(Special coverage from London 2012)
In what resembled a carnival atmosphere without the bachannal we have become accustomed to from our own Carnival, St Lucia’s delegation at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, received a warm welcome during a Team Welcoming Ceremony on Monday at the Olympic Village.
Team Welcoming Ceremonies extend a formal welcome to the athletes who hear their national anthem played and flag raised. As you know not every athlete appears on the podium. Sad to say but for many it is the only opportunity they get to see their country recognized in this manner.
The ceremony featured a thrilling display by artists from the London National Youth Theatre who did tumbles, cartwheels and bicycle tricks. One official described the theme as “a mixture of punk celebration song, dance, acrobatics which is welcoming in every language.”
St Lucia’s delegation at the welcoming ceremony included members of the St Lucia Olympic Committee (SLOC) other officials and of course the athletes Levern Spencer (high jump), Darvin Edwards (high jump), Danielle Beaubrun (swimming). St Lucia’s fourth Olympic athlete was unable to attend the ceremony.
Commenting on the proceedings along with St Lucia’s presence in London, General Secretary of the SLOC, Alfred Emmanuel said: “What we have seen so far is fairly all right. From an organizational standpoint everything seems to be very well in place. All in all we are hoping the athletes who only came in on Sunday, would adjust comfortably and get the job done.”
What is the mood in the St Lucian camp? Alfred replied: “All the athletes came here very upbeat and look forward to giving it their best shot. They have a little over one week to get adjusted and prepared, so we are going to take it one day at a time. We will be talking to the technical persons responsible for them, in order to get a fairly good sense as to where they are in terms of their competition level.”
(For more exclusive coverage from London see Wednesday’s STAR newspaper)
Comments are closed.