On June 23, the anniversary of when the International Olympic Committee was established, an Olympic Day Workout event will be conducted via social media for the first time, the Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
During the event, Olympians and fans around the world will exercise together via social media. The IOC planned it to help people stay healthy living daily "With Corona," where people are forced to live with the coronavirus.
Each local athlete will participate in the event at 11 a.m. in each region's time, according to an IOC official. Each Olympian's participation will circle the earth in a relay format using the time differences.
Until now, national and regional Olympic committees in each country and region have held their own memorial events on Olympic Day on June 23 to promote the Olympics movement. The Japanese Olympic Committee has held a running event in which ordinary runners participate, among other events.
The IOC came up with a plan this year to offer training routines that can be done at home, with the help of the NOC and others, due to the risk of infection at events that have large crowds. More than two dozen Olympians who support the purpose of the event are expected to participate.
Using Instagram's live feature, each Olympian will sweat with their fans for about 30 minutes. A section for answering questions will also be established on the video-sharing app TikTok.
The first Olympian will be Pita Taufatofua in Tonga, a cross-country skier and a taekwondo athlete, who went topless as the flag-bearer at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics opening ceremony. After that, Olympians from Oceania, Asia, Europe, Africa, and North and South America, will participate. From Japan, Seito Yamamoto, a men's pole vaulter who competed in the London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics, will participate in the event.
Japan women's basketball player Ramu Tokashiki is also cooperating in another 30-minute training video that is planned to be distributed on IOC-related websites on June 23, according to the JOC.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
