Anniversary of the Olympic Reserve School

The first youth sports school was opened in Bendery in the post-war year 1949. Leonid Ivanovich Peretz, front-line soldier, holder of two orders of the Patriotic War, Order of the Red Star, became its leader. He is considered the founder of the sports movement in the city. The school regularly hosts tournaments in memory of the legendary sports figure. The first in the opened school was the Greco-Roman wrestling section. This sport was gaining popularity among post-war youth. Young men became owners of high awards. This is the merit of the legendary athlete and coach Gennady Badanov. The school is named after him today. In the 60s, the school has sections on Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, boxing, sambo, cycling and fencing. Bendery becomes a center of attraction, where the teams of the Union republics come together. 19-year-old Vladimir Putin was preparing for the USSR sports and athletics meeting at a training camp in 1971. In 1974, the school receives the status of an Olympic reserve. Athlets began to master judo.

Since 1949, sportsmen of the school won 19 medals at championships and championships of the Soviet Union, including 9 gold, 7 silver and 3 bronze. Since the foundation of our republic, another 108 medals have replenished the sports piggy bank: 23 gold, 27 silver and 57 bronze, won at world, European and CIS countries. The current director of the School for Children Joseph Geris has led for over a quarter of a century. Joseph Geris is well known in Bendery not only as a coach, but also as an active public figure and organizer of sports competitions and public events.

A number of the best employees and athletes of the school were awarded with state awards in the framework of the celebration. They received letters of thanks of the President and the Chairman of the Supreme Council from the hands of the vice-speaker of the parliament Galina Antyufeyeva.