REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesian Aquatics General Chairman Anindya Novya Novrie Bakyan Bakrie was officially appointed as Chef de Mission (CdM) of Indonesia at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Anin's appointment was announced directly by Indonesian Olympic Committee (NOC) Chairman Raja Sapta Oktohari in his office on Friday (5/1/2024).
“We have established a task force for the 2024 Olympics. By pronouncing bismillahirrahmanirrahim, we gave the trust to the CDm as we reported to Menpora, to Indonesian Aquatic General Chairman Anindya,” Okto said in his speech.
Okto said that the decision was taken after discussions and various inputs from a number of parties. According to him, the positive records achieved by Anin made him worthy to lead the Indonesian contingent at the most prestigious sports event in the world.
“I remember yesterday I reported to IOC Member and CdM London 2012 (Erick Thohir), then me as CdM Rio de Janeiro, and Rosan P Roslani as CdM Tokyo 2020. Now for the Paris Olympics it is expected to be done well in the hands of Mr. Anindya,” he said.
In the meantime, Anin is honored to be trusted to hold the responsibility. According to him, this is a special Olympics because it is the first to be held after the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, it also brought greater challenges for the participants, particularly the contingent from Indonesia.
“The challenge is also tremendous for Indonesia because we want to make new history, the previous highest being two golds, hopefully this year it can be more. Although there were many sports that are struggling (difficulties), but there are also many potential new subjects, such as sport climbing and surfing,” Anindya said in her speech.
At the moment, he said, there are already many Indonesian athletes who have qualified for Paris. But there are still six months left to add to the numbers. “We want to fight for more Indonesian athletes to qualify (for the 2024 Paris Olympics),” he said.