Dear South Bohemians, visitors to our beautiful region, active and occasional sportspeople, ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to Olympic South Bohemia!
This year will be under the sign of the world’s greatest sporting festival, the XXXI Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Few of us will have the opportunity to attend this important event in person, which is why we, South Bohemians, in cooperation with the Czech Olympic Committee, have decided to bring the Olympics to your door.
Maybe you will wonder why the South Bohemian Region in particular is involved in this activity? Let me give you a concise and frank answer: We want to get you all off the sofas in front of your televisions, out into the open, to do active sports. And believe me, we have plenty to offer.
The South Bohemian Region is far from being a treasure chest of heritage sites surrounded by a clean environment – it is also a region providing an endless array of opportunities for actively spending leisure time. The diversity of South Bohemia will be appreciated by everyone whose idea of rest is an active holiday. This is primarily thanks to the constantly expanding network of services connected with sports, such as rentals of boats, bicycles and other equipment.
The offer of adrenaline experiences such as rock climbing, tandem skydiving and paragliding is also increasingly diverse. The landscape criss-crossed by rivers is perfect for canoes and rafts. Golfers will also have a field day – in the chateau setting of Hluboká nad Vltavou, in the wilderness of Bohemian Canada around Nová Bystřice, the eighteen-hole course by Lake Lipno, and many other courses will satisfy every player. The absolute unique feature is the Lipno treetop trail, the first in the Czech Republic. You can cross South Bohemia on foot, by bicycle, on horseback or on skis. Lake Lipno is a true paradise for yachting. The Vltava River downstream is a great challenge for many canoeists.
The Czech Olympic Committee wishes to take the opportunity of the Olympic Games in Rio to promote sports and an active lifestyle. We have offered the ideal location where visitors can try various Olympic and other sports while supporting the Czech team in going for the gold. Thus, the Olympic Park will be built on the shores of Lake Lipno with the support of the International Olympic Committee.
However, our activity is certainly not only focused on the Olympic season in August and the Lipno area. The Olympic South Bohemia project begins on 1 January 2016 and follows up on the previous regional projects, Active South Bohemia and Hussite South Bohemia. We want people in other parts of South Bohemia to also enjoy the Olympic spirit. That is, the objective of the Olympic South Bohemia project is to let as many people as possible experience various types of Olympic sports. Not only summer sports, but winter sports as well.
We are living in tremendously turbulent times filled with concerns, fears and uncertainties. But I believe that, also thanks to our common Olympic project, we will find new strength and energy to successfully and bravely face the problems around us. Perhaps just the way Pierre de Coubertin fought for the reinstatement of the Olympic Games.
Mgr. Jiří Zimola, Governor of the South Bohemian Region
Dear sporting friends, dear South Bohemians,
When thinking how best to follow up on the success of the Olympic Park built in Letná in Prague on the occasion of the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014, we wanted to find people and a place who would really appreciate such an event. I am sure that we have found such people and such a place in South Bohemia.
The enthusiasm of the people around the Olympic South Bohemia project, including those among of the highest representatives of the Region led by Governor Jiří Zimola, has convinced us that we can fulfil one of the principal objectives of the Czech Olympic Committee here. That is, to get more people in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia to move.
I am very pleased to see that the Olympic South Bohemia project will enable the Czech sporting public to experience the Olympic year 2016 originally and, more importantly, actively. It is splended that South Bohemia will live the Olympic idea not only during the Rio Games but that sporting events and sports activities will take place throughout the year. Moreover, sports and the Olympic idea will really affect the whole region.
People in South Bohemia - whether locals or visitors - will then be able to experience the Olympic Games themselves in the Rio – Lipno Olympic Park. It will be a place directly connecting the Czech team in Rio with their supporters at home, where visitors will be able to become part of the Czech team at least remotely. Sports will be the primary purpose of the venue. And, even this high-point of the sporting year in South Bohemia will spread across the smaller municipalities around Lake Lipno.
We on the Czech Olympic Committee are convinced that sports at any level bring people a sense of pride for their achievements, whether they are victories or the equally valuable sense of improving. I believe that Olympic South Bohemia will help people experience this sense of pride.
Personally, I am looking forward to South Bohemia, and Lipno in particular. Being a former rower, I spent many a beautiful moment of my sporting life there, and I remember them very gladly upon every visit to the area.
I wish sports and the Olympic idea a beautiful year in this Region,
Jiří Kejval, President of the Czech Olympic Committee
