Courtesy: Hungarian Swimming Association, Szabolcs Birkas-Kovats
The LEN European Aquatics Championships – Budapest, 2021 which due to the COVID pandemic were held a year later, welcomed a record field of 51 countries out of the maximum 52 European Federations (with only Gibraltar missing the event). This, the general pandemic circumstances (with varied vaccination rates around the continent) and the fact that cca. 4.000 people ranging from athletes, coaches, volunteers organizers to other contributors who all spent their weeks in an “intelligent bubble” meeting strict protocols, triggered an idea to devote one of the most valuable advertising space to frontline workers.
Right behind the LED perimeter along the 50m swimming pool we paid tribute to frontline workers, first of all to medical personnel, to law enforcement officers, members of the armed forces and also to teachers who have all been doing their very best to support communities and people in need during the pandemic.
One could see, during the broadcast and on several official pictures, the bilingual message in English and Hungarian along with the 5 pictograms of frontline workers. Below and around the messages of thanks we also featured the same communication in each main European language with at least a “Thank you” note, but we also indicated a longer communication addressing fans and viewers with the recommendation of elite athletes: “Thank you frontline workers! Stay safe everyone, do sports & exercise on a regular basis.”
From the diving community British star Tom Daley became an ambassador of this great message along with many swimming teams – Austria, Germany, France, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Switzerland just to name a few – together with the team of local organizers and volunteers.
From the Local Organising Committee we were delighted that both LEN and many national federations joined our initiative directly linking athletes and sports stars with their local communities and frontline heroes in their respective countries!
