Kampar, Malaysia, July 15, 2024: Dedication, determination and staying true to one’s principles – Olympic values - was the lesson handed out to the 48 young athletes at the OCA Triathlon Youth Development Camp on Monday.
And it will stick in their minds, not because of the wise words of lecturer BLH Perera, but simply because at the end of his one-hour talk, the veteran Sri Lankan educator played the iconic clip from the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony of Mr. Bean, aka Rowan Atkinson, and the London Symphony Orchestra performing ‘Chariots of Fire’
The movie Chariots of Fire portrays two athletes, each facing personal challenges, remaining committed to their goals, and highlighting the values of integrity and staying true to oneself in the pursuit of Olympic success – all facets touched in the Olympic Values Education discourse by Laven Perera.
The Director of Academic Programmes at the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka, Perera had flown thousands of miles from Melbourne, Australia to join the camp on the instigation of OCA Special Projects/Olympic Solidarity Manager Wissam Trkmani.
Perera’s core message to his young audience was on how sports hands out lessons in life – “if you fall, you get up and run again” – and about the core values of the Olympics which are “excellence, respect and friendship”.
Perera said: “Sport produces great people, not just great athletes. The hope is that through sports, we are able to build a better world.”
Millennia of history from the Ancient Greeks and Olympia to the Father of the Modern Olympics Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the heritage and rich history of the Olympics were all compressed into the short session.
“I urge all of you to visit Greece and Olympia so that you get a true feeling for the values of sports,” Perera said.
Summing up the session, Trkmani added: “Success is not about winning medals but about the values we hold. I hope this camp gives you good memories and builds those values in you.”
It was heavy stuff, and it was left to the loveable buffoon Mr. Bean on the screen, to perk up the young athletes with his memorable dream sequence of running with the British running team down a wet and windy beach, getting tired, and hiring a London cab to take him to the front of the pack to win the race.
It was a typical British sense of humour personified by the slapstick antics of Rowan Atkinson and not exactly ethical Olympic values. But the youngsters loved it.
