- Date
- 06 Jul 2017
- Tags
- YOG, Buenos Aires 2018, Lausanne 2020, IOC News, Olympic News
23 June may be the official ‘Olympic Day’, but this year the whole month saw people around the globe aiming to get higher, faster, stronger, fitter and healthier! With the support of thousands of Olympians offering messages of encouragement on social media and the passion of the National Olympic Committees around the world providing free sports events, Olympic fever grew to over 6 million people getting their sweat on in celebration of the Olympic Movement.
One of the last celebrations was also one of the biggest – on 1 July in Buenos Aires, Argentina, host city of the Youth Olympic Games in 2018. The local YOG Organising Committee gave a taste of what is to come at the Games next year by holding a 44-sport-strong festival in the Green Park in the heart of the city, one of the four park locations that will host the YOG.
From BMX to karate, polo to wakeboarding; Buenos Aires 2018 provided a free sports festival to cater for all tastes, ages and abilities. In addition, a line-up of music acts and educational activities was on offer for the 5,500 participants, and support was provided by several Worldwide TOP Partners.
The Olympic Capital of Lausanne also rocked Olympic Day with a flashmob organised by 1,200 school children on the shores of Lake Geneva to celebrate the next Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2020. The children, dressed in blue, yellow, black, green and red T-shirts, perfectly choreographed the Olympic rings, creating a spectacular image seen by millions of fans worldwide.
Engaging young people through sport is a key objective of Olympic Day, and empowering the IOC’s group of Young Change-Makers created sporting activity on all continents. This group of young sporting leaders, who have all participated at the Youth Olympic Games to mentor the young athletes, were challenged to get their friends, family or community active. As a result, grannies were enjoying tai chi in Mauritius and doing Zumba in Bogotá, while friends were encouraged to swim in the lake in Switzerland and get involved in marathon running in Brazil.
#OlympicDay 2017 has been epic and demonstrates that sport is in everyone and can be enjoyed everywhere!
Go out there and get active!
