VZCZCXRO7129
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAH #1370 2901309
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161309Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1720
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4410
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2222
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 2087
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 2658
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2979

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001370 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR ECON EINV SOCI TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN BUILDS AN OLYMPIC VILLAGE COMPLEX 
 
¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2. (SBU) President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov loves sports. 
The pictures you see in the official press and the posters 
hung in the two Ashgabat stadiums show an active man, who 
loves to ride his bike along mountain roads.  They also show 
an aficionado of martial arts, who, just recently, was 
awarded the sixth-level black belt in karate.  Every school 
opening has children demonstrating all kinds of sports.  The 
send-off for the country's 10 Olympic athletes was a grand 
affair, replete with performances by pop stars and a parade 
of local athletes.  Given his love for sports, the president 
was very disappointed that Turkmenistan's team was the only 
Central Asian Olympic team to not win any medals in the 
Beijing games.  His anger was presaged because prior to the 
team's departure for China, the president publicly criticized 
the head of the State Tourism and Sports Committee for not 
preparing the athletes properly. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Since returning from the Olympics in Beijing, 
Berdimuhamedov has set a great goal for his country that 
hopefully will lead to Olympic glory.  He decided to 
construct 200 sports schools all over Turkmenistan with 
places for 75,000 students and to construct an Olympic 
complex to prepare for the country's eventual hosting of an 
international sports event.  On October 14, Berdimuhamedov 
inaugurated this dream at a formal ceremony attended by 
government leadership, the diplomatic corps, businessmen 
hoping to serve as sub-contractors on this project, a 
visiting group from the Chinese Communist Party, and 
thousands of screaming, cheering students.  Berdimuhamedov 
told the group of diplomats that Turkmenistan hoped to bid to 
host a future Asian Games. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Construction will start on the Olympic complex in 
2009, and it should be completed by 2015.  The Turkish 
company Polimeks will build the complex in the southern part 
of Ashgabat.  The complex will include a reconstructed 
Olympic stadium with seating for 60,000; a 10,000-seat ice 
hockey arena; a sports hockey boarding school; a para-olympic 
center; a 5,000-seat natatorium; an outdoor swimming pool 
with seating for 3,000; a 3,000-seat covered tennis court; 
cycle track with stands for an audience of 3,000; a 
3,000-seat area for wrestling, boxing, weightlifting, and 
fencing; a 10,000-seat area for gymnastics; 11-12 training 
halls; medical and rehabilitation center; 500-bed hotel; 
800-bed hotel with press center; business center; shopping 
mall/trade pavilion; 1,000-seat restaurant; residential 
buildings for 12,000; and cultural and social centers. 
 
¶5. (SBU) At the ceremony, we spoke with an American 
architect, who works for the British architectural firm HOK 
International Ltd.  He was there, along with about 30 hopeful 
sub-contractors, because his firm wants to get a contract for 
planning and landscaping for the Olympic complex as well as 
for phases II and III of the Avaza tourist zone on the 
Caspian.  He said that the event and his visit had been 
delayed for a week due to the president's schedule. 
Originally, Polimeks had arranged to bring U.S. Olympic 
champion Carl Lewis to the ceremony, but the change in dates 
made that impossible. 
 
¶6. (SBU) COMMENT: The Turkmen no doubt are hoping that if 
they build this complex, the Olympics or Asian Games will 
come.  We are less sanguine.  We also doubt that the Turkmen 
will host an international event with ice hockey.  One 
Turkmen official remarked to us that this complex will put 
Sochi to shame, which may be one reason the Turkmen are 
building it.  END COMMENT. 
CURRAN