XVIII Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia-Seychelles to participate in seven sporting disciplines |10 January 2006

Seychellois sportsmen and women will compete in seven of the 16 sporting disciplines. Those seven disciplines are athletics, boxing, weightlifting, badminton, table tennis, swimming and cycling.

The names of the officials and athletes who will represent Seychelles in Melbourne are yet to be made public.

This will be the fifth time Seychelles participates in the Games after past participations in Auckland, New Zealand in 1990; Victoria, Canada in 1994, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998, and Manchester, England in 2002.

Seychelles has won just three medals – two silver and a bronze - in these Games which see the participation of athletes coming from Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and Oceania.

All three medals were won by boxers who have retired and are now coaches.

The two silver medals were won by Roland Raforme (heavyweight) and Jerry Legras (light welterweight) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998, while Rival Cadeau (now Payet) won the bronze medal for Seychelles in Victoria, Canada in 1994.

Payet, it is must be noted, missed out on a possible silver or gold medal after failing to be on time for his semifinal bout against Irishman Jim Webb who went on to capture the gold medal.

After returning home empty-handed from the XVII Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England in 2002, and not even one Seychelles record in athletics, swimming, weightlifting and cycling broken as local athletes performed poorly, it was the second time Seychelles did not win medals at the quadrennial Games.
The first time was in 1990 in Auckland, New Zealand when the country made its first appearance in the Games which are also known as the Friendly Games.

This year’s Commonwealth Games is to be an amalgamation of sporting prestige and cultural diversity. With the inclusion of Festival Melbourne 2006, the Games will not only be a demonstration of sporting prowess but a celebration of human inspiration.

It must be noted that from June 4 to 9, 2005, Seychelles became the 21st country to host the Melbourne 2006 Queen’s Baton Relay, the world’s longest, most inclusive relay, travelling more than 180,000 kilometres and visiting all 71 nations of the Commonwealth in one year and a day.

The Queen’s Baton arrived in Seychelles on Saturday June 4 from neighbouring Mauritius, and visited different places on Mahe, Praslin and La Digue before heading for Tanzania via Nairobi, Kenya on Thursday June 9 to continue its African leg of the journey.

The baton is now in the Cook Islands, the 68th of 71 Commonwealth destinations.

The Queen’s Baton Relay has been the curtain-raiser to every edition of the Commonwealth Games since 1958 in Cardiff, Wales. It symbolises the gathering of people from across the Commonwealth at the four-yearly festival of sports and culture.

The ongoing relay started with a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, London on March 14, 2005 and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II entrusted the baton containing her message to the athletes safely enclosed in a memory chip to the first honourary relay runner.

Supermodel Elle Macpherson, Australian sporting star Cathy Freeman, and UK sporting stars Dame Kelly Holmes and Amir Khan carried the baton along The Mall on that day.

The relay will conclude at the Games’ opening ceremony with the final relay runner handing the baton back to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II who will read her message to all athletes present and officially open the Games on the evening of March 15, 2006.

G. G.