IMM President Ekrem İmamoğluintroduced the 'dream team' that will prepare the city for the 2036 Olympic candidacy. Emphasizing that the main function of the team that will work under the name of the 'Olympic Working Group' will be 'support and facilitation', İmamoğlu said, “There is no target we cannot reach if we act together with the right strategies in the next process. The key word here is coordination. The coordinated action of all relevant institutions of our state, our municipality, other local governments that can provide support, our business world, our brands, our non-governmental organizations, our media and our people will bring us to a happy ending.”
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) held a press conference where the 2036 Olympic candidacy and the goals of transforming the city into an Olympic city were explained. Speaking at the meeting held at the Campus Pool in Istanbul Planning Agency (IPA) Florya Campus, IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlualso introduced the Olympic Working Group, which will work towards these goals, to the public. In the working group introduced by İmamoğlu as the “Dream Team”, Oya Ünlü Kızıl, Seda Domaniç Sökmen, Prof. Dr. Itır Erhart, Naz Aydemir Akyol, Oğuz Uçanlar, Sinan Güler, Alican Kaynar and Alper Kasapoğlu took part.
"SPORT; THE COMMON LANGUAGE OF THE WORLD”
Saying, “Sports is a common language for people living all over the world,” İmamoğlu said, “We have acted with this awareness since the first day we took office and created strategies in this context. Sports has been an important part of many of the work we have done with young people. We held workshops with all the components of the sports world, urban planners and academics. We made medium and long-term plans by placing our work on a 'master plan'. We examined what we can develop, change and transform not only with our relevant Deputy Secretary General, Youth and Sports Directorate, Sports Istanbul and IMM Sports Club, but also with many strategic affiliates such as BİMTAŞ and İPA.”
“INDEPENDENT OF THE DAILY CONFLICT OF POLITICS, WE SHOULD WORK TOGETHER”
Emphasizing that there is a promising picture ahead, İmamoğlu said, “There is no target that we cannot reach if we act together with the right strategies in the next process. The key word here is coordination. The coordinated action of all relevant institutions of our state, our municipality, other local governments that can provide support, our business world, our brands, our non-governmental organizations, our media and our people will bring us to a happy ending. I wholeheartedly believe this. Independent of the daily conflicts of politics, we must achieve this goal together as a city and a country. Today, we are launching an initiative that I believe is of great importance here, in order to facilitate the focus of all the institutions of the IMM, as well as the national and international components of the Olympics, on the target. We aimed to contribute to each relevant component by establishing a working group and setting the target of this group as the Olympics only, by establishing a task force. We are creating this structure to work with all the institutions and all authorized persons, especially the National Olympic Committee of Turkey.
“THE FUNDAMENTAL FUNCTION OF OUR WORKING GROUP WILL BE SUPPORT AND FACILITATOR”
Saying, "I would like to thank every member of our working group and wish them success," İmamoğlu said, "I believe that we will achieve the goals we have set with each more valuable than the other. All sports-related institutions of our municipality and state are working on the Olympics. However, the sole agenda of none of them is not bringing the Olympics to our country. Our Ministry, our federations are also responsible for the correct progress of daily, weekly or seasonal organizations. Relevant units of our municipality have different responsibilities such as getting 16 million people to do sports and bringing new stars to our sport. The first article and main function of our working group, which we have introduced to you today and accepted as a national team in the Olympic goal, will therefore be support and facilitation. By focusing on our goal of the Olympics, they will support each unit and make everyone's work easier.”
“THE EXPERIENCE OF OUR WORKING GROUP WILL BE IMPORTANT IN OUR DIALOGUE”
Noting that the second item was determined by a change in the criteria of the International Olympic Committee in recent years, İmamoğlu said, “In the old system, many candidate cities were working and a competitive approach was prominent. With the vision of our beloved Thomas Bach, these compelling and corrosive methods have changed. Now, the most important fact that comes to the fore in candidacy; dialogue. The second item in the job description of our working group will be dialogue," he said. Emphasizing that while bringing the "Olympic Study Group" together, they took care to select the important names who have been doing international studies in the business and sports world, academic field and taking part in the competitions for years, "Each member of our group has extensive national and international experience in their fields, International It will be important for us to ensure the dialogue that the Olympic Committee attaches great importance to.”
“IT WILL BE ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE GROUPS”
Stating that the third and fourth items in the road maps will be communication and projecting, respectively, İmamoğlu said:
“We have set the 2036 Olympic candidacy as a target together with our working group and the relevant institutions of our IMM. But as I mentioned in my previous speeches when I met you; This candidacy is not the ultimate goal, it is a means to introduce 16 million people to sports in Istanbul. We will have a lot of work to spread the Olympic philosophy to the masses. That's why we don't see our target as just 2036. We have taken our strategy from a broader perspective and positioned our group to work actively for the organizations in the coming years, even if we experience certain problems during the candidacy process. Our group will not only focus on one organization, but will contribute to all of the olympic organizations, studies and philosophy. Our Istanbul 2036 Olympic Working Group will immediately start working with the permanent Istanbul Olympic Office team we have provided for them, with different opportunities. It will be one of the most active groups with the contributions of our Istanbul Planning Agency, our relevant assistant general secretary, Spor Istanbul, and IMM Sports Club.”
YAVUZ KOCAÖMER commemorates
In his speech, İmamoğlu, not forgetting Yavuz Kocaömer, one of the important names of the Turkish sports world, who passed away last week, said, “I would like to commemorate our esteemed elder Yavuz Kocaömer, who devoted his life to the development of paralympic sports in our country. May God have mercy on him, I also convey my condolences and patience to all his fans, especially our sports community. Turkish and world sports have lost a very important value. We are very sad as a nation and as a sports community," he said. Emphasizing that the doors of the Istanbul Olympic Office are open to anyone who wants to contribute to their goals and to every component of the sports world, İmamoğlu concluded his speech with the following words:
“OUR OFFICE WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED JUST OF STONE AND BRICK”
“As in the words of Sinan Erdem, one of the pioneers in the Olympics and sports in our country, which I often quote; Our office will not be just stone and brick. We aim to create a center where the Olympics, sports, a life focused on movement, the best information, ideas and feelings about people and sports are shared. He will carry out important works with the sports institutions and other departments of our municipality. Our group, which is dominated by our female members and young professionals, will contribute to all the activities we do with a focus on the Olympics. I think we have brought together a 'Dream Team' with the sporting expression. I wish all of them endless success in reaching our Olympic dreams and goals.”
After İmamoğlu's speech, the members of the Olympic Working Group also shared their views on Istanbul's journey to the “2036 Olympics”. Introductory meeting; CHP Istanbul deputies Gökan Zeybek, Turan Aydoğan, İBB bureaucrats, İBB Sports Club athletes and prominent names of the sports media also attended.
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