2016 triple Olympic gold medalist Katinka Hosszu helped unveil the 17th FINA World Championships countdown clock in Budapest, accompanied by Hungary’s State Secretary for Sports and Executive Director of Budapest 2017. The ceremony took place on Sunday, March 19th at Erzsebet Square within Hosszu’s home nation’s capital. Starting exactly 117 days, 11 hours and 7 minutes and 17 seconds before the Opening Ceremony, the World Championships countdown clock officially started ticking at 9:53am on Sunday.
As State Secretary for Sports dr. Tunde Szabo said: “Hosting the FINA World Championships is a great diplomatic success that reinforces the Government’s right decision of considering sport as a strategic branch for Hungary, financing and supporting it directly, constructing and developing venues and facilities and hosting international events in order to make the country’s sport more prosperous and famous around the world, and to raise more active, healthier generations.”
Eva Szanto, Executive Director of the Budapest 2017 Organising Committee added: “The FINA World Championships are among the greatest and most popular sporting events of the world – it is followed by around six billion viewers internationally, while tens or hundreds of thousands of spectators will have the chance to watch the action live. Not only the venues will be spectacular, but the competition itself as well: the heroes of the Rio Olympics will fight again in Budapest, and we will see the future greats of Tokyo 2020, and hopefully some great Hungarian triumphs, too. We will celebrate champions in a total of 75 events at the 17th FINA World Championships.”
Hosszu expressed what Budapest 2017 means to her, as she stated: “For me, it is great that this year Budapest is hosting the FINA World Championships. It would have been a little bit difficult to fully regain my motivation after the Rio Games, where my dream of becoming an Olympic champion had come true. However, having the World Championships on home soil feels almost like another Olympics was coming up.”
“I have already learnt that racing in front of home crowds should make the competition even more inspiring, more fun – and not put extra pressure on the athlete. Having such a great number of fans supporting us is quite extraordinary, we only see the positive side of it. The anticipation gives me additional energy to swim those last couple of meters at my trainings knowing what is waiting for me this summer.”
The clock will remain in Erzsebet Square until the end of the Championships, which are slated for July 14th through July 30th.
A piece of advise on booking for those who visit the meet in person:
Summer is by default very busy in Hungary having music festivals all along. Hungary is welcoming around 150.000 guests for the worlds. At the same time there will be an international Red Bull event and the formula one gp.
Cheaters from unknown origin are already well prepared for the extra demand. Before you book your accommodation online, make sure that there is no small print like you would be charged right away or other unusual stuff. Also, give a call to the hotel. It has just happened to my daughter that she called a hotel to complain and they did not speak English, not… Read more »
Thanks for the advice, I have already book my trip. I need to check.