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 Students take part in Olympic sports day 

Students take part in Olympic sports day

22/08/2008 4:29:00 PM
Athlete Kyle VanderKuyp was very pumped after the BHP Billiton Olympics Sports Day at the Town Oval on Friday.

"The parade of nations was brilliant," Kyle said.

Schools paraded banners they had made representing countries competing in the Olympics.

"It was obvious the teachers and students had really thrown themselves into it, it was a credit to all the schools involved," Kyle said.

More than 900 students from Woomera Area, Andamooka Primary, Roxby Downs Area and Saint Barbara's Parish schools attended the Olympic sports day.

Kyle is Australia's greatest ever high hurdler.

He has been a consistent member of Australian athletic teams since he competed at the Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990.

He is a 13-time national champion.

Nine of these titles were back to back.

Kyle has competed at two Olympics, four world championships and four Commonwealth Games.

Kyle was visiting Roxby Downs with 21-year-old long jumper Robbie Crowther.

Robbie's potential was first realised when he won both the long and triple jump double at the 2004 Australian All Schools Championships.

In 2006, he won the gold medal at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing, where he achieved an Oceania and Australian Junior record, jumping 8m to secure the title.

Robbie just missed out on Olympic selection for the Beijing Olympics by 3cm.

He and Kyle have been involved in the Jump Start to London athlete development initiative.

"It is a program for young and promising indigenous athletes," Kyle said.

"We travel together and train in different places and see how it is done overseas, it’s an eye opener for some of our young people," Kyle said.

Kyle has been to Roxby Downs before.

"I will come back here again," he said.

"I'm always travelling around.

“I've done a lot of work in the Northern Territory, I've done quite a few trips with people like Gavin Wanganeen.

“We go around teaching clinics and talking to kids about there ambitions and dreams."

"Sometimes when country kids go to the city to play sport at an elite level they fall apart, they might get homesick and lonely, that's why we have these mentoring programs.

“We look after one another," Kyle said.

"It great to come out to Roxby Downs and meet all these enthusiastic kids.

“It was a bit cold here this morning, but we had them moving around," Kyle said.

Students were divided up into groups and rotated through four sport stations - soccer, netball and basketball, shot put/turbo javelin, and sprints/hurdles.

Olympic Dam employee Graham Warren was the master of ceremonies and Olympic Dam vice president finance Paul Dunn officially opened the day.

After the parade of nations Robbie and Kyle carried a replica of the Olympic Torch and lit the cauldron to officially begin the activities.

The five official Olympic mascots Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini were also present.

"The day couldn't have been possible without the support of the four schools and the volunteers who helped out,” a BHP Billiton spokesperson said after the event.

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FACE PAINTING: Student Deegan Williams has his face painted at the Olympics sports day.
FACE PAINTING: Student Deegan Williams has his face painted at the Olympics sports day.

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