Louisa DaleyOlympic champions, world figures and fans came together across five continents and 20 time zones on Olympic Day 2020, 23 June, for a global 24-hour digital workout.
Over 141 athletes from 47 sports disciplines took part in both live workouts and a special edition Olympic Day video showcasing moves to challenge all abilities.
Across Olympic social media handles, 14.5 million people interacted with the digital content.
Tonga’s summer and winter Olympian Pita Taufatofua began the global digital workout from South Pacific. The workout then travelled to Honolulu and ended with USA decathlon champion Bryan Clay.
National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Federations (IFs) showed its support with active involvement. The Brazilian NOC led a month of activities and the British Olympic Association led a five-day campaign to inspire children, teachers and families to try a new sport. The French Olympic Committee encouraged people to walk, run or cycle 2,024m.
The event included appearances from India’s Rio 2016 women’s badminton silver medallist PV Sindhu who introduced fans to daily meditation, the International Gymnastics Federation who ran live workouts, the International Sport Climbing Federation (IFSC) who discussed mental health in sport and more.
Mikel Thomas, a three-time Olympic hurdler from Trinidad and Tobago, said: “Olympic day is to bring us all together, it unites all of us in the spirit of sport, it’s about unity. It’s a good opportunity for everyone to just build yourself, keep growing and get better; and we will get better, because that’s the whole point.”