The Everyman Olympics: Original Deadline Day Arrives

Over two and a half years ago I made a bet with my mate Carl to race against each other to lose a stone. He'd opt to go down the regular route: eating less rubbish food and joining a gym which he'd plan to visit religiously, while I did a brief self-assessment and chose to pursue an altogether different path...

Carl 2009 BG (Before Gym)

Recognising my nature was to bore of attending the same place every 48 hours to do battle with my belly, and my inability to commit to such an approach; my job sends me motoring some 30,000+ miles per year around the UK, sometimes abroad also, while my wonderful missus lives 100 miles away from where I personally reside. I searched for a different approach, and one night while supping a beer, I realised that the Olympic Games offers a sporting menu which provides more exercise options than I could shake a chubby finger at.

The Everyman Olympian: At the start of 2010, weight: 14 stone 4 pounds

I elected to start with Rowing, bought a home machine, it didn't work. The next day I would start my adventure in a hotel gym, in fact I joined 2 gyms in that first week and by the time 8 days had passed I'd rowed 70,000 metres to complete The Rowing Challenge.

I developed my one-sport-per-month approach to replicate each event as it took place in the actual Games, so for my next sport I would need to play out the same amount of games as a male singles player would from day one up until and including the final. I called on family and friends to offer themselves as my opponents, even bought an extra racquet so there were no excuses and then spent 6 days playing 6 matches to achieve The Badminton Challenge.

Athletics seemed too large a topic to deal with in one chunk so I singled out the Marathon as the main endurance event but I didn't even run a mile at this point, so I consulted my brother and broke the task down into a challenge of 21 days over which to run the famous 26.2 miles. I smashed this target and on day fifteen I ran 5.1 miles alongside my brother to complete The Running Challenge.

I was going strong with my plan, which I'd decided to call The Everyman Olympics, but then my world changed. Pete Puma, a Bodybuilder from the US put me in touch with a British Weightlifter via Twitter and over the next month I Clean & Jerked on more weight than I'd lost. Carl won the bet and a slap up meal.




Nothing but the finest for our Carl, Tayyabs on Fieldgate Street in London has the best pork chops you'll ever eat!

I needed a change of tactics, I'd lost the bet but I had other plans in mind. The Everyman Olympics was effectively re-galvanised and I decided to try and tackle EVERY Olympic Sport before London 2012.

Well I'm sorry to say folks that this quest continues, though I'll need you to bare with me for a while longer, I'm not abandoning this adventure - I won't let you down.

Here are the sports I've achieved challenges in, with the help of many:

Archery, Aquatics (Swimming), Athletics (Running & Decathlon), Badminton, Beach Volleyball, Canoeing (Sprint & Slalom), Cycling (BMX & Road), Fencing, Handball, Judo, Rowing, Shooting (Pistol & Shotgun), Table Tennis, Tennis, Triathlon and Weightlifting.

In all I've complete 16 different sports, across 20 disciplines (somehow managed to bag bonus sports along the way), with these 5 sports currently on the go:

Basketball, Football, Sailing, Wrestling and Boxing.

But friends, I need your help! I'm looking for contacts in these 6 sports so I can complete my challenge:

• Gymnastics
• Trampolining
• Water Polo
• Taekwondo
• Modern Pentathlon
• Diving

If you can help please email me at: theeverymanolympian@googlemail.com

Thanks, you're a legend

The Everyman Olympian

PS I've kept the stone off, jumped on the scales today:

The Everyman Olympian: Weighing in at 13 stone 3 pounds.