People across the globe got active for Olympic Day!
Throughout June, thousands of people from all corners of the world got active both physically and on social media in celebration of the 65th Olympic Day on 23 June, the birth date of the modern Olympic Movement.
Invited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the young and not-so-young got off the couch and joined the IOC’s ‘Get Active’ campaign, sharing their sporting moments on social media platforms, and taking part in a contest to win a trip to Lausanne, Switzerland.
At the same time, a large majority of the 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) on all continents heeded the call to action by staging over 1,000 educational, sporting and cultural events to get people moving and to spread the Olympic values.
Sport in motion across the continents
For instance, Olympic Day celebrations across Georgia attracted more than 3,000 participants, including a number of Olympic and world champions. In addition to the traditional Olympic Day Run, whose youngest participant was seven and the oldest 72, the NOC organised several other sports events, such as street basketball and street handball.
In North America, Canadian Olympians and Paralympians took part in Olympic Day fairs at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa and at the Richmond Olympic Oval, a Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games venue, where over 3,000 local students attended 15 sport-specific stations in which children and parents alike could participate and enjoy demonstrations. The United States pulled out all the stops and organised more than 700 events across the country, with nearly 370 American athletes attending to act as role models.
While in South America, the NOC of Chile and the Desafío Levantemos Chile [Let’s Move Chile] Association unveiled a new programme for more than 300 young people, promoting integration and development through sport, entitled Desafío Olímpico [Olympic Challenge]. Aimed at underprivileged children and young people, this project will enable them to benefit from the advice of the same professional trainers as elite athletes. Four sports will be proposed to them initially: handball, karate, volleyball and basketball.
In Hong Kong, China, the 2013 edition of the Olympic Day Run saw 5,000 runners take on a 5.6km route, followed by a lottery, music, dancing, magic and games. The Jordan Olympic Committee, under the Presidency of HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein, organised an inspirational Olympic Day welcoming 200 orphans to enjoy a demonstration of sports. Joined by coaches and athletes from the National Federations, the young participants were invited to try out new sports and learn about leading a healthy lifestyle.
Fun and games were also on the menu for the Seychelles as it held a judo competition for young participants in the 28kg to 60kg category, as well as a day of sports events showcasing hockey, football, volleyball, tug of war and a series of water sports.
A connected world
On and around Olympic Day, all IOC digital platforms were also on Olympic Day mode. With the help of American basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, the IOC’s call to action videos aimed directly at Olympic fans generated close to 55,000 views. The IOC’s Olympic Day contest, on the other hand, was promoted to over 23 million Olympic and Youth Olympic social media subscribers across the world.
Twenty-one year-old Iuri Vinuto from Sao Paulo, Brazil, is the winner of the trip to The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, for his photo taken along the Brazilian coast. Cycling with a group of friends on a sunny day, Vinuto captured his winning “active” moment on Sunday 23 June with his mobile phone. An aspiring triathlete, the young rider admitted setting his sights on competing in the next Olympic Summer Games in his home country in 2016, and trains every day in the hope of achieving this goal.