Manama: Ordinary men and women competing in Olympic Games are a great source of inspiration and character building, the head of Bahrain's Olympic committee has said.
"Throughout the history of the Olympic Games, ordinary men and women have demonstrated extraordinary character through good sportsmanship," Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa said. "They inspire us to see what is best in the human spirit - and thus what is best in ourselves. They prove over and over that character counts," Shaikh Nasser, also the chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sport, said at a reception by British Ambassador Iain Lindsay to mark 150 days until the start of the 2012 Games.
The Olympic Games, a worldwide celebration and a communion of countries to form one world and one dream, have not flourished not on muscles and athleticism, but on the noble ideal that the honourable pursuit of victory in sports builds and demonstrates character, he said.
"Good character is ethics in action," he said.
Shaikh Nasser said that most of the athletes who are in their teens had to overcome obstacles in society, including discrimination, to be able to compete.
"The Olympic motto, Citius, Altoius, Fortius - Latin for swifter, higher and stronger- means pushing skills to the limits, but also demonstrating responsibility by developing the discipline and dedication to make strengths out of weaknesses, to overcome obstacles and to grow from defeats," he said.
