Go for Gold!

By Jessie

Every four years the nations of the world descend upon a reverential host city in an epic battle for sporting glory. Top athletes in high-performance lycra parade around the opening ceremony arena, embodying the pride of their home countries and igniting passion in the hearts of millions.

For the duration of The Games we citizens of the globe are united by our common humanity, sweeping aside cultural, religious, social and political differences and striving together in the pursuit of Faster! Higher! Stronger! (not to mention, laughing at Spain’s bad outfits…)

Old grievances are forgotten and new friendships forged - we hail passing strangers in the street to debate the intricacies of synchronised swimming and handball. When The Games reach their zenith, you can almost feel the spirit of Zeus; the ancient God cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling from the top of Mt. Olympus "harden up suckers! In my day all you’d win was a wreath of laurel leaves and if you lost, you’d be chained to the sun where an angry buzzard would pick your eyes out for eternity…"

But I digress. The Olympics are of course a BIG. DEAL. And even as hopelessly un-sporty as I am, I have to admit, I do get caught up in the excitement of the event, with all the rituals and mythology and lung-busting record-breaking (if not the po-faced rules and doping scandals).

While sport is clearly not the answer to all our earthly problems, reading the inspirational stories of champions makes a refreshing change from the usual political disputes and corporate corruption that usually dominates our daily media. 

Here at YouPlay, it’s no secret we love a reason to eat snacks, watch the telly, and pretend to be athletic, so we’ve donned our best tracksuits and constructed a torch out of a rolled-up old financial report and a tea-light candle. Sadly, we’re unable to replicate the track and field events in the office – although we do have a dusty ping pong table and a couple of left-over Christmas streamers for the Rhythmic Gymnastics. 

But it wouldn’t be fun if YOU couldn’t join in! So we’ve launched our Go for Gold! Trivia Tournament so you too can engage in a battle… of the minds. There are great prizes to be won - and a BONUS prize upgrade if you achieve a medal-winning score and are wearing our official Games Avatar item.

Enter the Go for Gold! Trivia Tournament!

Finally, have you ever wondered what shenanigans the inanimate objects on your kitchen table get up when you leave the room? I wonder about this ALL THE TIME but now this video has revealed all…

Jess x

PS: What's your favourite Olympic event?