4-day Olympic education program kicks off in Bandarawela tomorrow

• Key initiative by National Olympic Academy with the participation of South Asian Regional NOCs

The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka will conduct its 16th National Olympic Academy Session in Bandarawela from 22-25 November.

The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka has been involved in many academic programs for the past three decades, educating Sri Lankans especially the youth on the Olympic Values of “Excellence, Friendship and Respect” through different educational programs. With the ideal of promoting Olympism among the youth – “The Future Adults”. The National Olympic Academy (NOA) was established in 2001 in Bandarawela. This year, the 16th NOA session will be held at the Military Academy, Diyathalawa in Bandarawela for four days. The Sri Lanka Army is supporting NOA this year to give more practical exposure to the participant by exposing them to the environmental sensitivity in the hill country of Sri Lanka. Especially this will be a fresh experience for the all participants including the participants from the other countries of South Asian Region. The Central Environmental Authority (CEA), flagship of the nation in protecting and managing the environment, also will be involved in this year’s NOA session to deliver their specialised knowledge to the participants. Also, reputed academics and area specialists will be engaged in the session to make it more productive.

Sixty participants representing the State Universities, National Sports Federations in Sri Lanka and South Asian Regional National Olympic Committees will take part in this four 4-day program. Dr Samantha Nanayakkara, a Senior Lecturer in Sports Studies of the University of Colombo, is leading the 16th NOA session as the Course Director. NOC Sri Lanka Secretary-General Maxwell de Silva is the organiser of the 16th NOA session.  

The theme of the 16th NOA will be on ‘Olympic Values as a Sustainable Tool for Environmental Action’. The opening ceremony of the Session will be held on 22 November and it will be graced by the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Lieutenant General L. H. Shavendra C. Silva WWV RWP RSP VSV USP ndc psc. It is the first time of NOA Sri Lanka history that the Commander of Sri Lanka Army is adorning the NOA session. Director General of the Central Environment Authority will grace the occasion as the Guest of Honour. 

NOC Sri Lanka President Suresh Subramaniam will conclude the session as the Chief Guest to be held on 25 November. Both ceremonies will be held in ‘Torch Cinema’ Building at Diyathalawa Military Academy.

When we go back to the history of the IOC’s environmental sustainability journey, it started in 1992 from the United Nations (UN) Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at which the IOC was represented. Two years in 1994, at the Centennial Olympic Congress in Paris, part of the IOC Session was devoted to a debate on sport and environment. The discussion led to calls for the inclusion of a provision in the Olympic Charter underlining the necessity for the Olympic Movement to demonstrate responsible concerns in preserving the environment. The organisers set themselves five “green” goals. Historically, more than a million large bushes, 290,000 trees and 11 million small trees were planted in the city during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. At Rio 2016, a comprehensive carbon compensation program generated over 2 million tonnes of carbon reductions. Finally, The IOC Executive Board approved the IOC Sustainability Strategy in the same year in Brazil.

Soon after obtaining the approval by the IOC Executive Board, NOC Sri Lanka sought to launch an environmental sustainability program in Sri Lanka under the auspices of Olympic Solidarity and International Olympic Committee. As NOC Sri Lanka planned, the globe’s very first environmental sustainability project under the theme of ‘Give the Reef another Chance’ was launched in Polhena, Matara on 25 June. This is initiated to replant coral reef around Sri Lanka for the next three years to sustain the environment for the next generation.

As the continuation of the theme, the NOA session will also highlight the importance of the environment through Olympic Values as a sustainable tool to the youth participants of Sri Lanka and our South Asian neighbours.