When it comes to the national "queen of sports", we are used to hearing the names of famous Kazakh runners Gusman Kosanov and Amin Tuyakov.
They are followed by the 2000 Olympic champion Olga Shishigina. Subsequently, the names of Dmitry Karpov and Olga Rypakova, who did not return from three Olympic Games without awards, are inscribed in golden letters in the history of sports.
Today, athletics is once again asserting itself at the best world tournaments.
On April 11, at the Rotterdam Marathon, Kazakh runner Zhanna Mamazhanova broke the national record in her discipline, which lasted 34 years. She covered the distance in 2 hours, 26 minutes and 54 seconds and took 3rd place. The previous result belonged to Zoya Ivanova (1987).
Less than a month has passed since we witnessed a historic moment in the national high jump. Nadezhda Dubovitskaya won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Serbia, breaking the bar at a height of 198 centimeters. This is Kazakhstan's first award at the World Championships in 10 years.
In general, over the past 4 years of athletics, 50 national records have been broken, many of which have been held for decades.
These achievements are the result of systematic work that has been intensively conducted since 2018 by the country's athletics community under the leadership of Federation President Danial Akhmetov.
Infrastructure issues are being consistently resolved. The Qazaqstan athletics complex in the capital was built exclusively for the "queen of sports". The complex in Ust-Kamenogorsk also meets all standards. Along with them, five more facilities are being built in the republic.
The Altay Athletics professional club has been created, which unites the best athletes and creates additional conditions for them. The club makes a significant contribution to youth sports. Under the auspices, two mass childrens competitions were held before the pandemic, in each of which 20,000 children and young men participated.
Interaction with the international association World Athletics is also an important vector in the work of the federation.
The trust on its part is obvious: in 2019, our capital held the World Running Day. Only 24 cities in the world have received such a right. In 2021, World Athletics gave the federation the right to become one of the speakers of the Global Conversation program on the development of world athletics until 2030. Kazakhstan is also the only CIS country where the World Athletics Continental Tour series tournament is held, which includes the traditional "Qosanov Memorial".
The Asian Athletics Association entrusted Nur-Sultan with holding the 10th Asian Indoor Championships, which will be held in February 2023. At the same time, two members of the Kazakhstan Federation are included in the three most important commissions: for competitions, development and media.
Want to believe that the domestic "queen of sports" is on the right path of her "rebirth". The number of young people involved in athletics in the country has increased significantly, this is a fact. The official championships of the country break records in the number of participants. And marathons and mass races are becoming more popular.
