Thirty medal-winner athletes during the 12th edition of the Games for Small States of Europe held in Monaco were once again leading figures, this time during the celebration ceremony in honour of TEAM MALTA’s success in Monaco.

During the activity which brought to an end the official activities relative to Monaco 2007, the Maltese Olympic Committee presented grants to 30 medal-winner athletes. A total of Lm14,000 was distributed to these athletes with gold-medal winners getting Lm800 as funds for their training and technical preparation.

For the first time ever, the MOC also distributed also participation certificates and mementos to each person who formed part of the Malta contingent.

Those present were addressed by the Minister of Education, Youth and employment Dr Louis Galea who, besides congratulating those who had success within Team Malta, had positive comments for the professional attitude athletes and officials have shown when they represented Malta.

Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, President of the Malta Olympic Committee, also made reference to the success achieved by Team Malta during the last GSSE and this confirmed the progress registered in recent years and the way in which Malta continued to dominate in certain disciplines and this is an encouragement for the next edition to be held in 2009 in Cyprus.

The MOC presented a memento both to Minister Galea as well as to the official sponsors and representatives of the political parties, Dr Victor Scerri for the Nationalist Party, and Mr Jason Micallef for the Malta Labour Party.

Games of the Olympiad

1964 TOKYO, Japan

Dates: 10-24 October 1964

Other candidate cities: Detroit (USA), Vienna (Austria) and Brussels (Belgium)

Participants: 93 NOCs, 163 events, 5,151 athletes (4,473 men, 678 women).

Olympic oath (athletes): Takashi Ono, artistic gymnastics

Olympic cauldron lit by: Yoshinori Sakaï

Officially opened by: Emperor Hirohito

Emblem: Rising sun juxtaposed with the Olympic rings.

The 1964 Tokyo Games were the first ones organised in Asia. The Japanese highlighted their success in reconstructing their country after WWII by choosing as the last torchbearer Yashinori Sakaï, who was born in Hiroshima on the same day that the city was destroyed by an atomic bomb

1968 MEXICO CITY, Mexico

Dates: 12-27 October 1968

Other candidate cities: Detroit (USA), Lyon (France) and Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Participants: 112 NOCs, 172 events, 5,516 athletes (4,735 men, 781 women)

Olympic oath (athletes): Pablo Lugo Garrido, athletics

Olympic cauldron lit by: Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo

Officially opened by: President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz

Emblem: Combination of the five rings and the Olympic year.

There were a few “firsts”: the Games were held in Latin America, a woman lit the Olympic flame, the winners had to undergo doping controls (narcotics and stimulants) and a synthetic material (tartan) was used for the athletics track

1972 MUNICH, Germany

Dates: 26 August-11 September 1972

Other candidate cities: Montreal (Canada), Madrid (Spain) and Detroit (USA)

Participants: 121 NOCs, 195 events, 7,134 athletes (6,075 men, 1,059 women)

Olympic oath (athletes): Heidi Schüller, athletics

Olympic oath (officials): Heinz Pollay, equestrian sports

Olympic cauldron lit by: Günter Zahn

Officially opened by: President Gustave Heinemann

Emblem: Crown of rays of light

Mascot: Waldi (a dachshund).

On the morning of 5 September, the games were interrupted when eight Palestinian terrorists, representing the militant group Black September, broke into the Olympic Village, taking as hostages, then killing, 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team. The Olympic Games were suspended for 34 hours and a memorial service for the victims was held in the main stadium. The flags of all the nations flew at half-mast

1976 MONTREAL, Canada

Dates: 17 July-1 August 1976

Other candidate cities: Moscow (USSR) and Los Angeles (USA)

Participants: 92 NOCs, 198 events, 6,084 athletes (4,824 men, 1,260 women)

Olympic oath (athletes): Pierre Saint-Jean, weightlifting

Olympic oath (officials): Maurice Forget, athletics

Olympic cauldron lit by: Stéphane Préfontaine and Sandra Henderson

Officially opened by: Queen Elizabeth II

Emblem: Olympic rings under an Olympic podium, also representing the letter “M” for Montreal

Mascot: Amik (a beaver)

The 1976 Montreal Olympic Games fell victim to a boycott by the African nations, in protest at the New Zealand national rugby team’s tour of South Africa, and because the New Zealand team had been authorised to take part in the Olympic Games

1980 MOSCOW, USSR

Dates: 19 July-3 August 1980

Other candidate city: Los Angeles (USA)

Participants: 80 NOCs, 203 events, 5,179 athletes (4,064 men, 1,115 women)

Olympic oath (athletes): Nikolay Andrianov, artistic gymnastics

Olympic oath (officials): Aleksandr Medved, wrestling

Olympic cauldron lit by: Sergei Belov

Officially opened by: President of the Supreme Soviet Leonid Brezhnev

Emblem: Olympic rings under parallel lines in a pyramid shape, crowned by a star representing the stars of the Kremlin

Mascot: Misha (a bear)

Further to a boycott launched by the USA, only 80 countries (the fewest since 1956) took part in the Moscow Games

1984 LOS ANGELES, USA

Dates: 28 July-12 August 1984

Participants: 140 NOCs, 221 events, 6,829 athletes (5,263 men, 1,566 women)

Olympic oath (athletes): Edwin Moses, athletics

Olympic oath (officials): Sharon Weber, artistic gymnastics

Olympic cauldron lit by: Rafer Johnson

Officially opened by: President Ronald Reagan

Emblem: “Stars in movement”: three stars (red, white and blue) crossed by 13 horizontal, parallel lines representing movement and the 13 original colonies

Mascot: Sam (an eagle)

Although a boycott, called by the USSR in response to the 1980 one, left some sports venues rather empty, a record 140 countries took part in these Games. They were the first since 1896 to be organised without government funding

GSSE Aspiring Athletes

Name: Alexander Attard

Age: 15 years

Sport: Judo

Category: U/60kg (Brown Belt)

Club: Onami Judo Club, Pembroke Sensei: Mr John Zammit

Started: 1999

Occupation: Student, Form Four – St Michael Foundation

Achievements:

• Gold medal, Espoir National Championships – 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

• Gold medal, Fra Andrew Bertie Promotion – Espoir 2004

• Gold medal, Espoir Malta Open – 2004, 2005

• Gold medal, Espoir Malta Open (U/62) – 2004

• Gold medal, Youth Sport Fest – 2005

• Silver medal, Malta Promotional Open 2006 – Youth Category

• Bronze medal, Malta Promotional Open 2006 – Cadets Category

• Gold medal, Fra Andrew Bertie Promotion 2006 – U/55 Espoir

• Gold medal, Fra Andrew Bertie Promotion 2006 – U/66 Espoir

• Gold medal, Fra Andrew Bertie Promotion 2006 – Cadets U/60

Bronze Medal, Fra Andrew Bertie promotion 2006 – Open category

Name: Aaron Bezzina

Age: 16 years

Sport: Judo

Club: O-Nami

Started: Dragon Espoir aged six years

Occupation: Student, Form Five – Saint Elias College

Achievements:

• X Jeux Des Isles, Sicily 2006 – Fifth place

• Fra Andrew Bertie Easter Promotional Tournament 2006 (–60kg) – Second place

• Fra Andrew Bertie Easter Promotional Tournament 2006 (–65kg) – First place

• Malta Judo Open Promotional Tournament March 2006 (–60kg) – Second place

• XXI Malta International Judo Open 5 March 2005 – Third place

• Espoir National Championship 2005 – First place

• XX Cadet Youth Judo Open 2004 – First place

• Malta Judo National Championship 2003 – First place

• Malta Judo National Championship 2002 – First place

• Maltacom Promotional Tournament 4 March 2001

• Maltacom Judo Championships December 1999 – Second place

Represented Malta at:

• X Jeux Des Isles, Sicily 2006

• The OTP Bank European Judo Championships 6-8 July 2007, Malta