Dear Athletes!
We are delighted to be hosting you for the European Athletics Championship U20. Forty-eight European countries will be participating in four days of festivities here in Jerusalem, Israel.
Sport connects people; and a competition is an impressive show of ability and achievement, bringing the national identity of the country one represents into the competition.
Athletics represent perseverance, discipline, technique and achievement. I wish you success in bringing all these to the competition together with your individual cultures, which will make for an interesting, diverse and exciting competition.
In recent years Israel has been hosting a growing number of international sport events. We hope that you will enjoy all you see here concerning sport, and its associated culture, and will return here to visit and enjoy all that Israel has to offer.
Many thanks to the Israeli Athletics Association, the City of Jerusalem for hosting, and the European Athletics Association, and good luck to all the athletes in the championships.
Best wishes,
Miki Zohar
The Israeli Minister for Culture and Sports
