NOVOGORSK /Moscow Region/, December 21. /TASS/. The outgoing year of 2018 was a success for the Russian sports on the whole, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said on Friday at the extended board meeting of the Sports Ministry.
"The year of 2018 was successful for the Russian sports," Golodets, who oversees issues of culture and sport in the Russian government, said. "It includes major tournaments, which changed an approach to sports in Russia."
"First of all we speak about the [FIFA] World Cup, which was a grand political sports event that changed the attitude of Russians to sports on the whole and the foreigners’ perception of Russia," she said. "The organization of the tournament and the innovations used during the world championship serve now in numerous regions."
The deputy premier also said that this year Russian athletes won at various international tournaments a total of 146 gold medals, adding that "This is a brilliant result."
This summer Russia hosted its first-ever FIFA World Cup, which kicked off in Moscow with a remarkable opening show at Luzhniki Stadium on the evening of June 14 and ended with a spectacular final match, played also at the Luzhniki Stadium, where France confidently defeated Croatia 4-2 to win the much-coveted World Cup Trophy.
The country selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they were Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.
The national football team of hosts Russia managed to make it to the quarterfinals stage of this world championship, where Croatia edged them out in a 4-3 penalty shootout win on July 7 at the Fisht Arena in Sochi.