The International Olympic Committee (IOC) just launched The Best of Us Challenge, a global competition in which ordinary individuals compete against their peers and Olympic athletes such as Asafa Powell, Lolo Jones, pole vaulters Steve Hooker & Yelena Isinbyeva and multi-eventer Carolina Kluft. Yes, it even includes Michael Phelps!
It’s all for a good cause to get kids excited about sports. Child obesity is increasing at an alarming rate. Just getting them off the sofa and moving is a good thing. Dancing, jumping, throwing, anything!
Also, there are several notable bloggers (not me, of course!) which have opted to take part including Veronica Belmont of Revision3′s tech-centric show Tekzilla, and Sarah Austin of Pop17.
Maybe I should challenge Asafa Powell in the standing Triple Jump? (Ray Ewry would be proud of me) Because I’m sure he’ll blow me out of the water with a standing long jump with all his power.
The Grand Prize winners will receive a trip for two to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver for four days and three nights, and a chance for bragging rights to beating an Olympic athlete at, well, anything.
Top Prizes #1
- Trip for Two to Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games
- 4 days/3 nights
- Access to one wave of events
- Logistics
- Randomly selected from approved video submissions
- Contest period: 10/1/09 until 11/15/09 (because of the cut-off date for obtaining a Visa to Canada)
- If winner is under the age of 18, s/he must be accompanied by a guardian
Top Prize #2
- Trip for Two to Singapore/Youth Olympic Games
- 4 days/3 nights
- Trip from August 20th, 2010 – August 23rd
- Logistics
- Randomly selected from approved video submissions
- Contest period: 11/16/09 until 2/28/10 (end of Vancouver Games)
- If winner is under the age of 18, s/he must be accompanied by a guardian
Athlete Challenge Prizes
- Gold – Olympian signed t-shirt, TBoU poster, Olympic video game
- Silver – TBoU poster, Olympic video game
- Bronze – TBoU poster
- Selection Process/Logistics
- Contest period: 10/1/09– 2/28/10 (end of Vancouver Games)
- Each athlete challenge is its own “category”
Prizes/winners are awarded based upon actually beating or coming closest to beating the Olympic athlete
For example, in the Lolo Jones challenge “category,” if a participant does 35 hand-clap push-ups (which is 3 more than Lolo performs) and no other participants surpass 35, the person with the 35 claps wins “gold”
Then the next highest number of hand-claps gets “silver” and then “bronze”
- If no one is actually able to beat the athlete’s challenge, then the “gold,” “silver,” and “bronze” place winners will be those participants who come the closest to beating the athlete
- A participant can enter as many times as s/he would like
- On a category level, no participant may win more than one prize level (e.g. a participant cannot win both gold and silver; just gold)
Good Luck to all!
