Source: www.guardian.co.tt
By: Nicholas Clarke
The British High Commission and the T&T Olympic Committee celebrated the one year mark until the opening of the 2012 London Olympic Games during a ceremony at the House of the British High Commissioner Arthur Snell in Maraval on Wednesday evening. Addressing a gathering of guests including 1976 100m Olympic gold medallist Hasely Crawford, Snell said that the city’s multicultural roots made it an ideal venue for the quadrennial event.
“The reason that London is so honoured to host the Games, is of course that London is an international city. London in everyone’s city. These Games are not Britain’s Games they are everybody’s Games. “In one of the five boroughs that host the Games you will find 110 languages spoken by the residents, which gives you the sense of just how much London is genuinely a global city. So that means that these Games are everyone’s Games from T&T to across the world.”
Snell commended double Olympic gold medallist and head of London’s bid to host the Games, Sebastian Coe, for his noble intentions in wanting to bring the event to England. “He said something, I think quite profound, about what his ambition was for the Games. He said that he hoped that the Olympics would reach young people all around the world and connect them to the inspirational power of the Games so they are inspired to choose sport, improving their lives as a result...
“Sport transforms lives because it gives people discipline, helps them understand the value of teamwork, application and continued effort, and that’s something at the heart of the London Games vision.” In his address, President of the T&T Olympic Committee Larry Romany pointed out that much of T&T’s international reputation had been built on the accomplishments of its sporting icons.
“Hasely Crawford, Ato Boldon and Brian Lara, all of these heroes of sport really represent T&T as the masters and ambassadors, and in our travels across the globe, what we have found is that everybody who knows T&T knows us through either sport or culture.”
He added that it was important to ensure that the right infrastructure was put in place to nurture the talents of next generation of the country’s athletes. “When we look at the Olympic Games and we see the athletes from T&T marching into the stadium, it’s easy to think that this is the be all and end all for these athletes, but what we must understand is that it takes many years of preparation.
“In most countries it takes 15 years to make an Olympic athlete and we need to come to that realisation and understand what it means to ensure that we have a good physical education programme in schools and have good sporting bodies operating in T&T that provide athletes with a pathway to success.”