The Serbian city Subotica has recently hosted an important promotional weightlifting event in the context of its formal designation as the European City of Sport for 2024. Tens of young people and weightlifting lovers had the opportunity to participate in several weightlifting sessions under the coordination of more experienced athletes and technicians from the local weightlifting sports club and the representatives of the Serbian and European Weightlifting Federation. The event was organized in the central city square on June 6, 2024, with the support of the EWF.
The recognition of the European City of Sport 2024 title is awarded by ACES Europe, according to the principles of responsibility and ethics, being aware that sport is a factor of aggregation of the society, improvement in the quality of life, psycho-physical well-being, and complete integration within social classes in the community. ACES Europe is a non-profit association based in Brussels that assigns every year the recognitions of City of Sport. ACES Europe awards the European Capital of Sport title, an initiative that has received the recognition of the European Commission in the White Paper (Art. 50). In addition, ACES Europe is an official partner of the European Commission in the European Week of Sport, and an official partner with UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
At the event, the Serbian Weightlifting Federation and the Subotica Weightlifting Club “Spartak,” the most successful Serbian club, were represented. Members of the club have won numerous medals at European and World Championships.
Weightlifting is a sport that requires exceptional preparation and training and brings numerous benefits. “This sport is good for developing strength, explosiveness, and motor skills. I would encourage young people to take up this sport. It is not an easy sport; it is challenging“, said Aleksandar Saulic, who has been practicing weightlifting for six years and won a bronze medal at the European Championships in Bucharest last year.
“Weightlifting is progressing both here and globally. The idea is to show the citizens what Olympic weightlifting is and to demonstrate that children can train in this sport under expert supervision. This is one of the fundamental Olympic sports, which has been present at all Olympic Games“, underlined Ervin Roznjik, coach of “Spartak”.
The European Weightlifting Federation recognized the importance of this activity.
“It is not new that the best weightlifters from this region come from Subotica. We identified great talent in Tamas Kajdoci in 2014, who won a medal at the Youth Olympic Games, and many European and World championships medals. Subotica’s athletes have won 16 medals at the European Championships, 9 at the World Championships, and 1 at the Youth Olympic Games
Additionally, wrestlers from this city are well-known for winning numerous world medals, so it is no surprise that Subotica was declared the European City of Sport. The European Weightlifting Federation supported the promotion of this event in this city and Serbia, for which we are immensely grateful“, concluded Prof. Dr. Milan Mihajlović, General Secretary of the European Weightlifting Federation and President of the Serbian Weightlifting Federation.
This is one of many sporting events taking place in Subotica this year, and the local authorities and Serbian Weightlifting Federation thanked the European Weightlifting Federation for their involvement. The recognition of the European City of Sport 2024, awarded by ACES Europe, allowed Subotica to play a leading role in the national and European sports system, not only in relation to competitive sports but also the basic level one. The prestigious title was awarded to a number of 13 cities on our continent, Subotica standing out for its direct approach to promoting our sport.