Roughly two week after les Jeux des Iles de L’Ocean Indien 2007 is over, we (in Mauritius) are still pondering over the reasons of our so-called defeat, catastrophic performance or even “humiliation” as some people are putting it! We did “much” worse compared to 2003 when the games were hosted in Mauritius. So everyone is asking why?
Reasons put forward
I was listening to a “bilan” programme on the radio yesterday (and basically it’s the same in the press) and all sorts of reasons were put forward: the altitude, lack of proper “encadrement” – one of the favourite reasons, incompetence of our Sports minister, . . . – I won’t comment on these for the following reasons: I am not an athelete, wasn’t in Madagascar, was not following the preparation offered to our athletes and enough has been said about these (rightfully or not).
We did not perform, so there must be a reason and the easy-way out is to find one or many scapegoats but it would seem (to me) that we have forgotten somthing …
“Arret galoupe, alle apran, ki lavenir to pou gagne ladan … “
Do these words sound familiar? We’d lie if we said otherwise coz basically this is what we say to our kids. In Mauritius, we do not want our kids to run, play football or … . We want them to learn, go to college, uni, … work as lawyers, doctors, … . While all this is not bad (it’s even very good), how are we going to produce athletes when all sports activity is vehemently discouraged? So who is it to blame for our poor performance, the “usually-put-forward-reasons” yes but the Mauritian Society is also responsible and so instead of just blaming the authorities or … we are, I think, the guiltiest.
“Que celui qui n’a jamais peché lui jette la premiere pierre.”
