NOC launches commemorative book

The National Olympic Committee (NOC) of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has marked its thirtieth year as an organisation with the launch of a book entitled: “Our History 1982 – 2010”.{{more}}

The publication was officially launched last Tuesday morning at Frenches House and formed part of the “Road to London” campaign.

The 97-page book, which has ten chapters, catalogues the efforts beginning in 1982, to establish the NOC, by the early pioneers such as Dr Lennox Adams, who was at the time the head of the then St. Vincent and the Grenadines Amateur Athletics Association.

At that time, the NOC was referred to as the St. Vincent and the Grenadines National Olympic Association.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on March 27, 1987; hence, last Tuesday marked the silver anniversary of this country’s induction to the world organisation.

The book also documents participation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines at the various Olympic Games starting in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988; then Barcelona, Spain, in 1992, to Atlanta, Georgia, USA, in 1996, and on to Sydney, Australia, in 2000, as well as Athens, Greece, 2004, and Beijing, China, in 2008.

Also contained in the book are St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ sojourns to the Youth Olympics, the Pan American Games, the Central American and Caribbean Games, the Commonwealth Games and the World University Games in the period under review.

The books which are not for sale will be placed in the schools and libraries across St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the National Library, the Divisions of Technical and Vocational Education, Teacher Education and Nursing Education of the SVG Community College, the Police Training School among other institutions.

“It is a gift from us to St. Vincent and the Grenadines community; it is sponsored by the Olympic Solidarity, which is the development arm of the International Olympic Committee, and it is hoped that it will spur others to get involved in sports research,” General Secretary of the NOC, Keith Joseph stated at last Tuesday’s launch.

Joseph noted other publications are in the pipe line.

Joseph revealed that research has already been completed on Gloria Ballantyne, Orde Ballantyne, Victor Peters, Dr. Cecil Cyrus, Gideon Labban, Thaddeus Michael Findlay and Frank O Mason in this regard. (RT)