Lukashenko sets goal for Belarusian athletes to win 20-30 medals at Olympics

MINSK. Dec 15 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting in Minsk on Thursday that the levels of training and dedication of Belarusian athletes should be raised so that they win 20-30 medals at the Olympics.

"Here are those persons on whom the development of our sport in the country depends. Although I sometimes wonder: what is there to develop, what do we lack to ensure that our teams, our athletes perform at the highest level? During this meeting, I would like to hear you say what you are lacking and what sports grounds, facilities and so on, so that we could win 20-30 medals at the Olympics," Lukashenko was quoted by the BelTA state-run news agency as saying during a meeting with Minister of Sports and Tourism Sergei Kovalchuk, Deputy Head of the Presidential Executive Office Igor Lutsky, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Petrishenko and National Olympic Committee President Viktor Lukashenko on Thursday.

"We used to have it [a large number of medals in Olympic sports]. When there were no sports facilities at all, you could say," Lukashenko said.

Lukashenko criticized the sports sector for the lack of results, noting that amid sanctions, the performance of athletes should be even greater. "So if you are under pressure, I understand this in sports that way, the performance should be even more powerful. If persons see that they are being unfairly punished, they are striving for and achieving even higher results. Do we have that? We don't have it," Lukashenko said.

Noting that he is watching the FIFA World Cup, Lukashenko said, "The state of this sport, as well as many others, is awful."

The president also said that he did not view the participation of Belarusian athletes in international competitions without national symbols as a disaster.

"As for [competing] without the national symbols [without the national flag, without the national anthem and so on] this is bad. But it is not a disaster. A real athlete - not the ones who have fled, let them flee there, they were running away here, and they are running away there - you can't tear the flag and anthem out of your heart. It should be in the heart if it's a real athlete," the Belarusian president said.

As of now, Belarusian athletes without the use of national symbols take part in international competitions in six sports, namely, tennis, football, checkers, chess, sambo, and boxing.