Until Sunday, we will be watching a marathon of Olympic transmissions, from Beijing in China. The first Maltese adventure occurred way back in 1928, with the games being held in Amsterdam.

The Malta Olympic Committee has selected six athletes of high level in their respective discipline, to compete in this year’s games, which originated in 777 BC. I am convinced that the primary aim of Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin to promote the Olympic ideal is similar to that of the local association.

We have attained the best ever result in such competition, as William Chetcuti placed in a creditable eighth place in the overall standings of the double trap shooting competition. This result is even better than that obtained by windsurfer Peter Bonello (ninth place) in Los Angeles in 1984.

While Marcon Bezzina was eliminated with honours against an Algerian judoka, who incidentally is the African champion, swimmers Madeleine Scerri and Ryan Gambin managed to break the national records in the 100 metres freestyle and butterfly respectively, even though they did not manage to qualify for the semifinals.

Local sprinters Charlene Attard and Nicolai Portelli competed against very tough competitors.

These six athletes had the unique privilege of representing our nation at the Olympic Games even though we did not expect any of these to be presented with a medal on the podium.

May the hard work and dedication shown by these athletes during their training reflect positively in their performances and national records.

Herman Buttigieg

Fgura