Prince Albert Gets Ready for Rio 2016

The town of Prince Albert hosted a successful Olympic Day on Saturday, 4 October 2014 at the Zwartberg High School.

The Western Cape Provincial Sport Confederation (WCPSC) and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) partnered with the Central Karoo District Sport Council and the Prince Albert Municipality to expose the people in the Central Karoo to the world-wide experience of International Olympic Day.

The commemoration of this day was initiated by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) to form part of the build-up to the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  A decision was taken to host it in the rural areas of the Western Cape to promote sport outside the Metropole.   Guests of honour included representatives of SASCOC, the DCAS, the President of WCPSC (Goliath Munro), the mayor of Prince Albert Municipality, Olympic star Lungile Tsolekile and also Western Cape federation representatives.

The theme of the day was "move, learn and discover". The Mayor of Prince Albert led about 400 participants from all over the Central Karoo district through Prince Albert in a march past. The participants included children from schools and clubs who painted posters of each town of Central Karoo and made olive wreaths which signified the ancient Olympic Games. A memorable and touching moment was when the Mayor lit the Olympic Torch with the renowned theme song of Chariots of Fire to symbolise the opening of our own Olympic Day.

Locals participated in the sport codes of running, rugby, football, netball, boxing, tug of war, wrestling and indigenous games. LoveLife taught participants about the importance of life skills within sport. An excited Deano Goliath from Prince Albert said that his dream was to play rugby and score tries at the Olympic Games. Paula Miljiet added that she enjoyed the Olympic Day. “I am grateful because we were given this beautiful day to celebrate Olympic Day. I enjoyed Tug of War and learned to play netball. The Olympic Day is fun. It feels like a festival” said an excited Miljiet.

The Mayor said that the Olympic Day definitely made a tremendous impact on the economy of the town and in the lives of young people. It was a well organised day and he believed that they are now ready for much bigger events. The Mayor said that he would like to thanks DCAS, WCPSC and the Central Karoo District Sport Council for bringing the Olympic Day to Prince Albert. He ended off by saying "In Prince Albert, we believe that together we can do our best in the best interest of our people".

The Department will continue to roll out the Olympic Day programmes throughout the province and teach sport participants the meaning of the Olympic Values.