IOC, Beijing 2022 Mark Olympic Day

(ATR) More than 100 countries are celebrating the birth of the modern Olympics today with Olympic Day runs and activities.

Winter Olympic host candidate Beijing began their celebration on Saturday with a color run and traditional fun run throughout the streets of Beijing and Zhangjiakou.

Those in attendance wore Olympic Day apparel and waved flags showing support for their city to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, a month away from the final selection by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Today, Beijing will host "A Love of Ice and Snow" at the Beijing Aquatics Center as well as a large-scale arts exhibition with the theme of a shared dream of hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics. Throughout the week, Beijing and Zhangjiakou will hold more fun and color runs, bike marathons and a 1,000 person Tai Qi performance.

Competing against Beijing to host the 2022 Games is Almaty, Kazakhstan. The potential host city also began their Olympic Day celebrations early, starting their activities on May 26. According to their national Olympic committee, three million people participated in the festivities across the country in an effort to support their bid for the Games.

More than 20 countries began their Olympic Day celebrations before the official Olympic Day, according to the IOC. The United States, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Cuba and Mexico are a few of the countries who began celebrations for Olympic Day in May and early June.

Many of the 150 participating countries have reported record breaking numbers for this year’s celebration, noting record attendance of youth participation, events held and overall participation from all age groups.

The United States Olympic Committee announced Tuesday there will be more than 300 additional events scheduled for Olympic Day than in 2014, bringing the total to 1,816 recognized events with more than 600,000 participants. One of the most notable events will take place on Tuesday in Boston before the Red Sox baseball game in an effort to promote the city’s ambitions to host the 2024 Summer Games.

In Turkey, the NOC increased its youth participation in Olympic-themed events by 25 percent, with a total of 4,000 children participating in the activities, also breaking their previous record.

The NOCs are not the only organizations setting records for Olympic Day. The international federations (IF) for sports are also actively involved in planning events for Olympic Day and encouraging youth participation.

World Rugby announced a record-breaking increase in their youth participation, already introducing 300,000 children to the sport in 2015. In 2014, the federation saw 400,000 new youth participants and is on track to break that by 200,000 this year.

In the United States, a record 43 national governing bodies are hosting events for Olympic Day, with the U.S. Tennis Association hosting the most events at 307.

The purpose of Olympic Day is to get people of all ages to get off the couch and get active, with a special emphasis on youth involvement and activities. The three pillars of Olympic Day are move, learn and discover.

To provide extra incentive to get moving, the IOC is giving away a trip for two to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics. In order to enter, contestants must post a photo or video of them participating in a sport or Olympic Day activities with the #OlympicDay to social media sites like Twitter or Facebook.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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