Fun. Lively. Positive.
That was the verdict of some of the participants in the annual Barbados Olympic Day held at Brandons Beach last Sunday.
Steve Stoute, president of the Barbados Olympic Association, said that Olympic Day was known for its work to bring the joy of sport and the belief that sport is a human right for others to engage in. He added that he was satisfied with the turnout and hoped that the event raised awareness of Olympic values.
“I am quite happy with the turnout because Olympic Day started basically worldwide as a run and in Barbados we are a bit more innovative,” Stoute said.
“We attempted to introduce more people to participate in many other disciplines from chess right down to a run on the beach, and we are quite pleased with the overall objective.”
Stoute added that although it was early to discuss plans for next year’s event they would take steps to review this year’s.
“We will basically access the outcome of this year and perhaps we would use some elements of this year and see how we can improve and add different events and elements because this is what happens every year,” he said.
Ytannia Wiggins, who hosted the event, acknowledged that the major difference from last year’s event was a change in venue which paid dividends.
“It made a difference in changing the location because now a number of sports were played on Olympic Day,” she said.
“We have tennis and we have basketball. We couldn’t do these activities at Browne’s Beach so Brandon’s was the better option and because of it we have way more sports than we did last year.”
Assistant director of sport at the National Sports Council, Mona Alleyne, said one of the major differences was the inclusion of horseback riding, netball and volleyball.