Notre compatriote Jean Michel de Senneville a été sacré champion du monde de la perche dans la catégorie des plus de 70 ans à Malaga en Espagne le 13 septembre 2018.. Cet athlète émérite est fier d'avoir défendu nos couleurs et fait flotter très haut notre quadricolore. Féru de sport, il a encouru tous les frais pour son déplacement vers Malaga. Cependant, il est outré par l'attitude du ministère de la jeunesse et des sports à son égard. Non seulement, il n'a pas été félicité pour ses efforts mais il n'a pas été invité à une cérémonie de remise de prix aux athlètes organisé par le ministère le 28 septembre 2018. Jean Michel de Senneville a envoyé une lettre en ce sens à l'honorable Stephane Toussaint. Il espère que le ministère rectifie le tir et lui témoigne la reconnaissance qu'il mérite. Après tout, comme il explique dans sa lettre, il y va de la dignité de tous les athlètes.
Nous publions ci-dessus la lettre que Jean Michel de Senneville a envoyée à l'honorable Stéphane Toussaint :
2 October 2018
OPEN LETTER to:
Hon. Stephan Toussaint
Minister of Youth & Sports
Dear Sir,
You will no doubt remember me. As I am the one who told you a few months ago, when you were doing some exercises at Maryse Justin Stadium, that I am the one who will bring you a Gold Medal in Athletics! Perhaps you took it as a joke, because I am “older” than most athletes you see on the field. But at the time, my objective was very clear and real to me. No doubt, this focus, total dedication, effort and perseverance over the last three years paid off in my actually becoming World Champion in my category M70 in the Pole Vault event at the recent World Masters Athletics Track & Field Championships in Malaga. Standing under the Mauritian Colours on the top step of the podium while listening to the National Anthem after having been awarded the World Champion Gold Medal, I did feel that I was indeed holding the entire Mauritian Nation on top of the World. At the same time, it was a reminder that Athletics is a wonderful tool to promote solidarity and fraternity among the population and with the rest of the World. Besides, it is the flagship sports activity for any government to promote sports and a healthy lifestyle, especially among the 35+ category. And this is precisely the aim of the World Masters Athletics Championships which is being organised with increased success every two years in collaboration with the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations). For your information, just in case your Ministry is not aware, the latest Championships hosted 8,200 participants (men and women over the age of 35) who represented 100+ countries. Mauritius was represented by a delegation of TEN participants who took part in various events. I am the only one who won a Medal, which I was told is the FIRST GOLD MEDAL ever won by Mauritius at an International Athletics Championship. (Sylvie Ah-Kang having won a Bronze Medal at the 2017 Daegu Indoor WMAC.) Apart from my feeling of pride, I did expect that you would be personally pleased and touched by my performance. And that you as the Minister of Youth & Sports would honour your recent promise to reward ALL Mauritian Medal Winners at Championships in the various categories – Regional, Continental, Intercontinental and World / International Championships, quite apart from the High Level Athletes’ Bursary with monthly cash allocations. But, great was my surprise and deception that I was the exception and not on the list at Friday’s 28/09/18 Award Ceremony when you distributed a hefty Rs 3 million to a number of athletes! Yet, like every other Athlete, I am a recurrent licensee of the (Federation) Mauritius Athletics Association (Licence No. 1324 for the year 2018, Category: Masters, member of the Port Louis Racers AC club) which is affiliated to IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) and AAC. I am also a recurrent member of the Mauritius Athletics Masters Association which VALIDATED my official registration to the World Masters Athletics Championships in Malaga. Besides, I won the Vital 2018 Pole Vault Mauritius National Senior Championships in July 2018. With these credentials and recent media coverage, it is difficult to believe that your Ministry could have missed noticing this happening or simply decided to ignore it or worse, to consider me an unknown “outsider” who happened to take it upon himself to go to Malaga as an individual tourist! It is true that your Ministry did NOT contribute to the Mauritian Delegation’s expenses in any way. I for one did pay for ALL my expenses, which was relatively expensive. I even had to purchase the Mauritian Flags which I did bring over and which I had the honour to fly around the stadium on behalf of every Mauritian! So, why is it that in spite of all the positive reports in the Press and on the Radio, I have not even yet had the honour of an encouraging phone-call from anyone from your Ministry? Why not use my personal performance on 12thSeptember 2018 on a World stage to build-up a few role models locally and thereby motivate the Nation in its quest for a more healthy lifestyle? Besides, do you realize that an affront to me is an affront to all members of the Mauritius Athletics Masters Association? And perhaps one to all Mauritian athletes? And even one to every Mauritian above the age of 35? Be it as it may, I sincerely hope that it is not too late for you to repair what you and those responsible in your Ministry have perhaps overlooked. And to ensure that the needful is done by the Ministry of Youth & Sports, in collaboration perhaps with the Ministry of Leisure, as well as that of Health & Quality of Life, to allocate the necessary budget to regularly send at least a dozen selected athletes to these World Masters Athletics Championships, the next one being in Toronto in 2020. May I conclude by inviting everyone who does not know anything about the World Masters Athletics Championships to google www.malaga2018.com and the numerous Masters related sites in order to measure the impact that such an event can have on our population, as a whole.
Thank you for your anticipated interest and corrective measures in the matter.
Cordially,
JEAN-MICHEL de SENNEVILLE
