Olympic Day Run had its Ups and Downs

The annual Olympic Day Run in celebration of Olympic Week was off and running, or in some cases walking, after the event got underway on Sunday shortly after 7:00 am in front of the Castries Central Market. From the starting point, participants made their way around a city block then on to the John Compton Highway. They proceeded to Nelson Mandela Drive leading up to the French Embassy. They then made a U-turn and continued to the St Lucia Olympic Committee House located opposite Massy Supermarket in La Clery, 340 individuals registered for the event. However, it was evident that not everyone showed up and not every sporting association was represented.

Secretary General of the St Lucia Olympic Committee Inc, Alfred Emmanuel, had mixed emotions when interviewed following the event: “I am always happy when people partake in the Olympic Committee’s activities as members, but I am extremely disappointed with two associations in particular and I am going to name them today: the Netball Association and the St Lucia Football Association. The turnout was extremely poor on their part. After speaking to the handful of people who came only this morning to register for the event, it is clear that the leadership of those associations, despite our many emails to them, did not circulate it to the general membership.”

I asked if the two associations would be reprimanded in some way. Emmanuel replied without hesitation: “Reprimanded in no way but I can assure you that there will come a time when we would be faced with requests from them for assistance and we will surely be going to take that into consideration.”

The Secretary General looked favourably on the associations who did take part in the Olympic Day Run, telling me: “I have always said that ‘two hands clap, one hand slaps’. We are not in the business of slapping; we are in the business of clapping.” Emmanuel, who kept a close eye on the proceedings, was asked if he took part in any way, shape or form. His response: “Well, if you look at the photos you would see that the general was rallying his troops today from the front. I did participate.”

Commenting on Olympic Week in general, the Secretary General said: “Well, it was an eventful week, a very stressful one for us. We did put on a lot of activities and were able to accomplish them, most notably the launch of the Athletes’ Commission. We were working on that for an extremely long period of time and we are happy now that we have an Athletes’ Commission. We have sent them on their way and it is up to them now to look after the interest of their athletes in their own setting.”