On 16-19 July, Polyus hosted the Company’s VII Olympics in Yakutia. 11 teams from Moscow, Magadan, Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk gathered together to compete for the gold medal. Over 250 athletes participated in the games.
This year the sports event coincided with the 95th anniversary of Yakutia’s gold mining industry.
The hosts, Polyus Aldan, had undertaken extensive preparations, including the building of a 100-bed dormitory, and the renovation and refurbishment of the Metallurg sports facility as well as local school and gymnasium sports arenas in Nizhny Kuranakh.
The opening ceremony for the VII Olympics took place at the Seveki Centre of Culture and Ethnography.
In his opening speech Alexey Noskov, Managing Director of Polyus Aldan, welcomed the athletes:“Polyus is one large, close-knit family. The fact that competitors and company employees have travelled long distances to participate and just catch up with each other is real proof of this. We are one Polyus team united by a corporate spirit of cooperation and mutual respect. I wish you all an exciting and fulfilling competition, victories and fun meetings!”
The opening ceremony featured on-stage performances and a traditional ceremony held by representatives of the Evenki people.
Over four days, Polyus’ athletes competed for medals in table-football, volleyball, streetball, tug-of-war, ping-pong, athletics, power-lifting, chess and kettlebell-lifting.
Anna Rogova, a competitor in the games, and Chief Economist and Methodologyst at ZDK Lenzoloto, shared her thoughts:“I am completely overwhelmed by the competition. Polyus Aldan did a fantastic job in organizing our internal Olympics, and we are all very grateful.”