, 3-time European champion, 3-time world champion and other athletes took part in the opening ceremony and personally laid their authentic gold medals in the exposition.

Kirill Khvil, Deputy Director General of the Russian Society "Knowledge", made a festive speech.

"We have a huge country, and there are regions where winter lasts from September to May, but this does not prevent Russians from joining summer sports. Our athletes have won many awards: more than 400 Olympic medals and more than 2000 medals of international championships! And behind each victory there is incredible labor. Of course, these awards are a good motivation for the younger generation to set big goals and not be afraid to dream and achieve. After all, we have a great nation, which shows — we can, and we are worthy. I am sure that thanks to the Alley of Glory we will ignite dreams in many young people, which will turn into achievements and victories,"said Kirill Khvil.

The heroes of the Alley of Glory, who laid their awards in the exposition, included Dina Averina, silver medalist of the Olympic Games, 18-time world champion, 4-time absolute world champion, and Arina Averina, 5-time world champion, 9-time European champion, 2-time absolute European champion. The sisters noted that they were very happy to be part of this important event.

"I am grateful to the Russian Society "Knowledge" for the opportunity to be here today and to lay down my Olympic medal. I am proud that we are opening a new Alley of Glory exposition at the VDNH — this is the first time in Russia and it is very valuable, — Dina Averina emphasized.  — I am very glad that now people have an opportunity to come to VDNH, look at the medals, read about each champion. It is very important for young sportswomen — to see their idols and to look up to them. We had idols in our childhood - Alina Kabaeva, Evgenia Kanaeva, Margarita Mamun, we looked at them, tried to be like them and achieve the same results".

On the day of opening of the new steles, interviews with the heroes of the new exposition took place. The guests learned firsthand about the path of outstanding athletes of Russia in the world of great sport. It should be reminded that the Alley of Glory, created by the Russian Society "Knowledge" with the support of the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation, was opened at VDNH in early December last year. The first steles were inspected by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to the RUSSIA EXPO.