Mayor Proclaims Olympic Day and Citywide Celebration
Little Rock takes part in international day celebrating Olympic values and ideals

Little Rock, AR – Mayor Stodola announced today that June 22, 2009 will be celebrated citywide as Olympic Day with a special event featuring Paralympian, Dr. Grover Evans. Some of Dr. Evans’ achievements include;

• 2008: U.S. Paralympic Team member, Swimming - Paralympic Games, Beijing, China
• 2004: Member, U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team - Paralympic Games, Athens, Greece
• 1997: Inducted into Arkansas Swimming Hall of Fame
• 1996: Alternate, U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team - Paralympic Games, Atlanta, Ga.
• 1996: National Easter Seal Society's Johanna Cooke Plaut Community Leadership Award
• 1992: Member of U.S. Paralympic Swimming Team - Barcelona, Spain

“With a storied athletic tradition and a zeal for athletic excellence, Chicago is the ideal location for the Olympics in 2016. The proposed venues from South Shore Olympic Park to the Olympic Waterfront and the Lake Michigan Sports Complex demonstrate the remarkable preparedness of this city to delivery a quality event on the world stage. The City of Little Rock has also demonstrated a strong commitment to amateur athletics and physical activity among our citizens. From the walking and biking access on the Arkansas River Trail to the ball fields and basketball courts in the 53 parks located throughout our city, the citizens of Little Rock have many opportunities to exercise and engage in physical activity. Olympic Day recognizes the importance of these opportunities and the common thread that physical activity and competition weave throughout our nation and around the world” Mayor Mark Stodola.


The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) celebrates Olympic Day annually with events at the Olympic Training Centers and official training sites, as well as coordinating activities with affiliated sport National Governing Bodies and multi-sport organizations. This year, through a partnership with Chicago 2016, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Olympic Day celebrations have expanded to cities across the country. In each community, the program will encourage physical activity and promote the Olympic values of fair play, cooperation and respect for others. Chicago 2016 is the organization seeking the privilege to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

At the urging of Mayor Daley during the U.S. Conference of Mayors in January in Washington, D.C., Mayor Stodola joined mayors across the country in a collective pledge of support for hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Chicago in 2016. Today’s mayoral proclamation and the community’s cooperative celebration with other cities will send a clear message to the International Olympic Committee that Little Rock and the United States of America support Chicago’s bid for the Games. The 2016 Host City will be named on October 2, 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Chicago is competing for this honor alongside Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Tokyo (Japan), and Madrid (Spain).

Olympic Day is a worldwide commemoration of Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s June 23, 1894, convening of the first International Olympic Committee meeting at the Sorbonne in Paris, and the founding of the Modern Olympic Games. National Olympic Committees throughout the world will also participate in the international celebration, with each Olympic Committee sending Olympic Day greetings to participating nations.

WHAT: Olympic Day event
WHEN: June 22, 2009 at 10:00 a.m.
WHERE: Interstate Park, I-30 & Arch, near 33rd & Short