One-of-a-kind Budapest sports fest started: the world focuses on us – PHOTOS
The Olympic Fest of Street Sports kicked off today in Budapest’s famous Ludovika Campus. The event is part of the Olympic Qualifier Series for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games and an opportunity for everybody else to try themselves out in BMX freestyle, breaking, skateboarding, and sport climbing or enjoy the positive vibes of the unique fest blended with music, art, and culture.
Downtown Budapest hosts international sports fest, urban festival
The Paris Olympic Games will include four extra sports. They are breaking, surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing. Athletes in these sports can acquire a spot in the Olympics by performing well on two qualifiers. One was organised in Shanghai in May. The second part is in Budapest: it started today and will last until Sunday.
This is the first time such a competition is held. However, it is important for the 464 athletes competing since 150 can win an Olympic quota for Paris.
Balázs Fürjes, co-chairman of the Budapest Local Organising Committee for the 2024 Olympic Qualifier Series and a Hungarian member of the International Olympic Committee, told InfoStart that the Qualifier Series is accompanied by an urban festival. Thus, those interested can try all the sports regardless of age, skill level, or gender.
Mr Fürjes told to InfoRádió’s Aréna that their aim was to organise a respected sports event and a music and family festival to help all age groups find suitable programmes.
He said some of the new sports would remain in the programme of the future Olympic games and one would be sport climbing.
Four Hungarian athletes at the Olympic Qualifiers
Four Hungarian athletes will take part in the qualifiers. Zoltán Kempf (Kempf Zozó) will compete in BMX freestyle, Csenge Szarvák (B-Girl Csenge) and Lobontiu Menotti Noris (Noris by Nature) will try to get a spot on the Paris Olympics in breaking. Finally, Nimród Sebestyén Tusnády will try to do the same in sport climbing.
Kempf Zozó already passed his first training at the Ludovika Campus:
“The Olympic Qualifier Series is an exciting opportunity for Hungarian athletes to demonstrate their skills in these emerging sports in vibrant, urban locations”, Zsolt Gyulay, chairman of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, said in April. He also added that the event was free to enter for everybody.
Thursday and Friday will see training and preliminaries, while the finals will take place on Saturday and Sunday. Furthermore, you will even be able to meet former Olympic champions in the Ludovika Campus during the qualifiers and urban fest.
Music, sport, culture
The urban fest will include hip-hop, rock, and surf-punk music, DJ battles, and beatbox shows.
The Hungarian sports federations will provide equipment, advice and more to try the sports regardless of age, gender or skill level.
Mr Fürjes said the four sports were outstandingly exciting, spectacular and dynamic. Thus, everybody will get real sports experience visiting the Ludovika campus.
Athletes from 120 countries and all continents will take part in the event. 36 Olympic medals will be distributed in the four sports in 12 categories in Paris. Getting a spot for the Paris Olympics will be difficult, so we should expect exciting games.
Here’s a promo video of the festival:
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