Occurring annually of June 23rd, Olympic Day has developed into the only annual worldwide celebration of the Olympic Movement and is a day to promote a healthy and active lifestyle.
Based on the three pillars of "Move", "Learn", and "Discover", NOCs are encouraged to organise sports, cultural and educational activities for all, regardless of age, gender, social background or sporting ability.
PNGOC will be running a series of activities over the course of a week to commemorate Olympic Day on June 23, 2016. The activities are targeted at various stakeholder groups including schools, communities, athletes, and corporate organisations. The activities will promote the Olympic Movement and the PNG Olympic Committee.
Schools visited will be Living Light, Lahara Birdwing, Port Moresby Grammar and Port Moresby National High School. The school visits will occur on Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday has been earmarked for visits to sports where our elite athletes will talk to them about representing the country and what it means to be an elite athlete. Sports earmarked are Basketball, Rugby 7s and Handball.
IOC provides an Olympic Toolkit which outlines various activities and messages associated with the day. The Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP), Olympic movement quizzes and sports demonstrations will be the basis of the activities carried out.
The Olympic Values Education Programme promotes the Olympic Values of Respect, Excellence and Friendship with participants asked to reflect on what those values mean to them and how they can demonstrate those values in their lives.
Information on the Olympic Movement and its history will also be shared with participants.
Sports demonstrations will be held as part of the activities and will be the main focus of activities held on Thursday June 23rd. Schools have been invited to attend the sports demonstrations at the Taurama Aquatic and Indoor Centre. The sports demonstrations will occur over the course of the day with a morning session and afternoon session.
Sports and organisations earmarked for the demonstrations are Basketball, Athletics, Archery, Taekwondo, Karate, Para-sport, Cricket, League Bilong Laif, Yoga for Life.
Also on June 23rd, will be an Olympic Day Luncheon where PNG’s Olympians, and PNGOC partners will share a meal to celebrate the day.
On Friday, June 24th we will be visiting Vabukori village to run the session. An OVEP session followed by sports demonstrations and then a League Bilong Laif activity will make up the session.
In addition to the activities, PNGOC will run a social media campaign involving a quiz competition on facebook, inspirational quotes on twitter and a ‘form the Olympic Rings’ competition on instagram.
The PNGOC’s President and Secretary General will be making media visits to discuss Olympic Day and the week-long activities being carried out by the PNGOC.
Partial funding for the overall budget has been secured through Olympic Solidarity. Funding from ExxonMobil through OVEP is also earmarked for the activities. Coca-Cola and Paradise Foods are also supporting the activities.