GOA mooting virtual Olympic Day activities

Jun 21, 2020 Sports

On 23 June, Olympic Day is celebrated all around the world and hundreds of thousands of people both young and old get moving and participate in sporting and cultural activities, such as runs, exhibitions, music and educational seminars. Over the last two decades, the event has helped to spread the Olympic ideals to every corner of the world.

Archery activities at last year’s Olympic Day at GOA’s head office in Lilliendaal.

According to head of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) K.A. Juman-Yassin, Guyana has not missed out on hosting Olympic Day activities for at least the last 24 years.
Olympic Day was introduced in 1948 to commemorate the birth of the modern Olympic Games on 23 June 1894 at the Sorbonne in Paris. The goal was to promote participation in sport across the globe regardless of age, gender or athletic ability.
Over the last 20 years, Olympic Day has been associated with Olympic Day Runs all over the world. From 45 participating National Olympic Committees (NOCs) in the first edition in 1987 and as of 2019 the large majority of the 205 NOCs participated.
However, with the coronavirus pandemic that has seen social distancing rules being implemented, many NOCs may be unable to host the traditional Olympic Day activities.
But, head of the GOA; Juman-Yassin, shared during an invited comment with Kaieteur Sport that the association is looking at having virtual Olympic Day activities via the popular Zoom platform. In addition, alternatives are being looked at for the Olympic Day run.
According to the Olympic website, “Olympic Day is developing into much more than just a sports event. Based on the three pillars ‘move’, ‘learn’ and ‘discover’, NOCs are organising sports, cultural and educational activities. Some countries have incorporated the event into the school curriculum and, in recent years, many NOCs have added concerts and exhibitions to the celebration. Recent NOC activities have included meetings for children and young people with top athletes and the development of new web sites directing people to programmes in their neighbourhood.”