The young photographer won the award with her photo of American Noah Lyles, the gold medalist in the men's 100m at last year's Paris Olympics.Continue reading
The International Fair Play Committee held its gala in Budapest on Monday after Hungary achieved world-renowned success when, on the initiative of the government, the UN General Assembly unanimously declared May 19 as World Fair Play Day, announced Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“We managed to achieve unanimous approval of this resolution at a time when the world is divided into blocs and fragmentation is rife, yet here, with a unanimous vote, we have managed to bring a little unity into world politics through the language of sport,” he emphasized.
He then pointed out that several sports ministers from other countries had also attended the event in person, including Zoran Gajić, Serbian Minister of Youth and Sports, and Mikhail Degtyarev, Russian Minister of Sport, with whom Mr. Szijjártó held talks on Monday afternoon. “This also shows that there is a good chance that, in the face of global blocs, we can make an effort to achieve normal cooperation, as a total of 92 countries, from the United States to China and from Germany to Argentina, supported our proposal,” he underlined.
Péter Szijjártó welcomed the news that Hungarian Olympic champion Dániel Gyurta, head of the sports diplomacy department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, was elected to the International Fair Play Committee on Monday.
We believe that mixing sport and geopolitics is harmful and should not be allowed, which is why we have always believed that a competition is only complete if representatives of all nations are allowed to compete,”
the Foreign Minister said. “In line with this, Russian and Belarusian competitors were also present at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) at the end of last year. We hope that this year’s World Judo Championships will be no different. And we hope that world politics will develop in such a way that no one will be able to prevent the international sports movement and the international Olympic movement from finally spreading throughout the world, and that athletes from all over the world will be able to compete against each other,” he concluded.
In his speech at the Fair Play Awards Gala on Monday evening, the Minister emphasized that humanity is going through a difficult period, with wars and serious international conflicts raging around the world and global security at its worst since the Cold War. “We Hungarians are fighting against the re-bloc formation of the world. And we believe that sport itself is perhaps the best tool for this. Our best ally in this struggle is the world of sport,” he stated.
Péter Szijjártó at the International Fair Play Committee’s gala. Photo: MTI/Lakatos Péter
Péter Szijjártó said that
Hungarians are fully aware of the importance of sport, as it is one of the most important factors in our country’s status as a strong and successful nation despite its small size.
“Here in Hungary, we are the true home of sport. Our capital, Budapest, is also the world capital of sport (…) And when we think about diplomacy, we consider sports diplomacy to be one of its most important pillars,” he emphasized.
He concluded by saying that when people of good will stand behind good causes with good proposals, even countries that are otherwise hostile to each other and in conflict with each other are capable of representing a common position. “I believe that the spirit of the Olympics is rooted here and is directed towards this goal,” he said.
The committee also elected a new president on Monday. Jenő Kamuti was replaced by Sunil Sabharwal, who was born to a Hindu father and a Hungarian mother.
Via MTI, Featured photo via MTI/Lakatos Péter