From the Seine River to the iconic Eiffel Tower, the stage is set for the Olympic Games in Paris. And though Belize - which is fielding just one athlete - has one of the smallest delegations - the delegation wants to put on a respectable showing.
Today we spoke virtually to the head of the mission, Giovanni Alamilla and the sole athlete, sprinter Shaun Gill- who is also our neighbor here on Dean Street.
They were on their way to the opening ceremony and said they are proud to represent the country at the Paris Olympics.
Giovanni Alamilla, Head Of the delegation, Olympic Games Paris 2024
"I'm the Chef de mission, the head of the delegation, we have Cojac Smith who is the official for athletics and Shaun Gill who is the athlete. The only athlete representing Belize."
"Usually the olympic committee and the organizing committee would at least give each country a minimum of one male and one female to participate in the games even if you don't qualify. So they want every flag represented every country represented but over the past six years they have been slowly moving away from basic giving those slots."
"With Shaun having the best time in a 100 and being the highest ranked Belizean male in a hundred then they gave him that slot."
Shaun Gill, Belize Delegate, Olympics Games Paris 2024
"When walking outside of the village other countries are already cheering us, so we are already feeling the support and the excitement. Right now the atmosphere is, just live so I'm feeling good."
"You do see some world class athletes, which you can't deny, professional athletes but you also have some friends because like you mentioned earlier not the first time so I have many friends over here that are athletes some of them compete in the same events as in the male sprint events the open events so a little bit of both."
Reporter
"You were in Tokyo right? So what, obviously there is a huge difference culturally and language wise between Tokyo and France. How do you compare the two events?"
Shaun Gill, Belize Delegate, Olympics Games Paris 2024
"The two things that stand out for me one in Tokyo was during COVID so we had a super amount of restrictions and in Tokyo for some reason a lot of people spoke English here, it's hard to find anyone that speaks English."
Reporter
"Explain to me what is the feeling like, you're heading into what may be a historic field in terms of Noah Lyles, who believes he can break Usain Bolt's record."
Shaun Gill, Belize Delegate, Olympics Games Paris 2024
"We would prefer to be in a better position in terms of where Belize is in terms of sports but being a part of the event especially here in Paris, it is historic like you said and it is a great feeling to be a part of it no matter who wins at the end of the day. It could be Noah Lyles, Kishane Thompson whoever, knowing that we are a part of it hopefully Kishane wins, he is the Caribbean finest at the moment so it's a good feeling."
"Throughout my career especially over the last four years I've run hundreds of races and over time you develop a routine and that routine includes your physical preparation and your mental preparation so you take the same approach to almost every single race."
Tomorrow Shaun travels to a training camp organized by PanAm Sports to prepare for his first race scheduled for August 3rd.
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