Renowned Guyanese Olympian Aliann Pompey was on Thursday elected to serve as the Executive Committee Member on the World Olympians Association (WOA).
The four-time Guyanese Olympian was nominated to the post by President of the Guyana Olympians Association Geoffrey Sankies, and received the support of Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) President K.A. Juman-Yassin.
The Guyanese was lucky to beat out Barbadian Olympian Freida Nicholls for the position at the WOA General Assembly, which was hosted virtually on Thursday.
At WOA, Pompey will be representing the interests of female athletes in the Americas.
The former Guyanese athlete has plenty of experience serving in athletics administration, as she currently serves as President of the Pan Am Sports Athletes Commission. She is also a coach at the St. John’s University in the USA.
The 400-metre specialist, who spearheads the Aliann Pompey Invitational annually, represented Guyana at four Olympic Games: Sydney, Australia in 2002; Athens, Greece in 2004; Beijing, China in 2008; and London, United Kingdom in 2012.
There are 148 National Olympians Associations (NOAs) spread across all five continents. These organise events for Olympians and run projects that help their local communities. Projects are based on the Olympic ideals laid down by Pierre de Coubertin.
Describing itself, the WOA has said: “We help the National Associations help their Olympian members, and spread the spirit of Olympism in their country.
“Our recently launched NOA Development Fund gives financial aid to the Associations, so they can run their programmes, and our NOA Grant Fund helps pay for longer-term projects that benefit their local communities.
“We are creating a range of benefits for Olympians. We have secured online university scholarships, mentorships, job placements and life coaching programmes for Olympians, assisting them to transition to a life beyond competitive sport following retirement.
“Olympians have a special capacity to use the power and neutrality of sport for the good of society, employing its unique potential to foster social cohesion wherever it is needed.
“Olympians also personify the values of excellence, teamwork and discipline. They can serve as role models to help bring communities together across all ethnic, religious and social divides.”
