Track Cycling

Olympic Channel five things: 19 April 2020 – Olympic Channel

Olympic Channel gives you five things to do to stay active, stay positive, and stay healthy.

In the present times, we’re all looking for a bit of motivation.

Here at Olympic Channel, we are sharing inspiring and emotional moments in our Daily Routine to help us all stay safe, strong and healthy and to keep you active and entertained in isolation.

Here are five things for today.

1. Work out

Exercise brings many benefits.

So, one of the five things we’re recommending is continuing to work out where possible. Today we have Argentina’s Federico Molinari, London 2012 Olympic gymnast, training at home with a kettlebell.

Don’t worry if you don’t have one, just substitute it with any other weight you may have.

Don’t forget to check out our home workouts mini-site, as we encourage everyone to #StayHealthy, #StayStrong, and #StayActive.

In fact, here’s one from Russian artistic swimmer Svetlana Romashina, who’s finding ways to stay in rhythm at home despite not having a pool to practice in!

And here are the Ingebrigtsen family, led by Henrik, Jakob, and Filip, doing a “side step challenge” after being nominated by Germany footballer Leroy Sané.

2. Re-live past sports events

In the absence of live sports, many international federations are throwing back to iconic moments in their sports’ histories.

Take this from World Rugby, for example, and the USA women’s rugby sevens team winning their home Glendale Sevens.

The Giro d’Italia, one of road cycling’s three annual Grand Tours, should have been underway at the moment, but it was cancelled due to the virus pandemic.

However, that hasn’t stopped them running a virtual tour featuring professional cyclists riding stationary bikes at home. Today is part of Stage 10, which will end in Tortoreto, which hosted the finish of a stage in 1995.

And don’t forget, you can also watch lots of Olympic archive footage here on the Olympic Channel, with our coverage of classic Olympic finals and Opening and Closing Ceremonies. And our YouTube page has lots more to explore.

3. Read

We’ve picked out some intriguing articles from around the sports world for you to have a look at.

Are you struggling to sleep worrying about the current state of the world? You’re probably not alone. BBC Sport asked a sleep scientist, who advises British Olympians, for his tips on getting a good night’s rest.

It’s all about being calm, being the right amount of tired, and a number of other factors, says Luke Gupta.

Meanwhile, the New York Times tells the story of equestrian Olympian Kevin Babington, who was paralysed after a competition accident at a horse show last year.

Babington, who competed with horse Carling King in the jumping event for his native Ireland at Athens 2004 and finished joint-fourth, was thrown off his horse on 30 August when she crashed into a jump obstacle.

He is now in a wheelchair, but that hasn’t stopped him coaching.

And right here on Olympic Channel, we’ve explored why Novak Djokovic is so motivated to do well at Tokyo 2020.

The Serb has been to three Olympic Games but has fallen short of his ultimate goal each time.

4. Listen

There’s no shortage of sports podcasts out there even while sports are paused.

Take, for example, the U.S. National Public Radio’s Only A Game podcast, exploring what American sports and athletes are doing even while their competitions are shut down.

Or how about the BBC’s A Question of Sport podcast, which takes the UK’s longest-running TV sports quiz show and transform it into audio format?

From our very own Olympic Channel Podcast, we’ve picked out this emotional chat we had last year with German track cycling Olympic champion Kristina Vogel, who now finds herself paralysed after a Dutch rider crashed into her during practice.

5. Have fun on social media

Don’t forget to follow Olympic Channel on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube!

We’ve got lots of fun stuff on there, from interactive polls and “what happened next?” quizzes on our Instagram stories to spot-the-difference puzzles.

For example, can you guess which athlete might be represented by this “home office”?

Hint: that athlete also appears in this post, in which you have to choose a video call to join!

There’s lots more across our social media so don’t forget to get following!

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