XXIX Olympiad-Team Seychelles return from Beijing Olympics |28 August 2008

The first batch of Seychellois athletes and officials returned a week ago – on Wednesday August 20.

Community Development, Youth, Sports and Culture minister Vincent Meriton led shuttlers Georgie Cupidon and Juliette Ah-Wan, Anniessa Benstrong and Dave Bonnelame who took part in the youth camp and sports doctor Kenneth Sherwin home on the day.

Speaking to Sports Nation yesterday afternoon, Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (Socga) president Antonio Gopal said: “I made it my duty to watch all the Seychellois athletes in action in Beijing. In general, I’m quite happy with their performances. Some athletes put in a lot of hard work to improve their results and perform way beyond what we expected, while others did not when the Games were a good opportunity for them to showcase their talents.”

As Seychelles will have to wait another four years – in London in 2012 – to try to capture the elusive Olympic medal, Mr Gopal noted: “We now have to analyse all the results as we are convinced Seychellois athletes have the ability to perform much better. Still a lot of work needs to be done to give our athletes the right preparation so that they can improve their performances and compete on a par with the top-class athletes of the world.”

Regarding athletes’ discipline, former Olympian Gopal, who headed the Seychelles delegation in China, said “they were exemplary and behaved well.”

The nine athletes who defended the country’s colours in Beijing were Juliette Ah-Wan and Georgie Cupidon (mixed doubles badminton pair), Tony Lespoir (canoeing), Allan Julie (sailing), Terrence Dixie (weightlifting), Lindy Leveau-Agricole and Danny D’Souza (track and field athletics), Shrone Austin and Dwayne Didon (swimming).
Five of the nine – a record for Seychelles – qualified for Beijing.

This was Seychelles’ seventh time at the Games after making its debut in Moscow, Russia, in 1980. The country did not compete in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988.

Michel Bau was the chef de mission in Beijing and the other officials were Socga secretary general Alain Alcindor, attaché Juliette Zelime, Philip Albert (canoeing), Mikola Avilov (athletics), Paul Fanchette, Mervin Austin (swimming), William Dixie (weightlifting), Luo Guo Hui (badminton), Nelson Hoareau, Giedrius Guzys (sailing), Kenneth Sherwin and Don Oyao (sports doctors).

Twice Sportsman of the Year Cupidon carried the flag at the opening ceremony in Beijing.
At the end of what International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge termed “truly exceptional Games”, hosts China finished at the top of the medals standings with 51 gold medals. United States were second with 36 golds – level with their table-topping haul in 2004.
A total of 43 world records and 132 Olympic records were broken in different sports in China, which spent $43 billion on the event – three times more than the budget for the 2012 Games in London.

G. G.