Georgia’s European Youth Olympic Festival ends
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, August 4
The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) that opened in Tbilisi on July 27 was festively closed on August 1. Our country ranked 10th by earning 4 gold and 6 bronze medals. Nine out of ten medals were won by Georgian judokas.
The closing ceremony was opened with a Georgian national anthem, after which Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili addressed the athletes and spectators. The PM thanked the organizers and all those organizations, sportsmen and individuals who put their merit in a successful conduct of the event.
The PM stressed that the experience Georgia gained through the international event would be very beneficial for Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic intentions.
“Each minute of the festival is precious for me. I became a witness of a special devoutness to a job; professionalism, braveness, strength, team work and fair competition were all strongly in evidence over the course of the week.
“The festival is closing but it grants us a special inheritance for our future advancement.
“I hope that all athletes enjoyed best time here and will return their homes full of positive emotions,” the PM said.
The PM also stressed that the festival also left important legacy, referring to newly built sport venues, among them swimming pool, tennis courts, gymnastics, volleyball and athletics arenas.
He also stressed that the blocks of flats in the Olympic village built specially for the event would be handed over to Internally displaced people( IDPs).
After finalising his speech the PM handed over the Olympic flag to Hungary- the next host country of the Olympic Festival.
The Youth Olympic Festival ended with grand fireworks.
Results of the Olympics are as follows:
Russia won the first place by earning 17 gold, 9 silver, 11 bronze medals.
The 2nd place was taken by Italy with 12 gold, 2 silver and 10 bronze medals.
France ranked 3rd with 9 gold, 5 silver and 8 bronze medals.
4th place was taken by Hungary - 9 gold, 3 silver, 11 bronze medals.
Slovakia took the 5th place by winning 5 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze medals.
6th place was taken by Moldova with 5 gold and 2 silver medals.
7th was Great Britain - 4 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze medals.
8th was Spain - 4 gold, 7 silver and 6 bronze medals.
The Netherlands took the 9th place with 4 gold, 3 silver and 8 bronze medals.
The festival covered nine sporting codes and involved more than 4,000 athletes from 50 countries.
