Ghana to celebrate World Olympic day on June 24

The Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) will join other National Olympic Committees (NOC) to observe this year’s edition of the Olympic Day on Saturday, June 24, 2017.

The day would be held under the theme – ‘Move, learn and discover.’ Ghana would mark the day with a walk/run from the campus of Martyrs of Uganda Basic School to the Accra Sports Stadium with participants drawn from Keepfit Clubs, athletes, selected schools and the general public.

The walk is also expected to feature Members of Parliament from Ablekuma South (Alfred Oko Vanderpuye), Odododiodio (Nii Lantey Vanderpuye) and Osu Klottey (Dr Zanetor Rawlings).

Other expected participants would be the Executives of the GOC and the Presidents of the various National Federations.

At the Accra Sports Stadium, participants would be taken through some aerobics while some selected disciplines like; weightlifting, judo, armwrestling, taekwondo and tennis would have an exhibition.

President of the Ghana Olympic Committee, Mr Ben Nunoo Mensah would address participants with other speeches from the Sports Minister, Mr Isaac Asiamah and the Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Mr Robert Safo Mensah.

The International Olympic Committee created the Olympic Day as an event to commemorate the establishment of the Olympics and also to educate the sport loving people and the society about Olympism.

The Olympic Day is a festive event bringing together people of all age and from every background. The activities must be linked to Olympism and its promotion.

In January 1948, the IOC approved the idea of Olympic Day to commemorate the creation of the IOC on June 23, 1894 in Paris, a sort of “birthday” of the Olympic Movement at the 42nd IOC Session in St Moritz, Switzerland.

Olympic Day was held for the first time with a total of nine National Olympic Committees (NOCs) hosting ceremonies in their respective countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Great Britain, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The Olympic Day is usually held with 1.5 km Olympic Day Fun Run, 5 km, and 10 km running activities.