Inaugural Olympic Virtual Series Successfully Concludes with Nearly 250,000 Participants from Over 100 Countries Around the World

LAUSANNE — The first-ever, Olympic-licensed event for physical and non-physical virtual sports, the Olympic Virtual Series (OVS), has ended with nearly 250,000 participants from over 100 countries totaling more than 2 million OVS entries. In addition, more than 3 million km were ridden (cycling) and over 20,000 km were rowed (Rio to Tokyo) during the 42-day series.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) collaborated with five International Sports Federations and four game publishers to produce the inaugural Olympic Virtual Series (OVS) including: World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC); Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA); World Sailing; World Rowing; and Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). It began on 13 May with staggered competition starts that gave each sport a spotlight. The OVS concluded on 23 June, “Olympic Day,” with all of the Event Finals broadcast throughout the day including Baseball, Sailing, Rowing, Cycling and Motor Sport Events.

”This inaugural Olympic Virtual Series has been a tremendous opportunity for the IOC and the Olympic Movement to take an important first step into the virtual sports space,” said International Olympic Committee Sports Director Kit McConnell. “After many years of exploring how we can engage with esports and the gaming community, we are proud to have collaborated with these five International Federations and passionate audiences to celebrate virtual sports with participants from around the world.”

The OVS aimed to leverage the growing popularity of virtual sport to promote the Olympic Movement, Olympic values, sports participation and grow direct relations with youth in line with the Olympic Agenda 2020+5. It also supported the IFs in further establishing virtual and simulated forms of sports as a discipline within their regulations and strategies. The IOC is in discussions with a number of additional IFs, such as FIFA and FIBA, regarding potential participation in future editions of the Olympic Virtual Series.

Each of the OVS events are available on Olympics.com for fans to watch highlights and/or replays:

BASEBALL EVENT — eBASEBALL POWERFUL PRO BASEBALL 2020 under the guidance of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC)

♦ Watch Baseball Event Highlights Here

♦ Home Run Derby Replay Here (Nintendo Switch) Winner: Ryohei “Pome” Osaka 1st Runner-up: Yusuke “CHAPIO” Tominaga 2nd Runner-up: Hiroki “Taijyu” Horiike

♦ Tournament Finals Replay Here (PlayStation 4) Winner: Syoma “SHORA” Mori 1st Runner-up: Yoshinori “TAKU” Kato 2nd Runner-up: Yosuke “MesiHARA” Fujomoto

MOTOR SPORT EVENT — Gran TurismoTM Sport under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA)

♦ Motor Sport Event Replay Here Winner: Valerio Gallo, Italy — Watch Gallo Speak Here 1st Runner-up: Mikail Hizal, Germany 2nd Runner-up: Baptiste Beauvois, France

SAILING EVENT — Played on Virtual Regatta in participation with World Sailing

♦ Watch Sailing Event Highlights Here

♦ INSHORE SERIES Nacra 17 Replay Here Winner: Arhur Farley (GBR) 1st Runner-up: Bart Lambriex (NED) 2nd Runner-Up: Joan Cardona (ESP) ILCA Dinghy Winner: Kaan Mazlumca (TUR) — Watch Mazlumca Here 1st Runner-up: Filippo Lanfranchi (ITA) 2nd Runner-up: Gaéten de Kat (FRA) 49er Replay Here Winner: Lukas Mohr (DEN) — Watch Mohr Speak Here 1st Runner-up: Arthur Farley (GBR) 2nd Runner-up: Tangi Le Golf (FRA)

♦ RIO TO TOKYO RACE Highlights Here Winner: Erik Danielsson (SWE) 1st Runner-up: Christopher Powers (USA) — Watch Powers Speak Here 2nd Runner-up: Luiz Carlos Bonetti (BRA)

ROWING EVENT

♦ Watch Rowing Event Highlights Here

♦ Row for a Cause Winner Replay Here

♦ The winning charity was Colombia — with a goal to protect young refugees and increase their access to safe sport through structured sports activities.

CYCLING EVENT — Through the use of Zwift, and under the guidance of Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)

♦ Watch Cycling Event Highlights Here

♦ Ultimate Chase Race Replay Here Included were: Sir Chris Hoy, Alberto Contador, Fabian Cancellara, Kristin Armstrong, Dame Sarah Storey, Mel C (Sporty Spice), and more.

♦ 24-Hour Group Ride “Olympic Day” Replay Here The final Group Ride took place over a 24-hour period, with a different person leading the ride each hour, including: UCI President David Lappartient and Michael Rogers, Georgia Simmerling, Anna van der Breggen, Alberto Contador, Shanaze Reade, Sir Chris Hoy, Fabian Cancellara and Kristin Armstrong.

BY THE NUMBERS

♦ Nearly 250K Participants

♦ Nearly 2M entries into the Olympic Virtual Series (average of 8 entries / per participant)

♦ More than 100 participating countries

♦ Over 750K video views at Olympics.com

♦ Nearly 1M unique users at Olympics.com

♦ More than 7M impressions on Olympics social media

♦ 9 partners, 5 International Federations and 4 game publishers

♦ Over 3M km ridden (Cycling)

♦ More than 20,000 km rowed (Rio to Tokyo)

♦ 2 days of OVS competition

* * *

For your ongoing Olympic coverage, please note:

INTERVIEWS

Interviews are available with IOC Leadership, Sports Federations Leadership, and select participants of each OVS event, including:

♦ Christopher Carroll, Director of Digital Engagement, International Olympic Committee

♦ Select winners of Olympic Virtual Series events

♦ World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) — eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020, Konami

♦ Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) — Zwift, Zwift Inc.

♦ World Rowing

♦ World Sailing — Virtual Regatta, Virtual Regatta SAS

♦ Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) — Gran Turismo, Polyphony Digital

MEDIA ASSETS

All OVS videos, photos and logos are available HERE.

# # #

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Melissa A.E. Sanders, Tadpole Communications+1.404.909.6726 | melissa@tadpolecomm.net | press@dreamhacksportsgames.comDavid Gardner, Tadpole Communications+1.310.291.1156 | david@tadpolecomm.net | press@dreamhacksportsgames.comIOC Media Relations Team+41 21 621 6000 | pressoffice@olympic.org

As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.

These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.