Bri­an Lewis

In 2013 when the vi­sion of ten or more Olympic gold medals by the year 2024 was an­nounced by the Olympic move­ment, there were those who felt it was un­re­al­is­tic.How­ev­er, in 2014, a sports sen­ti­ment sur­vey com­mis­sioned by the Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC) found that 76 per cent of the pop­u­la­tion be­lieves that win­ning ten Olympic gold medals by 2024 is achiev­able with prop­er plan­ning and im­ple­men­ta­tion.

In Au­gust 2013, So­lu­tions by Sim­u­la­tion (SBS) was ap­proached by the TTOC to con­duct a na­tion­wide sur­vey to guage the opin­ions and per­cep­tions of the pub­lic con­cern­ing sport and the TTOC. The sur­vey sought to pro­vide a quan­ti­ta­tive ev­i­dence base to al­low for da­ta dri­ven in­for­ma­tion for the TTOC's strate­gic plan.

The sur­vey found that a sig­nif­i­cant per cen­t­age of the pop­u­la­tion sup­port sport with 85 per cent of the pop­u­la­tion say­ing they were sports fans. Some 76 per cent of the pop­u­la­tion view cor­po­ra­tions that sup­port sport favourably. An­oth­er 77 per cent sup­port the use of pub­lic funds for sport while 79 per cent in­di­cat­ed they en­joyed play­ing sports.

While sur­veys may rep­re­sent the pop­u­la­tions views at a par­tic­u­lar point in time, they can al­so pro­vide crit­i­cal in­for­ma­tion. Cer­tain­ly I am a pro­po­nent of sur­veys and polls and hold the strong view that with­out nec­es­sary re­search be it sur­veys, polls, fo­cus groups etc, de­ci­sion mak­ing can be flawed and bi­ased.

The 2014 sur­vey found that 92 per cent of the pop­u­la­tion be­lieve that young peo­ple should be en­cour­aged to pur­sue sport as a ca­reer and 78 per cent con­sid­er a good sports­man and woman a hero.Some 89 per cent of those sur­veyed be­lieve that sport can have a role to play in the fight against crime while 79 per cent feel that suc­cess in sport is nec­es­sary to be con­sid­ered a great na­tion.

Nine­ty-three per cent felt that a vil­lage or town is not com­plete with­out a sport­ing ground.Just over 80 per cent think that the Olympic rings sym­bol­ise ex­cel­lence, re­spect, hope, op­ti­mism. Nine­ty-sev­en per cent be­lieve sport can teach im­por­tant skills that can be used in oth­er as­pects of life.It is not far fetched to be­lieve that there is a na­tion­al con­sen­sus that sport mat­ters.

What the sur­veyed made abun­dant­ly clear is that na­tion­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tions–the TTOC in­clud­ed–have the op­por­tu­ni­ty to be sig­nif­i­cant con­trib­u­tors to na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment through sport.The pub­lic is on the side of sport and wants sport to be well led and gov­erned.It is al­so clear that weak­ness­es aside the chal­lenge is to seize and build on the op­por­tu­ni­ties.

As we ac­knowl­edge as a na­tion and peo­ple, the 53rd an­niver­sary of In­de­pen­dence, it is es­sen­tial that we sharp­en our fo­cus on sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment and na­tion build­ing.Sport mat­ters to Trinidad and To­ba­go.We must re­main ever vig­iliant and fo­cused. Acheiv­ing great things and great­ness is not be­yond our ca­pa­bil­i­ties or our ca­pac­i­ty.

We are a tal­ent­ed,cre­ative, re­source­ful and in­ven­tive peo­ple.Sport is no ex­cep­tion. Trinidad and To­ba­go be brave, be fear­less, let's be­lieve in our­selves. We are a great na­tion. Let us be­lieve in our­selves and a bright fu­ture. No mat­ter the ob­sta­cles, chal­lenges or fail­ures, to­geth­er we can achieve great­ness.

Bri­an Lewis is the Pres­i­dent of the Olympic Com­mit­tee. The views ex­pressed are not nec­es­sar­i­ly those of the Olympic Com­mit­tee.

Sup­port #10 Golds24 Ath­lete Wel­fare and Prepa­ra­tion Fund make your do­na­tions to any branch of Sco­tia­bank ac­count num­ber 171188