The Minister of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan, Ermek Marzhikpaev, has called for changes in athlete preparation methods, highlighting the poor performance of the national team at the Olympic Games in Paris. He stated, "There are traditional sports for us. It turned out that the preparation in these sports is low, and the results are poor."
At the recent Games, the Kazakhstan team managed to win 7 medals - one gold, three silver, and three bronze. Marzhikpaev reminded that last year the Kazakhstan team showed poor results at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, and 80% of the athletes who participated in the Asian Games went to the Games in Paris.
The Minister acknowledged that there was little time to prepare for the Games after the disappointing performance at the Asian Games. He also stated that the men's boxing team "did not show the best result at this Olympics", failing to win the "gold" for the second consecutive time at the Olympic Games.
Marzhikpaev was also disappointed with the performance of the track and field athletes. He said, "We expected good results from the track and field team, but our hopes were not met."
The Minister instructed sports federations to "develop a unified standard for athlete preparation and ensure the implementation of training courses for coaches and judges in accordance with modern methods". He also expects proposals "to attract foreign sports specialists, domestic coaches who are successfully working in a foreign country, as well as new approaches being implemented in the sports education system".
