Komšić: Olympic Games in Sarajevo a Triumph of Spirit and Building of the Republic

(Patria) - Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željko Komšić addressed tonight the ceremonial academy marking the 40th anniversary of the XIV Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo.

The academy was held at the National Theatre Sarajevo, and we bring the speech of Chairman Komšić in its entirety:

"Your Excellencies,
dear friends,
ladies and gentlemen…
welcome to Olympic Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

I wish to begin by thanking all the athletes here tonight for your presence, especially those who competed in the Sarajevo Olympic Games. It is also a particular pleasure that tonight we are joined by the President of the friendly Republic of Slovenia, whom I greet and once again welcome to Sarajevo. To Sarajevo, which exactly 40 years ago, according to the words of the then President of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, organized the best Winter Olympic Games up to that point.

Why were these the best organized Games up to then? There are many answers to this question, and many among us may have different answers, but I dare say that the main reason they were the best organized Winter Olympic Games is that at that time we were among the best-organized societies in the world, however that may sound to someone today.

Without any unnecessary pathos or excessive nostalgia for times past, which almost always seem beautiful even when they are not, let alone when they are; I assert that the Bosnian-Herzegovinian society of that time was in every sense at its zenith, that is, at the peak of its creative, working and moral potential.

When I say this, I also feel a kind of deep gratitude towards the generation of people who dared to embark on the project of organizing the Winter Olympic Games. Gratitude not only to the people who had a clear vision of the importance of the Olympic Games for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sarajevo, but also gratitude to a working generation of people who, in their enthusiasm and faith in the common good, were willing to set aside even from their own incomes to present ourselves to the world in the best light.



That generation succeeded in this and thereby proved to themselves and others that the decades of work and effort that preceded it were not in vain. Bosnia and Herzegovina went from being a small and underdeveloped Republic to a Republic capable of organizing events at the highest level, from the backwoods to the center of the world.

Of course, neither Sarajevo nor Bosnia and Herzegovina were alone in this. And therefore, from this place, I want to thank all those from the former Yugoslavia, from Triglav to Vardar, who helped organize the Olympic Games in Sarajevo, and those who participated in their organization and holding. Without their contribution, the organization itself would not have been the same and at such a high level. The Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, beyond everything in organizational and sporting terms, are also a triumph of spirit. It was a victory of our common idea that we can be the best in everything we undertake with true zeal and enthusiasm.

The feeling of collective pride that permeated us in those days left a deep mark on all of us who witnessed that time and those events.

We were proud because the world came to us and proud that we were the world, that is, its better side that lives on the principles of humanism, solidarity, friendship and equality.

Unfortunately, just when we believed that the sky was the only limit, it was as if all the hatred of the world poured down on this city and state, and within a few years what had been built for decades disappeared and was burned. The aggressor against our state destroyed all Olympic venues and competition sites during the war, and worst of all, wounded the soul of this City, from which we are still recovering, with more or less success.

The organization of the Youth Olympic Festival in 2019 restored hope and reminded us of the days of the Winter Olympic Games, and it is also one of the nicer events in recent years.

That event prompts us to think about the underutilization of our potentials, but at the same time represents an opportunity for some new generation of our people to set before themselves the challenge of organizing the Winter Olympic Games, and once again make what seems difficult, complicated and demanding, a part of our reality. I believe that those who are just now entering sports and other fields can succeed in this".