Belizeans participate in first Youth Olympic Games
A small team of track and field runners will be a part of history as they participate in the first ever Youth Olympic games. The competition starts on Saturday, but the three runners left for Singapore on Monday. News Five caught them just before they boarded their flight and we were told by the Chef de Mission that they are well prepared, but the fact that they don’t have a track to practice on locally might be a disadvantage to them.
Laurier Vaughn, Chef de Mission, Belize Track & Field Team
“For maybe over a hundred years or so we’ve had the Olympic games but the IAF has decided to engraft the younger athletes and so they have put together these games in Singapore that is called the First Ever Youth Olympic Games.”
Delahnie Bain
“So they will be going up against…”
Laurier Vaughn
laurier vaughn
“They will be going up against athletes from all over the world. We are taking a team of athletic track and field athletes. So they will be competing basically in the one hundred and the two hundred meters.”
Delahnie Bain
“Who are the runners you’re taking?”
Laurier Vaughn
“The runners on the team are Jaleel Lino, Jason Leslie and Leanne Murray.”
Delahnie Bain
“How long have they trained for this?”
Laurier Vaughn
“These are our normal national athletes so they’ve been in training for a while and they knew they were going on this trip from last November when they were selected.”
Delahnie Bain
“So you think they’re ready to go up against these international runners?”
Laurier Vaughn
“Well, based on the training that they have gotten and what Belize can afford them, they’re as ready as they can ever be because you have to take into consideration that we do not have a track. So when our athletes go out there that’s the first disadvantage they face. But they’re young and the experience that they’re going to garner from this trip should benefit them when we get the track and in the future when they become Olympians.”
The team will return home on September twenty-ninth.
What happend to the marion jones project for the kids?
Nice to see these kids doing something positive for themselves, i hope others will be inspired.
MADDYvanDIJK WAKE-UP!!!!! ……. Marion Who????? She fell from grace and admitted to cheating. Not the KIND OF role model we need. Come again…………
Good luck to all of the athletes, we wish you all the best! Go get them and stay healthy.