If you cannot fly to London but you got all the kids supremely exited about the upcoming Olympic Games you have to come up with a very good plan!  And indeed we made a very good plan by holding our own Olympic Games …. in the dust of a forgotten African village.

Athletes registering for the various athletic events!

We might not have had any equipment at all but between a few rocks, a very short 100 m sprint lane and an extreme hard landing for high jump we covered the main numbers for our athletic program.  And of course having the best team possible to act as Olympic officials.  Tension ran throughout the event as kids were competing against each other.  For many pre-school kids and the very inquisitive grade 1 athletes … this was a first!  Their excitement was so contagious that we all wanted to participate.   We kept on reminding the kids that Maria Matola was Mozambique’s first gold medalist in the 800m for women.  Which even motivated everyone more!  After warming up ….. the whistle blew …. and off we went.

PS  The great news was that no ‘steroids’ were detected throughout any event with more than 250 athletes participating.  This record has not been beaten yet by any country participating in an international event!

The day was captured brilliantly by our Olympic photographer all the way from Switzerland.

Olympic officials trying to figure out how the ‘High-jump’ will work when bush athletic standards are applied!  There seems to be no consensus on the matter … yet!

After all the hard training ….. when we said:  On your marks … get set ….. and before the GO all the pre-schoolers decided it’s time to R UUUUUUUUN!  I tried my best to bring order … but to late!  A false start if you ever need to see one!

Much better – as you can see in the photo – we had a professional sprinting athlete showing the way.  I think it was north!

Shot-put for girls.  The lack of equipment was no problem.  We weighed some rocks … taught the basics …. and new records were set in the process.

High-jump in action!  The landing is terrifying without a carpet to land on ….. but then again – it’s AFRICA … we can take it!

Extreme concentration (as the tongue will tell you)!  Shot-put for the upcoming stars.  Athletes loosening up in the background while Marius and Paulo watches new stars in the making.

Long-jump in skirts.  Let no one tell you we make it easy on the athletes.

Volleyball was also an official number on the program.

A time to say goodbye as the team left – dirty and tired.

THE TEAM – they can be hired directly from our offices in Mozambique – if you ever need your own Olympic Games in your backyard of the world!