Page 17 - HOH

a11
local Tuesday 14 March 2023
The Aruban Olympic Committee inaugurates new office

(Oranjestad)—On Saturday “Ladies and gentlemen, we
morning, the inauguration are home; we have found
by the Olympic Commit- our home. This is the home
tee Aruba (COA) of their of the COA, this is the home
new building took place. of sports, this is the home for
This event was attended everything Olympic on Aru-
by the president of the In- ba,” Hoeverts stated.
ternational Olympic Com-
mittee (IOC), Thomas Bach, During his speech, Mr.
and the president of Panam Bach took the opportunity
Sports, Neven Ilic. to congratulate the COA
with the inauguration and
During the event, there was to remark that this will help
a sports fair where different the association turn a new
sports clubs and organiza- page in the history of the
tions presented the differ- COA.
ent types of sports played
on Aruba. This included “With this campus, the
bowling, taekwondo, COA will be in a much
weightlifting, chess, gym- better condition to serve
nastics and more. The presi- the athletes, to serve the
dent of the IOC passed by teams that participate in
all the different presenta- the Central American and
tions and engaged with the Caribbean Games, in
some of the athletes and the PanAmerican Games
coaches there. before you with goose and hopefully, the Olympic
During the official cere- bumps, because we have Games,” he indicated.
mony of the inauguration, waited so long for this of-
the minister of Sports, Endy fice to be the committee’s He expressed that this
Croes, congratulated the official headquarters,” as achievement by the COA
COA and all involved in this the president of the COA, shows their commitment
big accomplishment for Wanda Broeksma, ex- to sports and the athletes,
the organization of inaugu- pressed. who learn the value of
rating their new office. He During her speech, Broeks- sports and pay attention to
expressed that as the min- ma expressed that their all the important aspects in
ister of Sports, he shares the mission is to keep inspiring sports.
vision of the COA, which is the athletes, federations, At the same time, Bach
the wellbeing and the de- coaches and leaders, and acknowledged the work
velopment of sports and to fortify the Olympic val- done by the two females
Olympic athletes on the is- ues. leaders of the COA—Ho-
land. Michelle Hoeverts, vice- everts and Broeksma—and
“Sports are a powerful tool. president of the ICO and have honored them with
It is also a vehicle that not treasurer of the COA, rati- COA was already situ- national library. the IOC Presidents Trophy
only drives good people fied the happiness that the ated in this building for 4 According to Hoeverts, for the sustainable work
in society, but also creates committee and everyone years, but have not inau- the inauguration that took that they have achieved.
exemplary leader in the involved feels about the gurated the building until place on Saturday was
community and for coun- opening of this new of- now so that they can add phase 1 of the project. CAO was established in
tries around the world. That fice. “We had a dream: an Olympic touch to the Phase 2 is the construc- 1985, when Aruba seced-
is why we as the govern- we wanted to make sports design of the building. She tion of the sports museum ed from the Dutch Antil-
ment of Aruba support the important. We wanted to indicated that they have so that they could invite les. Before that, Aruba was
development of sports in give sports the value is de- chosen the specific loca- schools around the island represented by the Antil-
the future,” he stated. serves—not for us, but for tion of the building, be- to visit and learn about the lean Olympic Committee
the athletes. That’s why we cause it is located next to history and importance of (NAOC). In 1986, Aruba
“We are extremely happy do what we do.” a busy street and it is close sports. received recognition from
to be here today. I stand She explained that the to several schools and the the IOC and finally on
Saturday, March 11th, re-
ceived the official plaque
for this recognition.

From 1994 up until this year,
the office of the COA was
located in the Guillermo
Prospero Trinidad Sports
Complex. This was an of-
fice in deterioration, just
like the rest of the stadium,
which have recently be-
gun remodeling. For health
reasons, the COA also
took the decision to aban-
don the office in the sports
complex.q