Martian Olympics?

Simha 14, 2078, m249

Precision Pole Vaulting among other new sports revealed at the first Track & Field Conference hosted in Amrita fuel excitement for a Martian Olympics

Coinciding with the Track & Field Conference held in Amrita this week, PSAC (Pathfinder Sport Athletics Committee) announced an ambitious initiative to develop a Martian equivalent of The Olympics. The games will not be affiliated with the defunct International Olympic Committee or any other Earth-based organizations, however, a spokesperson did confirm this is intended to involve multiple partners.

The keynote presentation on Martis by Fredrick Seulovik, CEO of Ice Sports Mars Organization, is fuelling speculation that that he could be one of the stakeholders.

In his keynote, Seulovik shared his personal experiences with incubating experimental sports and the incredible financial and emotional burden with failing to produce viable self-sustaining franchises. He made it clear that even though ISMO’s future may not be certain, he remains resolute in continued investment in professional sports to enhance the quality of life on Mars.

The pooling of resources and operational knowledge would, no doubt, help with orchestrating such a spectacle, but what makes this more viable than the previous Ice Hockey experiment would be in the inclusion of all colonies and settlements.

Many suspect that success of this bid will rest in the hands of the MAFL and/or the club owners because of their great influence and access to recourses.

Adding to the hype, a number of new sports were also exhibited at the conference, including a convincing demonstration of Precision Pole Vaulting. The athletes purportedly have only trained in the sport for 6 weeks, implying that candidate games may have a low barrier of entry, thus enabling more settlements to participate in Martian Olympics. This has been a successful recipe for the Pathfinder Marathon, contrasting the steep learning curve that came with Seulovik’s exhibition ice hockey.

Though a target date is yet to be revealed, numerous colonies have already expressed their support. With the top sporting groups and settlements lining up, this could happen sooner rather than later.