SEE Arena: Gordon Lyons explains why Olympic event is important

Sports Minister Gordon Lyons explains why Olympic homecoming event was so important.

Transcript

00:00Speaking to Communities Minister Gordon Lyons here, just shortly before the Olympic reception

00:07here in the SSA Arena. Minister, can you tell us why it was so important to have this reception

00:12for our medal winners and competitors?

00:15Well it's really important that we have this celebration tonight because it reflects just

00:19how seriously we take the success of our Olympians and Paralympians in Paris this year. It was

00:26an incredible achievement, not just in terms of the medal haul, but the number that qualified,

00:30the personal records that were broken as well. So I wanted to make sure that we could have

00:34a really good celebration that was fit for the achievements that we saw in Paris over

00:39the summer time.

00:40And no doubt this event is going to go down in history. Almost 5,000 people here. I've

00:44seen some of the rehearsals already. It looks pretty impressive.

00:47Yes, and the most important thing for me is that it's open to the public. Because first

00:52of all I wanted to make sure that this is a celebration and that the public get the

00:56opportunity to celebrate our athletes. But I also want to inspire the next generation

01:01as well to get involved, to see what's possible with hard work, commitment and dedication.

01:06So I hope tonight will be a night where we can properly celebrate and thank our athletes,

01:11but at the same time inspire the next generation.

01:14And I also see that you're making an announcement this evening that each athlete will be nominating

01:21a recipient of special funding. Can you give us a little bit more information on that?

01:25Can you tell us how much money is involved?

01:27Yes, well I'm initially awarding £100,000 to be shared between our medalists in order

01:33for them to support local grassroots clubs in their area. It's really important that

01:38we support our elite athletes, but in order to get our elite athletes to that point we

01:44also need to ensure that there is that support at a grassroots level as well. I am concerned

01:49about the underfunding in sport, especially compared to other jurisdictions, and I want

01:54to make sure that we're giving the incredible talent that we have here the best opportunities

01:59so that they can reach their potential.