Honored President of the European Olympic Committees, members of the European Olympic Festival organising Committee and National Olympic Committees and other distinguished guests. Hyvät kutsuvieraat.
My name is Irene Roivainen, I´m the Chair of the City Council. On behalf of the City of Tampere, I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to this reception at the Old City Hall, where the European Youth Olympic Festival host city contract was signed back in December 2007.
The city of Tampere was founded 230 years ago and the Old City Hall was built one hundred and eleven years later in 1890. So this building is 4 years older than the The International Olympic Committee (IOC(constituted itself on 23 June 1894).
The Old City Hall has long been at the centre of political events in Tampere. During the Civil War in 1918 the fraction called Reds made the Old City Hall their base. Most of those defending it were women soldiers. Traces of the ravages can still be found in this building.
In the mid-1960s, the building became a PR facility for the city administration. Over the years, the Old City Hall has become home to some of the finest Finnish works of art. I hope that you find time to wander through the building tonight and take a closer look at these wonderful works of art.
I wish to warmly thank all the young athletes, their coaches and support teams for attending the 10th European Youth Olympic Festival in Tampere. We have had an opportunity to host teams from 49 European countries However, this has only been possible because of the trust and support that our city has received from the European Olympic Committees in organising this event. Financial support from the European Union, the Ministry of Education’s national lottery funds and other partners has also been crucial for the success of the games. I would like to thank all of these groups as well as the Finnish Olympic Committee, the sports organisation Hämeen Liikunta ja Urheilu, local sports clubs and all the volunteers.
The main themes of the Tampere European Youth Olympic Festival have been sportsmanship, ecology and economy. As far as I know, we have successfully fulfilled all of these priorities.
The festival was a great success overall, in particular in terms of the sporting events.
We were especially delighted to have a high turnout of spectators. You could sense the young athletes’ tremendous enthusiasm at the competition venues and this also filtered back to those watching on television. I hope that everybody will take home good memories of Tampere and the Olympic Festival here.
Ladies and gentlemen, as Patrick Hickey, President of the European Olympic Committees, reminds us in the festival bulletin in the spirit of both the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de Coubertin, and the current president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge: one of the Olympic movement´s prime concerns is the health and happiness of future generations. I would like to add one more aspect to this perspective: sports and fair play create social capital in communities and this plays an important role in diminishing social problems and in strengthening democracy and peace in our societies – not only in Europe, but also in a wider global context. The building we are in at the moment reminds us of the importance of these values. On behalf of the city of Tampere, I wish every success to the hosts of the 11th European Youth Olympic Festival, the city of Trabzon, Turkey.
Ladies and Gentlemen, hyvät naiset ja herrat:
I am honoured to welcome you all to this European Youth Olympic Festival closing reception. I hope that you have enjoyed your days here in Tampere and that you will enjoy your time tonight here in the Old City Hall. We wish you a very warm welcome.
(Raatihuonetta käsittelevä teksti perustuu teokseen Järvelä, Ari (2007): Tampereen Raatihuone – Pormestareiden talo).