IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlumet with 2021 athletes of Istanbul IBBSK participating in the 14 Tokyo Olympics. Speaking in the program, which also included athletes who made us proud by getting the bronze medal and hoisting the Turkish Flag, İmamoğlu said, “What the Olympics reminds me is; That all branches of Turkey should get out of the understanding of football. We should all be able to get rid of being a country that means 'only football is a sport'. Let's leave football, there are already clubs in this city. Our job is to create a system that trains athletes in other branches, who gradually train people for all the other branches of the Olympics," he said.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) President Ekrem İmamoğlumet with 14 athletes of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club (Istanbul IBBSK). Two of the athletes representing Turkey at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics won bronze medals. 14 athletes participated in the program, which was held at the Beyaz Köşk in Emirgan Grove, with their sports clothes. IMM senior management and Istanbul IBBSK President Fatih Keles were also present at the event, where the veteran names of the sports press were invited.
FATIH KELEŞ: "WE ARE PROUD OF ALL OF OUR FRIENDS"
Istanbul IBBSK President Fatih Keleş said that 2021 athletes represented Turkey at the Tokyo 108 Olympics. Stating that 14 of these athletes are from Istanbul İBBSK, Keleş continued as follows:
“They all actually went there to get very good grades. But some of them couldn't do it with the stress of the Olympics. We are proud of all of them. Currently, our Paralympic athletes continue to compete in Tokyo. We have medal-winning athletes there, too. We would like to host them with you. We are proud of all our friends. All of them are our very successful friends who represent the country's sport in the best way, and our athletes who set an example for their young friends and young athletes. This is what we want and desire from them.”
EKREM İMAMOĞLU: “THIS SPIRIT WILL CARRY US TO THE 2036 OLYMPICS”
Speaking at the program, Mayor İmamoğlu said that he wanted the concept of olympism to exist in the whole city and that 16 million Istanbulites could feel the sport. “I am a person who believes that dreams are made in the name of sports, efforts are made to become an athlete, and that every child should experience at least two branches in their life,” said İmamoğlu, and continued as follows:
“Such a mood will make us a much more beautiful city. I hope that it will carry Istanbul as the host to the 2036 Olympics, which we have set forth as an intention. It takes a soul. We're just a little short on that side. We need to complete that side. So we have to make it a culture. We need to experience a process in which a parent living in every corner of the city knows what sports is, instills it in their children, educators teach it, and add the universality, universal language and attitude of sports. When this happens, I firmly and absolutely believe that Istanbul, the most beautiful city in the world, will host the 2036 Olympics.”
WE HAVE TO SET THE BAR HIGHER
Pointing out that Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has the capacity to participate in the Olympics in every branch, İmamoğlu said, “I can't quite match the sports culture that runs through one or two branches with the Republic of Turkey, a country where eighty-four million people live. There are branches in which we are much more successful and more effective. I respect these branches, especially our ancestral sport. Of course, we have to achieve more special successes in them, but we also have an athlete. They are also successful in swimming. Here we saw that archery put another success in front of us. We have to raise the bar higher. Therefore, we must create an area that keeps the Olympic spirit alive, achieves success in all branches, and creates the richness of that branch.”
I WANT IMM TO BE THE LOCOMOTIVE
Reminding him that the Olympics should come out of the understanding of football in all branches of Turkey, İmamoğlu said, “So we have to achieve this somehow. We should all be able to get rid of being a country that means 'only football is a sport'. In that sense, I would very much like Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality to be the locomotive. Let's leave football, there are already clubs in this city. Our job is to create a system that trains athletes in other branches, who gradually train people for all the other branches of the Olympics," he said.
GOAL TO BE SET FOR THE OLYMPICS
Expressing that there is more time for the 2036 Olympics and that some of them are not old enough, İmamoğlu finished his speech as follows:
“But I already believe that our athlete friends, who have this Olympic taste among us and who have lived in a few Olympics, will raise very good, very good and very successful athletes for those Olympics. So they should set such a goal. Active sportsmanship will end one day, education will begin. I sincerely believe that your educator side can be very successful, and all my friends should set this goal. I promise and undertake to support all my fellow athletes who will set this goal. Because I am a person who knows that sports also start with education. If I have a success today, I have seen that on the basis of that success in life, I have achieved many things, accumulation, talent and relationship ability with sports.”
AWARDED ATHLETES
İmamoğlu congratulated the athletes individually by gifting 14 athletes full gold and books published by IMM.
2 ATHLETES WERE BRONZE MEDAL
Two of the 2021 athletes of Istanbul İBBSK participating in the 14 Tokyo Olympics won bronze medals. Uğur Aktaş went into the history of Turkey in the Olympics as the athletes who won the bronze medal in Karate and Hakan Reçber in Taekwon.
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