Olympic Day to be celebrated virtually on June 23

The National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) will, for a second year running, conduct its Olympic Day celebrations virtually on June 23.  

Starting from 9 a.m., events celebrating Olympic Day will be streamed on the NOCSL Facebook page. 
This year will feature the first ever dedicated Olympic Day Song composed and sung by Mario Ananda and a short film contest which was opened to the general public.

The National Olympic Committee have been organising this event on its own for approximately two decades and have had elaborate spectacles in many cities around the island involving schoolchildren and the general public. 
The first Olympic Day was celebrated on 23 June 1948. On this occasion, Sigfrid Edström, IOC President at that time, conveyed a message to the young people of the world and as a result Portugal, Greece, Austria, Canada, Switzerland, Great Britain, Uruguay, Venezuela and Belgium organised the Olympic Day in their respective countries.

This time, the theme of the Olympic Day Celebrations 2021 will be “Respect, Understand and Move Forward.” 
A keynote address on the Birth of Modern Olympic Movement and Olympism will be delivered by Mr. B.L.H. Perera, the Programme Director of NOCSL. 

A virtual Olympic Torch Relay will also be done by the athletes who are to take part in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and some of leading athletes, which will be handed over to the Secretary General and the President of the NOC Sri Lanka. 

Among the other events planned, a documentary of Mathilda Karlsson, who is the very first Tokyo 2020 qualifier and first ever equestrian representing Sri Lanka to an Olympic Games, will be screened.