0
0
The leadership and some members of Saint Lucia’s Athlete’s Commission were formally presented on Wednesday, June 19, 2019, as one of the events marking Olympic Week 2019. Secretary General of the Saint Lucia Olympic Committee Inc., Alfred Emmanuel, said that a number of meetings spanning over the period of a year were scheduled to get the Commission going.
“An Athlete’s Commission is a body of eligible athletes that will be responsible for highlighting Athletes’ issues and assist with their own development over time”. “It is mandatory for us as an Olympic Committee to have this Commission going. We have been back and forth with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) legal department on it,” said Emmanuel.
Eligible athletes of the Commission would be those athletes who would have participated in one of the last three editions of either a Central American and Caribbean Games, a Panamerican Games, a Commonwealth Games or an Olympic Games.
He noted that “the (IOC) legal department assisted the Saint Lucia Olympic Committee with the rules and regulations that will guide the operations of the Commission”.
“While we are an Olympic Committee / Commonwealth Games Association, the IOC would have desired only Olympians to be part and parcel of this body, but we had to write to them stating that most of our eligible Olympians no longer lived in Saint Lucia, and while the overseas-based athletes are entitled to be members of the Commission, we believe that our athletes’ interest will be best served with people at home rather than those living abroad.
In light of this, the IOC has been flexible and has agreed to allow us to encourage eligible athletes who would have participated in all Games under our umbrella to become members,” he added.
Emmanuel however stressed that the Chairperson must be an Olym-pian and the only one on the island who meets the criteria at this point in time is Beth Lygoe who competed in Sailing at the 2012 London Games.
Other members in the leadership of the Commission are Kurt Maraj – Cycling, Germaine Altifois- Fenelon – Netball, Makeba Alcide -Athletics and Joseph Clercent – Volleyball. Emmanuel told the leaders of Commission that they will set up their own electoral process going forward and will be left on their own to conduct their affairs without interference from the Saint Lucia Olympic Committee Inc. “We will be there to assist in terms of a meeting venue and provide you with space and other logistical support for you to function properly. We have fully entrusted the leadership of the Athletes’ Commission to take up the mantle and run with it,” Emmanuel concluded.
SOURCE: Ryan O’ Brian, Public Relations Officer Saint Lucia Olympic Committee Incorporated
