The 2nd European Games 2019 (, Jeŭrapiejskija huĺni 2019; , Yevropeyskiye igry 2019), also known as the 2019 European Games or Minsk 2019 (; ), were held in Minsk, Belarus, from 21 June to 30 June 2019. The games featured 200 events in 15 sports (23 disciplines). Around 4,000 athletes from 50 countries participated. Ten of the sports offered qualification opportunities for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. The opening ceremony at the Dinamo Stadium was held on 21 June, and the closing ceremony at the same venue was held on 30 June.
Host selection
A number of countries and cities expressed their interest to host the second European Games in 2019 but only the Netherlands submitted an official bid. At the meeting of an Extraordinary General Assembly on 16 May 2015, the Netherlands was unanimously approved as host of the second edition of the Games. The competition intended to be nationwide and based in seven cities, including Amsterdam, The Hague, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Utrecht. On 10 June 2015, the Netherlands announced their refusal to hold the second European Games after insufficient funding for the Games, projected to cost €57.5m. The European Olympic Committee president, Patrick Hickey said the news was "disappointing". Following this, a number of countries expressed interest in hosting the games: Belarus (Minsk), United Kingdom (Glasgow), Poland (Poznań), Russia (Kazan and Sochi), Turkey (Istanbul).
In November 2015, Russia was announced as a future host country for the II European Games. At the same time, the WADA began its investigation of the doping scandal in Russia which led to the IOC's refusal to support the holding of major sports events in Russia, including the second European Games.
During the meeting of the EOC General Assembly, held in Minsk on 21 October 2016, Minsk was selected as a host city for the second European Games. A contract was signed on 1 September 2017 by the chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Andrei Shorets, the president of the EOC Janez Kocijančič, the Minister of Sport and Tourism of Belarus Alexander Shamko, first Vice-President of the NOC of Belarus Andrey Astashevich, Director of the 2nd European Games 2019 Georgy Katulin, Secretary-General of the European Olympic Committees Rafael Pagnozzi.
+ 2019 European Games bidding results City Nation VotesMinsk Unanimous
Development and preparations Organising committee On 12 May 2017, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree on the Foundation of the Directorate of the II European Games 2019. The founders of the foundation are the National Olympic Committee, the Minsk City Executive Committee and the Ministry of Sports and Tourism. Georgy Katulin, General Secretary of the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus, was appointed the CEO of the foundation in August 2017. In November 2017, the management launched the official website of the games.
In April 2019, Lukashenko announced that the Games were on budget and on time and that "everything should meet the highest standards". Sergei Rumas, Belarus's prime minister and the head of the organising committee also said that all the facilities would be finished by 15 May and that "95 per cent of the equipment has already been installed".
On 20 May 2019, Lukashenko signed Decree No.191, entitled "On security measures during the 2nd European Games in Belarus". It gave the Ministry of Defence the power to restrict access to certain areas and placed a ban on drones, unmanned aerial vehicles and model aeroplanes at competition venues. Drones and planes violating the decree will be seized until 2 July, when the Games end.
Volunteers The start of the volunteer selection began in September 2017 during the "Dobrofest" and registration ended on 1 April 2019. In April 2019, the head of the volunteer network for the Games, Nadezhda Anisovets, said that the appeal resulted in 24,000 applications, much larger than the 8,000 needed for the Games. Most of them are students of Belarusian universities. Applications were also received from 52 other countries including Russia, Australia, the USA, Mexico, and Egypt. The basic requirements for the candidate are communication skills and high English-language proficiency. The selected volunteers will be involved in over 34 functional areas. Each volunteer will be given a special uniform, badges and souvenirs.
On June 30, 2019, Tony Moore performed his composition “We Are The Light” at the closing ceremony of the European Games 2019 in Belarus. The song was written to honour the 8000 volunteers who helped host the Euro Games in Minsk 2019.Closing ceremony of 2nd european games minsk 2019 in Dinamo Stadium. Belarusian Telegraph Agency. (2019, July 2). https://eng.belta.by/society/view/closing-ceremony-of-2nd-european-games-minsk-2019-begins-in-dinamo-stadium-122396-2019/
Transportation On 27 December 2017, it was announced about the finalising of the development of a comprehensive transport service plan for the competition, based on the needs of all stakeholders and the experience of the previous Olympic and European Games host cities: Beijing, London, Baku. The main goal of the developed plan is to optimise the routes in such a way that any participant can get to any stadium in no more than half an hour. Rail services between Masyukovshchina (Minsk-Arena), Belarus (regatta course Zaslawye) and Loshitsa (Čyžoŭka-Arena) will operate with higher frequency during the event. In addition, the existing bus network will be expanded by 10 to 12 new routes to the competition sites, which will run up to 300 buses and trolleybuses.
In August 2018, new digital information boards were unveiled in order to improve the public transport network for foreign visitors. Valery Shkuratov, the director of Metropolitan Transport and Communications (the firm which manage the transit systems in the city), said that more than 270 displays had already been installed.
In October 2018, it was announced that the Minsk metro would have full 4G coverage by the time the Games began. The next month, fourteen taxi companies in Minsk as well as several governmental and administrational departments signed a memorandum of understanding to guarantee fair prices during the Games. In March 2019, it was announced that the taxis adhering to the scheme would carry a logo to enable customers to identify them.
Venues
The Organising committee plans to involve already existed sports facilities after their renovation. The opening and closing ceremonies, as well as competitions in track and field, will be held at the Dinamo Stadium (Minsk, Kirov, 8).
Athletes, team officials and other team personnel will stay on the grounds of Minsk University, which has the capacity to host up to 7,500 people. The students have been evicted for the duration of the Games and given alternative accommodation. Part of the village facilities has already been put into operation, part of it will be completed by April 2019. Each apartment has two bedrooms and can hold up to 4 people. The village also has a canteen, gym, merchandise store and cultural centre.
Key to coloursEExistingNNewRRenovated
Venue Sports Capacity Dinamo Stadium Ceremonies, athletics 22,000 R Olympic Sports Complex (Minsk) Archery, beach soccer 1,500 N Palova Arena Basketball 3×3 1,000 E Uruchie Sports Palace Boxing 3,000 E Minsk Sports Palace Sambo, wrestling 3,300 E Minsk-Arena Gymnastics 8,000 E Minsk Arena Velodrome Cycling track 2,000 E Čyžoŭka-Arena Judo, karate 8,800 E Sporting Club Shooting 300 E Shooting Centre Shooting 250 E Tennis Olympic Center Table tennis 1,000 E Zaslawye Regatta Course Canoe sprint 1,500 E Falcon Club Badminton 2,000 E Minsk City Centre Cycling road N/A E
Torch relay The torch relay "Flame of Peace" was planned for before the games. In addition to traditional running with a torch, there were also creative performances organised along the route. The torch relay will last for 50 days and will cover 7,700 km. The relay will include 450 torchbearers, 100 volunteers and 10 flame keepers. The torch relay will begin on 3 May in Rome. European Olympic Committees, 1 January 2019
The torch itself was designed by Yulia Braychuk, weighs 1.7 kg and is 81 cm tall. It is made from stainless steel and can be attached to a bike or wheelchair.
Route
3 May (day 1) Rome 4 May (day 2) Courmayeur 5-7 May Mont Blanc (5-7 May) Courmayeur (Return after descent on 7 May) 8 May (day 3) Ljubljana 9 May (day 4) Vienna Budapest 10 May (day 5) Bratislava Brno 11 May (day 6) Warsaw 12 May (day 7) Brest 13 May (day 8) Skoki 14 May (day 9) Kamyanyets Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park 15 May (day 10) Pinsk 16 May (day 11) Kudrichi Mikashevichy 17 May (day 12) Baranavichy Kosava 18 May (day 13) Grodno 19 May (day 14) Augustów Canal 20 May (day 15) Vawkavysk 21 May (day 16) Mir Navahrudak 22 May (day 17) Byarozawka Lida 23 May (day 18) Oginski Family Estate and Museum Astravyets Gervyaty 24 May (day 19) Vitebsk 25 May (day 20) Polatsk Navapolatsk 26 May (day 21) Yelnya Braslaw 27 May (day 22) Mosar Hlybokaye 28 May (day 23) Lepel 29 May (day 24) Orsha 30 May (day 25) Mogilev 31 May (day 26) Shkloŭ Aleksandryia 1 June (day 27) Horki 2 June (day 28) Slawharad Bychaŭ Chigirinsky reservoir 3-4 June (day 29, 30) Babruysk 5-6 June (day 31, 32) Gomel 7 June (day 33) Žlobin Krasnyy Bereg 8 June (day 34) Pripyatsky National Park 9 June (day 35) Turaŭ 10 June (day 36) Mazyr 11 June (day 37) Salihorsk 12 June (day 38) Niasviž Mound of Glory 13 June (day 39) Barysaw Zhodzina 14 June (day 40) Lahoysk Khatyn Memorial 15 June (day 41) Maladzyechna 16 June (day 42) Stalin Line Zasłaŭje 17-20 June (day 43, 44, 45, 46, 47) Minsk 21 June (day 48) Olympic Stadium
Participating National Olympic Committees All fifty European Olympic Committees member countries competed at the Games. Numbers in brackets denote the number of athletes being sent to the Games.
(host)
IOC Code Country Running Order Athletes BLR 30 233 RUS 13 218 UKR 15 197 FRA 43 185 GER 3 162 ITA 31 161 POL 10 151 ESP 35 150 HUN 38 125 ROU 37 124 CZE 5 124 TUR 34 110 GBR 49 101 POR 26 99 NED 45 87 BUL 32 87 AZE 27 83 SUI 41 77 SVK 18 74 LTU 36 73 SLO 6 72 EST 7 68 IRL 25 66 SRB 40 65 DEN 4 62 GEO 47 61 GRE 22 61 AUT 20 59 LAT 12 52 SWE 48 51 BEL 14 51 MDA 9 50 CRO 33 45 CYP 44 41 ARM 28 40 NOR 24 39 FIN 19 37 ISR 21 33 LUX 16 24 BIH 29 17 ALB 8 13 AND 11 12 KOS 46 12 MNE 17 9 MKD 42 9 ISL 23 7 MON 39 5 SMR 50 5 MLT 1 4 LIE 2 1 Total 4,082
The Games Opening ceremony The opening ceremony was held at National Olympic Stadium Dinamo and ran from 22:10 to 00:45 FET. It was produced by Russian company Art City 5, and was directed by Alexander Vavilov (Belarus) and Alexei Sechenov (Russia). Augmented reality imagery was used during the ceremony. The main musical performers were Anna Netrebko, Ilya Silchukov with Elena Salo and Dimash Kudaibergen. During the parade of nations, Greece entered the stadium first. The host nation Belarus marched last, while other countries entered in English alphabetical order. Each delegation is escorted by girls in dresses representing the Kupala wheel, a symbol of the sun for Eastern Slavs decorated with traditional Belarusian ornaments. Attending the ceremony was President Alexander Lukashenko, who opened the games, Janez Kocijančič of the European Olympic Committee, as well as other foreign delegations such as Igor Dodon representing Moldova, Aleksandar Vučić representing Serbia as well as Dmitry Medvedev and Ramzan Kadyrov representing Russia. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who was due to attend the ceremony, left early due to the civil unrest in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
Sports