Team GB will be celebrating Olympic Day (23 June) over five days by encouraging the nation to get active and by promoting the Olympic values of friendship, excellence and respect.
As the UK continues to operate under the government's lockdown guidelines, Team GB will be providing families and schoolteachers with a range of Get Set and Travel to Tokyo resources to inspire young people to maintain healthy, active lifestyles. The activity will kick off today (22 June) and be available via Team GB's social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. You can also check out Team GB's Olympic Day video teaser.
Get Set is the British Olympic Association (BOA) and British Paralympic Association's youth engagement programme. It was initially created as the official London 2012 education programme to deliver against Lord Coe's vision to use the Games to inspire a generation of young people. Travel to Tokyo, part of the Get Set initiative, aims to encourage children and their families to try new activities in the run up to the Tokyo 2020 and Paralympic Games, which have been delayed until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A host of Team GB Olympians and Tokyo 2020 hopefuls, including Travel to Tokyo ambassadors Laviai Nielson (athletics) and Anthony Ogogo (former boxer), have devised bespoke workouts for parents and schoolteachers to try at home or in the classroom, as well as a series of fun fitness challenges.
Team GB's Olympic Day celebrations also coincide with National School Sport Week at Home, which takes place each year (this time at home for the first time) to celebrate the role of physical education and school sport in enhancing young peoples' wellbeing. Get Set will be supporting this with its ‘Have a Sports Day at Home' initiative, acknowledging that many children will miss out on their annual school sports day as a result of lockdown.
After building an at-home obstacle course for her toddler near the start of lockdown, former alpine ski racer Chemmy Alcott will be creating a brand new obstacle course for people to try at home as part of their own sports days.
Elsewhere, Team GB will join the wider Olympic Movement in their Olympic Day celebrations by supporting the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) #StayActive campaign. Inspired by the energy and positivity of Olympians around the globe during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the IOC will create the world's largest 24 hour digital-first Olympic workout. Taekwondo's Lutalo Muhammad, who won silver at Rio 2016, joins Olympians from all four corners of the globe in a home video workout which can be viewed here.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world into lockdown, close to 5,000 Olympians have engaged with a remarkable 243 million people online across more than 50 countries in the IOC's #StayStrong, #StayActive, #StayHealthy campaign by sharing their daily workouts and uplifting tips on how to stay healthy in body and mind.
IOC President Thomas Bach, said: Â"Celebrating Olympic Day may feel very different from all previous years, but at the same time, on this Olympic Day, our message of the power of sport to bring hope and optimism to everyone resonates even stronger. Let us join together to use this power of sport to prepare the postponed Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 as a moment of solidarity and resilience of humankind."
Amongst the workouts, fitness challenges and at-home sports days, Team GB will share a selection of learning resources on the Olympic Values which can be used in the classroom, the playground or at home.
Olympic bronze medallist and Travel to Tokyo ambassador, Anthony Ogogo said: Â"While the nation continues to operate under these unique circumstances it is so important that we find ways to remain fit, healthy and motivated. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games may have been postponed by a year, but we can still take inspiration from everything that the Olympics stands for by promoting healthy wellbeing and the Olympic Values to young people and demonstrate how these can be weaved into everyday life.”
For more information on Get Set and Travel to Tokyo visit Get Set.
You can also find out more about Olympic Day and the IOC's #StayActive campaign.
