Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023 |12 June 2023

Group photo of the athletes, coaches and delegates (Photo: Neil Sirame)

Special Olympians urged to bring gold medals in send-off ceremony

Youth, Sports and Family Minister Marie-Celine Zialor, National Sports Council chief executive Marc Arissol, Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association president Antonio Gopal and other delegates led the send-off ceremony of Seychelles’ Special Olympics team who are to leave this morning for Berlin, Germany to take part in the 16th Special Olympics World Games from June 17-25.

The ceremony took place yesterday afternoon at the L’Escale Resort & Spa.

Addressing the attendees, Minister Zialor said Seychelles intends to build a global coalition which begins with Germany revolving around the Special Olympics. The minister also expressed her desire to bring the local Special Olympics programme to its past glory days.

“We have been working since last year in collaboration with national coordinator Hellen Ernesta to reignite such initiatives and use sports to get people with special needs to flourish at an early age and in their schools,” said Minister Zialor.

She mentioned that they are continuously working with the Ministry of Education and the Cabinet of Ministers alongside President Wavel Ramkalawan who have given their approval and blessings for Seychelles to join the coalition.

The minister added that they are working with the National Sports Council to include more events in the annual budget so that Special Olympics athletes can take part in many events during the year.

To conclude, Minister Zialor congratulated the 10 athletes who have qualified for the Games and wished them the best and at the same time expressed her gratitude towards the Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (Socga) and NSC for supporting these special athletes in their endeavours.

National Sports Council chief executive Marc Arissol said the NSC values all its athletes and as the local governing body for sports it is proud and happy to contribute 10 plane tickets to the Special Olympians, thus giving them an equal chance as regular athletes.

“We will continuously support the Special Olympians,” said CEO Arissol.

CEO Arissol reminisced about the past performances of the Special Olympians who won gold medals in such games, before wishing them well and urging them to perform to the best of their abilities.

“As it was the case in the past, we are expecting more gold medals to make our small country proud,” said CEO Arissol.

Head coach Erica Celeste said they began training early in February and sessions were intense as there are athletes who will be making their debut in the games.

“We have high hopes that the new team will bring great results just as our motto says: ‘Nou oule gannyen me si nou pa gannyen o mwen nou’n eseye’,” said head coach Celeste.

The afternoon was lit up by performances from the Seychelles National Youth Council’s cultural troupe.

Team Seychelles at the Games will be made up of Donelle Ernesta (girls athletics), Jean-Marc de Silva and Anil Quatre (boys athletics), Graham Jacques, Anielle Charlette – from La Digue – Peter Valentin, Maggie Estico – from Praslin – Aleandro Croisée, Suzie Sarakkya – from Mahé – (bocce), and Richard Sophola (power lifting).

The team will be accompanied by head coach Erica Celeste, coaches Olivier Nibourette, Vincent Cedras, Rency Balgobin, Jean Vardin, Hellen Ernesta (head of delegation), Raymonde Onezime (assistant head of delegation) and Dr Mickey Noël (medical).

For the 16th Games, Seychelles received ten quotas, including six bocce players (three male and three female), three track and field athletes (two male and one female), along with one power lifter.

For bocce, a pair has been picked from the three main islands, while for athletics, the names of all first-place finishers in the various events were put in a bag, where three names were picked.

The names of male and female athletes were put into different bags for a fair selection process.

The first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in 1968, while the first International Special Olympics Winter Games were held in February 1977 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, United States.

In 1991, the name was officially changed from International Special Olympics Summer/Winter Games to Special Olympics World Summer/Winter Games.

Neil Sirame