CROATIA – “I WILL BE AN OLYMPIAN!” 12TH OLYMPIC KINDERGARTEN FESTIVAL INAUGURATED

Zagreb, 24th April - the annual Croatian Olympic Festival for preschool children was launched today in the city of Gospic, with the motto "I will be an Olympian," and will cover 43 Croatian cities in the course of the month of May, bringing together around 14,500 preschool children from 386 kindergartens across the nation, who will play soccer, run a 50 meter sprint, compete in a 4x25 meter relay, play at throwing balls and show off their talents as long jumpers.

The Croatian Olympic Committee started this project in 2002, since when it has involved over 150,000 children.

The spirit of the festival is that it is not important to win, the aim being to point out to kids how sport nurtures friendship, develops tolerance and self-esteem, and teaches discipline and a sense of fair play.

In other words, the aim of the festival is to promote Olympism, educating children through sport and promoting the harmonious development of the intellectual, emotional and physical aspects of a child's growth, and showing them and their parents how sport more than repays the effort it requires, teaching them how Olympism is a philosophy of life that is guided by the principle that a person can feel real joy and satisfaction only when their achievements are the fruit of their own efforts.