MOC suspends Olympic Day event - Nation Online

Source: The Nation Online
Author: Joy Ndovi

Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC) has suspended activities to commemorate this year's International Olympic Day which falls on June 23.

MOC had earlier planned to hold several sports activities to mark the day at Kamuzu Institute for Sports in Lilongwe.

However, following government's declaration of 21 days of mourning and the subsequent suspension of all sporting activities by Malawi National Council of Sports following the death of Vice-President Saulos Chilima and eight others, the event has been cancelled.

MOC director general Naomi Chinatu confirmed the news in an interview yesterday.

She said: "All activities within the mourning period were cancelled. We will resume after July 1."

Chinatu said apart from the Olympic Day celebrations, they also lined up other activities which have all been cancelled.

"We had a governance meeting with MOC affiliates, Athletes Commission Workshop, Game Changer Workshop and Olympic Day celebration," she said.

In a statement after Chilima's death on June 10 in Mzimba, Sports Council announced the suspension of all sports events until further notice.

Reads the statement in part: "Sports Council would like to advise all sports associations and affiliates to temporarily suspend all sporting activities until further notice.

"The temporary suspension provides an opportunity to the sporting fraternity to join His Excellency Dr Lazarus Chakwera, the President of the Republic of Malawi and the nation in mourning the departed Vice-President and eight others, who served the country with distinction."

The International Olympic Day is celebrated annually on June 23 to commemorate the anniversary of the founding of the International Olympic Committee in 1894.

This year's International Olympic Day commemoration comes just over a month before the Paris Olympics of 2024 starts.

Through the 1978 Olympic Charter, the International Olympic Committee requests all National Olympic Committees across the world to include a celebration of Olympic Day as part of their own yearly activities.

According to the International Olympics Committee website, the International Olympic Day attempts to "celebrate the values of solidarity, inclusion and sustainability".