1 Day to Go: Cook Islands Olympians Association created for #OlympicDay

22 | 6 | 2018

Olympians in the Cook Islands are celebrating the launch of the country’s first National Olympians Association.

Established with support from World Olympians Association and with the full backing of the Cook Islands Sports & National Olympic Committee (CISNOC), the newly established body, Olympians Cook Islands (OCI), will represent the needs of Olympians from the Pacific Island nation, while encouraging them to be of service to their community.  

Despite being one of the smallest Olympic nations, with a population of less than 18,000, the Olympians Association has big plans to strengthen the support offered to the country’s Olympic athletes. With a total of 30 Olympians scattered throughout the world, and only half based in the Cook Islands, the Association hopes that it can empower them to give back to sport and their communities back home by uniting them under one banner.

Among the Association’s priorities is to develop ideas, projects and initiatives that support the development of sport on the islands to:

• Ensure Olympism is practiced on all of the Cook Islands’ 14 islands
• Promote the benefits of a healthy and active lifestyle to combat child obesity
• Encourage movement and mobility for the elderly 
• Increase access to sport for disabled athletes

Newly named President Erin Tierney OLY (Athletics, Seoul 1988), the first female Olympian to represent the Cook Islands, was instrumental in establishing the Association. She is determined to ensure her fellow Olympians enjoy a stronger connection to the Olympic and sport movements both locally and around the world long after they retire.

“Reading about the work of WOA on social media was empowering,” said Erin. “We realised we had a supportive Olympic family and that we wanted to be a part of the worldwide movement. By forming our own National Olympians Association we are able to bring our Cook Islands Olympian family together, we can harness our strengths and support each other. We are able to speak as a united voice and we can work as a team to deliver projects that will make a difference to the lives of people in our country.” 

Members of Olympians Cook Islands:

President:  Erin Tierney OLY

Secretary General: Luisa Peters
Treasurer: Teau McKenzie
Executive:  Joshua Utanga OLY, Taua Henry
Members:  Wesley Roberts, Mark Sherwin OLY, Patricia Taea OLY, Apii Tapoki, Mike Tererui, Harmon Harmon, Gordon Heather, Petero Okotai, Alex Beddoes, Helema Williams

To celebrate the formation of the Association, Olympians in the Cook Islands have been active this week promoting the Olympic Day message. They were also out in force for the traditional Olympic Day run, which marked the 30^th anniversary of the country’s Olympic debut at Seoul 1988.

Olympic Day is a worldwide celebration that takes place every year on 23 June. It is a day when Olympians come together from every corner of the globe to celebrate Olympism and encourage people to live active and healthy lifestyles using the Olympic Day pillars move, learn, discover.

WOA would like to share your inspirational Olympic Day stories, events and pictures on our digital and social platforms so please let us know about any planned Olympic Day activities by contacting sarah.burston@thewoa.org or tagging us on social media using @worldolympians (Twitter) and @worldolympiansassociation (Facebook) and using the hashtag #OlympicDay.

Photo credit: IOC