Seychelles to send 3 sportspeople to Olympics in Paris

Swimmer Felicity Passon is one of the athletes on the Olympic Scholarship and qualified for the last Olympic Games in Tokyo. (Seychelles Nation)

Seychelles will have at least three participants in the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris from July 26 to August 24 according to a top official. 

So far no athletes from Seychelles have qualified for the Games but the island nation will compete as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will issue invitations to ensure that every nation can be represented at the games.

The secretary general of the Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (SOCGA), Alain Alcindor, told reporters, "In athletics, one athlete will be invited, unlike before when it was two."

He explained the Seychelles Athletics Federation will have three events they can apply to participate in; 100m sprint, 800m and the marathon.

Two athletes will be invited in the swimming competition, a male and a female, and "this already guarantees that we will have at least three athletes at the games." said Alcindor.

He said that late last year, "we were asked to submit the names of the athletes that we believe could be invited based on their 2023 performance, which is called a universality place, and we have applied for mainly the athletes that are on the Olympic scholarships."

Alcindor explained that not all disciplines will accept the universality place and that includes swimming and athletics, since they will receive an invite through their federations.

According to SOCGA, there are five Seychellois athletes on the Olympic Scholarship and they are swimmer Felicity Passon, sprinters Ned Azemia and Sharry Dodin, boxer Shain Boniface and sailor Dean Mathiot.  

Alcindor explained that more places could become available as there are times when countries decide not to send their athletes to the games even if they have qualified. When this happens, spots remain open and the IOC redistributes it to other nations.

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, has been participating in the Olympic Games since 1980 after it set up a National Olympic Committee in 1979 now the Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (SOCGA).

In the last competition in Tokyo, Japan, five Seychellois took part. Two athletes qualified for a spot - sailor Rodney Govinden and swimmer Felicity Passon.

Swimmer Simon Bachmann was invited in view of his performance and participation in high level competitions. 

Ned Azemia made his second appearance in the Games after his debut in the 2016 Rio Olympic in which he competed in the 400-metre hurdles while judoka Nantenaina Finesse, made his Olympic debut by invitation.

Paris 2024 will feature the debut of breakdancing as an Olympic event and will be the final Olympic Games held during the presidency of IOC President Thomas Bach. The Games will be the first to feature an identical number of athletes between men and women.