Ilham Aliyev
Azerbaijan won eight medals, five of them gold, at the first ever Youth Olympics.
Congratulating the sportsmen and women, the president described their success as a historic achievement, AzTV reported.
Aliyev said the achievement was the logical culmination of consistent, fundamental changes in Azerbaijani sport and a source of national pride.
The president hoped that the athletes would do well in the London Olympics in 2012 and encouraged them to continue developing their skills.
Ilham Aliyev said that all organizations operating in sport in Azerbaijan had shown that they could work as a team and promised that everyone who contributed to the overall victory at the Olympic Games would be appropriately rewarded.
The president said that Azerbaijan's team for the Youth Olympics had included athletes from the regions of the country. He said that since 2000 Azerbaijan had built up to 30 Olympic centres and 10 other sports complexes in the regions. He said that by showing complete attention to the development of sport in the region, the republic was developing promising athletes.
He said that it was important that victories had been won in various sports in Singapore and stressed that sport, like any other field, should be the focus of multi-vector development.
Azerbaijan won gold medals in wrestling and weightlifting and silver medals in boxing at the Youth Olympics. A canoeist reached the quarter-finals of the canoe slalom.
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