Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was presented with the highest ranking award of the World Swimming Association (FINA) by the Association’s President Julio César Maglione in Budapest’s Parliament Building on Monday.
FINA presents the award to individuals such as heads of state, ministers, high ranking dignitaries, the heads of state of countries that host the FINA World Championships, to the presidents of associations and networks and others, as well as to FINA sponsors, who represent the goals and ideals of the Association in the spirit of sport and ethics.
When President Maglione presented the award to Prime Minister Orbán, he said: “As I have already told the press, this World Championships is also your personal achievement in view of the fact that the games were successfully organised within a period of only two years thanks to the fact that you provided all instruments necessary. This is a beautiful country, this is a great city; the people are wonderful and have a solution for everything, and it is you who represent them and you are our friend”.
In his thank you speech, Mr. Orbán declared that he knows very well that this prestigious award has been presented to the people of Hungary, and is happy to accept it in their name, because the world record according to which Hungary succeeded in preparing to host the World Championships in only two years is not a world record that has been set by the Government.
“It helps if a people have a good government, and it helps if they have a government that is committed to sport, but this achievement has been realised thanks to the joint efforts of the whole country. We began preparations for the games by introducing special legislation on the subject, which was supported by all parliamentary parties. This means that everyone, the whole population and all representatives of the international community, supported and stood behind the fact that we should set out on this great adventure and organise the event in such a short time”, the Prime Minister said.
“Sport is one of the most important things in the modern world”, he added.
“As a father, I can state that without sport mothers and father have no chance to raise and educate their children properly, to enable them to be competitive in future. We need sport.
And you, as the leaders of one of the world’s largest sports associations, can contribute to enabling children in all families throughout the world to grow up in the right way. This means that your activities are part of our lives. The Hungarians are very family-orientated, and we are grateful to you for assuring the operations of this very important organisation. Thank you for this award, and I will do my utmost to deserve it. I will have much work to do in future to achieve this, but I will do everything possible to merit this recognition”, Prime Minister Orbán said.