The official clock counting down to the 2017 FINA World Aquatics Championships was started at a few minutes before 10 a.m. on Sunday afternoon on Erzsébet Square in Budapest.
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The event’s moderator, popular television presenter Gábor Gundel Takács told reporters that the ceremonial act was taking place under the spell of the number seven; the countdown clock was started precisely 117 days, 11 hours, 7 minutes and 17 seconds before the official start of the FINA World Aquatics Championships on 14 July 2017.
The host also drew attention to the fact can use their smart appliances to view information on the Championship’s five locations on the podium set up in front of the clock, can take selfies with photos of some Hungarian water polo stars, in addition to which the smile metre set up under the clock will also show them how cheerful they happen to be.
In her speech, Minster of State for Sport Tünde Szabó stressed that Hungary is ready to host its largest ever sports event, with some one hundred thousand of its 350 thousand spectators expected to arrive from abroad.
“To become the best in the world in Hungary while hearing the Hungarian national anthem is every athlete’s dream, and in 117 days’ time it could become reality”, highlighted Ms. Szabó, according to whom the World Championships will give the country the opportunity to draw the world’s attention to itself with its sporting life, and accordingly to make history.
“The World Championships will be an unforgettable experience for competitors, coaches and fans”, the Minister of State declared.
Managing Director of Bp2017 World Championships Organisation and Managing Nonporfit Ltd. Éva Szántó highlighted the fact that according to estimates the summer Championships in Hungary, which promise to be spectacular and of high standard, will be watches by some three billion people around the world, and accordingly so will Budapest’s major tourist attractions.
“This is the first time in the history in the Championships that the synchronised swimming competition will be held at a separate location, in a poll built in Budapest’s City Park especially for the occasion”, she added. Ms. Szántó also mentioned that Buda’s Batthyány Square will also be transformed into a unique sports centre for a few day, where men and women will jump 20 and 27 metres respectively from the specially constructed diving tower, with the Parliament Building in the background. Open water swimmers will be competing in front of the Tagore Walkway in Balatonfüred, indoor swimming and diving events will be held in the Danube Arena, which was completed in record time, and water polo competitions will be vying for placings in Budapest’s Hajós Alfréd Swimming Pool, she told the present.
Hungary’s currently highest ranked swimmer, Katinka Hosszú, was also present at the clock-starting event. The three-time Olympic Champion told reporters she is approaching the Budapest World Championships as if it were another Olympic Games and had begun training to the event just a few days after the Rio Olympics, using the same training methods they had applied in previous years with trainer-husband Shane Tusup. Katinka said the fact that she has the opportunity to compete in front of a home crowd at the summer World Championships isn’t a burden, but an added motivation.
The 17th FINA Aquatics World Championships will be held in Budapest and Balatonfüred between 14 and 30 June.
(MTI)
