Medvedev awards IOC president Rogge the Order of Friendship
Baku, November 22 (AZERTAC). Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday bestowed the Order of Friendship award on International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge for popularizing sports in Russia.
Rogge is in Russia to attend the annual general assembly of European Olympic committees, and to celebrate the country`s centenary in the Olympic movement, and was awarded the Order of Friendship at Medvedev`s out-of-town residence.
“Under your leadership for the last 10 years we have seen Olympic competitions that have helped significantly to perfect the winter and summer Olympics program,” Medvedev told Rogge.
Medvedev praised Rogge`s efforts to raise the profile of sports among governments the world over.
“In many ways it is thanks to these steps that the cooperation between Russia and the IOC has reached a new level today. We are preparing for the Olympics in Sochi.”
Awards were also bestowed upon Lamine Diack, the head of the International Association of Athletics Federations; Rene Fasel, the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation; and Tamash Ayan, the president of the International Weightlifting Federation.
The general assembly of European Olympic committees runs through Friday in Sochi, the location for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The IOC has its next inspection of city this weekend to gauge the state of preparations for the Games. Russia is building everything from scratch for its first ever Winter Games, and is considered to be on track in building the venues and infrastructure.
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