The Jeux des Iles de l’Océan Indien (JIOI) or Indian Ocean Islands Game (IOIG) in English, are a sports encounter made up of several disciplines, during which Mauritius, Réunion Island, Madagascar, Comoros, Seychelles, Maldives and Mayotte compete against each other respectfully and in a spirit of fair play.
The Context
The very first session of the game was held in 1979. It is organised every 4 years, thus giving participants all the required time for training. The tenth session was held this year in Mauritius, between the 19th and 28th of July last.
There were 14 disciplines to count in the JIOI of this year, namely: badminton, weightlifting, swimming, table tennis, rugby, football, athletics, cycling, sailing, boxing, volleyball, basketball, judo and beach volley.
The last mentioned is a discipline that has been newly added to those of the JIOI. A special playground has been set up on the Mont Choisy public beach. Mauritius has been able to rely on the Rodrigues island for the competition; indeed, 43 of the athletes selected to represent Mauritius at the game are residents of Rodrigues.
How did Mauritius prepare for the event?
Preparations for the game had begun since 2018 in Mauritius, as the government wanted it to take place in a modern and well-equipped sports complex. The first stone of this ambitious project was therefore laid on the 21st February 2018, at Côte d’Or, in St Pierre, in the East of the island.
Covering an area of 22.44 hectares, the sports complex is divided into 3 parts: the gymnasium, the football ground and the swimming pool. However, following its inauguration on the 15th of July last, only the swimming and judo competitions were held at the complex. The reason for this is that the construction works for the athletics track and for the football ground were not complete yet.
In addition to this, the preparations for the competition went way beyond infrastructure in Mauritius. Organisers also focused on the creation of a particular atmosphere. The Comité d’Organisation des Jeux des Iles 2019 (COJI) held a contest in order to find the best song to be used as an anthem for the JIOI. They chose “Tam Tam dans zil”, composed and sung by the group Kokofaya.
The mascot for the game was a lime green Echo Parakeet, named Krouink. This animal was chosen because of its will to overcome; it was initially threatened by extinction but it tried its best to remain alive, the COJI says.
Victory!
The large number of Mauritians and foreigners who travelled in order to attend the game did not regret the effort. A high-performance sports competition was delivered. There were many of them waving the Mauritian flag and blowing into vuvuzelas to show support.
Their encouragement, their prayers, the efforts of the participants and those of their coaches were rewarded by the winning of 92 gold medals! You read that right, Mauritius is the winner of the JIOI 2019! For the very first time! You can guess the bliss.
Is the victory of Mauritius at the Indian Ocean Islands Game due to the fact of playing home? you may ask. Or is it rather the result of intensive training?
Whatever the secret may be, Mauritians will for long revel in the pride of having won the 10th session of the IOIG.