Sports
The Suriname Olympic Committee is the national governing body for sports in Suriname. The SOC was established in 1959, and now has 17 members. That includes athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, chess, cycling, judo, karate, shooting, soccer, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, and wrestling.
Other somewhat popular sports in Suriname are baseball, softball, beach soccer, beach volleyball, boating, bodybuilding & powerlifting, bridge, cricket, draughts, fishing, golf, horseback riding, snooker & billiards, squash, motorsports, and rallying with the annual Savannah rally of the Surinaamse Auto Rallye Klub (SARK).
One of the most popular sports in Suriname is football. Some of the greatest football players to represent the Netherlands, such as Fabian de Freitas, Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit, Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Aron Winter, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Stanley Menzo, Henk Fräser, Ryan Babel, Ken Monkou, Edson Braafheid, Boy Waterman, Regi Blinker, Fabian Wilnis, and Eljero Elia are of Surinamese descent. Davids in particular has written his passionate pride in his Surinamese heritage and his love of attending football matches there. There are a number of local heroes in other sports as well, like Primraj Binda, best known as the athlete who dominated the local 10 km (6.2 mi) for nearly a decade, Steven Vismale and Letitia Vriesde. Another notable track athlete from Suriname was Tommy Asinga.
Swimmer Anthony Nesty is the only Olympic medalist for Suriname. He won gold in the 100 meter butterfly at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and he won bronze in the same discipline at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, he now lives in Gainesville, Florida, and is the coach of the University of Florida, mainly a coaching distance swimmers.
Multiple K-1 champion and legend, Ernesto Hoost, was born in Suriname. Rayen Simson, another legendary multiple world champion kickboxer, was also born in Suriname. Remy Bonjasky also a multiple K-1 champion is also from Surinamese descent. MMA and kickboxing champions Melvin Manhoef and Gilbert Yvel were born in Suriname or from Surinamese descent. Retired female kickboxer Ilonka Elmont, was also born in Suriname. Another notable up and comer kickboxer and K-1 fighter, Tyrone Spong, was born in Suriname. Ginty Vrede, a former Muay Thai Heavyweight Champion who died in 2008 (aged 22), was born in Suriname.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Suriname
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“There be some sports are painful, and their labor
Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness
Are nobly undergone, and most poor matters
Point to rich ends.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The whole idea of image is so confused. On the one hand, Madison Avenue is worried about the image of the players in a tennis tour. On the other hand, sports events are often sponsored by the makers of junk food, beer, and cigarettes. What’s the message when an athlete who works at keeping her body fit is sponsored by a sugar-filled snack that does more harm than good?”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)
“In the end, I think you really only get as far as you’re allowed to get.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 87 (June 17, 1991)