Welcome ceremony for Tokyo Olympic champion Ivan Litvinovich in Minsk

An official ceremony was held at Minsk National Airport on 3 August to welcome members of the Belarusian delegation who took part in the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo.

Among the athletes and coaches who arrived home was Olympic champion in trampoline gymnastics Ivan Litvinovich.

The Tokyo champion was welcomed by representatives of the Belarusian National Olympic Committee (NOC), the Sport and Tourism Ministry, the Minsk Oblast Executive Committee, and youth organizations.

While accepting congratulations the champion said that he was not used to such attention.“It is nice to have such a warm welcome at home. It was a long journey to the gold medal, and this is the victory of our entire trampoline team. I have already said that I dedicated the victory to my grandmother, and I also want to thank my first coach Piotr Zaitsev who kept me in this sport and got me interested in trampolining. The national team, of course, took me to a completely new level, and together we all experienced these happy moments in Tokyo. What was the most difficult thing for me at the Olympics? Waiting for my final performance. Now I want to go home, see and hug everyone,” Ivan Litvinovich said sharing his impressions.

The national trampoline team has won gold for the second consecutive Olympics. Uladzislau Hancharou secured gold in 2016. The main secret of the ‘golden’ head coach Olga Vlasova is simple - hard work. “For the past five years we have been working hard, testing our athletes in different competitions. We scored high in jumping, which you cannot achieve in a week. Ivan's victory has cheered up everyone on the team: the years of work paid off. Happy victory to everyone!” said Olga Vlasova.

The 2020 Olympics are running in the Japanese capital from 23 July through 8 August. Team Belarus have won two medals so far: gold in Men’s Trampoline (Ivan Litvinovich) and bronze in Men’s High Jump (Maksim Nedasekau).

The Tokyo 2020 closing ceremony will take place at the Olympic Stadium on 8 August.

Press service of Belarus’ NOC

Photos courtesy of the Belarusian news agency BelTA and SB.BY