Archive of the President of Kazakhstan prepared a special historical and documentary exhibition. The event is devoted to the 28th Winter Universiade in Almaty. The exposition covers the period of nearly a century of Kazakh national sport’s development: from the 1930s to the present time. The exhibition features thousands of official documents, orders, resolutions, correspondences, and photos evidencing the development of sport in Kazakhstan. The exhibition is divided into three periods.

BORIS ZHAPAROV, DIRECTOR, ARCHIVE OF KAZAKHSTAN’S PRESIDENT:

In 1936, the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party of Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic decided to establish a Republican Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, which was the big push for the development of mass sports in Kazakhstan. The exhibition’s second section is devoted to the period from 1946, the end of the WWII, until 1991. That is the Soviet period. The third period is the period of independence.

Moscow Olympics 1980 brought the gold medal to the legendary wrestler Zhaksylyk Ushkempirov. He said that was the happiest day in his life.

ZHAKSYLYK USHKEMPIROV, OLYMPIC CHAMPION, MOSCOW OLYMPICS 1980:

Kazakh athletes win medals in every Olympics. Kazakhstan’s flag rises up and we hear our national anthem. I am happy to see that Kazakhstan becomes more recognizable thanks to the new generation of athletes.

Then at the Moscow Olympics, the athletes of the Kazakh SSR won 16 medals! This record was beaten by young Kazakh athletes only in the last year’s Rio Olympics. Thus, Kazakhstan’s national team won 17 Olympic medals in Brazil. The Kazakh President’s Archive will soon be replenished with new documents and photos evidencing the achievements of Kazakh champions at the 28th Winter University Games.