The biggest contingent of Team Seychelles for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro were to leave last night for Brazil.
Seychelles is being represented by 23 people consisting of athletes, coaches and other officials at the games from August 5-21 in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro – which means ‘River of January’, so named because the first explorers came to the harbour in January and mistakenly thought it was a river mouth.
Of the 10 athletes who will compete against some of the world’s best, five earned qualification to the Games and they are boxer Andrique Allisop, judoka Dominic Dugasse, windsurfer Jean-Marc Gardette and sailors Allan Julie (Finn) and Rodney Govinden (Laser).
Female high jumper Lissa Labiche, male 400m hurdler Ned Azemia, weightlifter Rick Confiance and swimmers Alexus Laird and Adam Viktora will all be competing on invitation.
A first batch of athletes left for Rio on July 23 and they consist of windsurfer Gardette and sailors Govinden and Julie, as they needed to adapt to the Brazilian waters.
During the recent sending-off ceremony, Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (Socga) president Antonio Gopal urged the athletes to do their best at the games and reminded them that all athletes are equal.
“My coach used to tell me that before any competition, all athletes are equal. It is only after the competition is over that we know who was first or last, so I want you all to keep that in mind when you compete,” he told the athletes to push them to go to their limits.
This will be ninth time Seychelles takes part in the Olympic Games after making its debut in Moscow, Russia (formerly USSR) in 1980. The country has also taken part in the Games in Los Angeles, USA in 1984; in Barcelona, Spain in 1992; in Atlanta, USA in 1996; in Sydney, Australia in 2000; in Athens, Greece in 2004; in Beijing, China in 2008; and in London, England in 2012. It missed only the 1988 Games in South Korea because of its partial support of the North Korean boycott.
So far, no Seychellois athlete has won a medal at the Olympics and this year to encourage the athletes to strive to be Seychelles’ first ever Olympic medallist, the Seychelles government is giving a reward of R1 million for a gold medal, R750,000 for a silver and R500,000 for a bronze.
The 2016 Olympic Games will begin on August 5 with the opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium and will end on August 21.
Socga president Antonio Gopal, Socga secretary general Alain Alcindor, National Sports Council chief executive Giovanna Rousseau, Michel Bau (chef de mission), coaches Linda Jeanne, Carlos Sanchez (athletics), Rival Payet (boxing), Calix Cesar (judo), Emilios Papathanasiou (sailing), Paul Fanchette, Ian Murray (swimming), MacDonald Henriette (weightlifting) and Frederico Esposito (windsurfing), doctor Ken Freminot and physiotherapist Darryl Reid make up the rest of the Seychelles delegation.
Sailor and Sportsman of the Year Rodney Govinden will be Seychelles’ flag bearer at the opening ceremony.