Malta represented for first time

A team of seven swimmers from Verdala International Swimming Club (on left) are in in Lithuania representing Malta for the first time at the 51st edition of the International Children’s Games which are taking place in the beautiful Lithuanian city of Kaunas.

The seven swimmers of the Verdala International Swimming Club are representing the town of Pembroke, home of Verdala International School where the coach Galya Umnova and her swimmers are based. The team is truly international, with swimmers of 6 different nationalities - Malta, UK, Australia, USA, Czech Republic and Germany.

The Children’s Olympics, officially known as the International Children’s Games (ICG) is an important annual global sporting event counting half a century of history, with tens of thousands of young athletes from more than 500 cities of the world having taken part in its different disciplines.

It is recognised by the International Olympics Committee. Last year it took place at the New Taipei and the 2018 edition will be hosted by Jerusalem.

The International Children’s Games started once as a vision of the physical education teacher in Slovenia and have since turned into a tremendous international movement.

The 2017 games host 90 participating cities from 35 countries, such as Australia, China, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Singapour, Thailand or USA.

There are 1,500 children aged 12-15 competing in 8 sports, including athletics, sailing, swimming, table tennis, beach volleyball, judo, basketball and football.