On the field, the competitors jumped into the water like arrows at the command, cutting through the waves in the pool and showing off their swimming skills to the fullest.The 13th Beijing Olympic City Sports and Culture Festival “Swimming Challenge” was held on August 6th at 9:00 pm at the Beijing Yongle Youth Sports Camp.Over 300 swimmers took part in this special event on the first day of the opening race.

The 13th Beijing Olympic City Sports and Culture Festival “Swimming Challenge” course map

The 13th Beijing Olympic City Sports and Culture Festival “Swimming Challenge” Venue Layout

The 13th Beijing Olympic City Sports and Culture Festival  “Swimming Challenge” poster

The 13th Beijing Olympic City Sports and Culture Festival “Swimming Challenge” Starting Gun

The “Swimming Challenge” event

The “Swimming Challenge” is one of the “Mass Sports Events” of the 13th Beijing Olympic City Sports and Culture Festival. "The Swimming Challenge is divided into 900m for men and women and 1500m for men and women. Entry is open to anyone over the age of 18 and only one entry per person. The challenge is the only open water swimming challenge in Beijing in 2022 and focuses on the concept of the “Dual Olympic Family”. Parents and children were encouraged to join hands in this challenge to showcase the spirit of prosperity and the charm of water sports on the field.

Inside the course, the runners were in full flow and the water was splashing around, demonstrating speed and power. The freestyle, butterfly and breaststroke ...... competitors showed off their swimming skills. The runners were all cutting through the waves and competing for first place, weaving a landscape of competing chases. Spectators cheered loudly from the stands, cheering on the players. The runners sprinted valiantly with the encouragement of their families and the crowd.

Participants will be required to make laps around the race route at various distances. They were full of fighting spirit and waved their arms with vigour and the rippling water was a testament to their forward movement. After completing some of their laps in the water, they had to go ashore and run straight to the timing point before continuing in the water for the next lap. After a fierce competition, the winners of each category were decided and the organising committee presented the prizes to the winners.

The “Swimming Challenge” event

The “Swimming Challenge” event

The “Swimming Challenge” event

The “Swimming Challenge” event

Prize giving at the “Swimming Challenge”

Award Ceremony at the “Swimming Challenge”

According to the organisers, the event has been comprehensively planned and upgraded from the event set-up to logistic services. Services provided to participants such as equipment, insurance, timing and prizes are referenced to the standards of other professional sporting events, so that everyone can enjoy a more professional and complete event experience. At the same time, the competition site also held “Dual Olympic Camp”, “Dual Olympic Theme Exhibition” and other unique sports and cultural activities, in order to inherit and carry forward the valuable intangible wealth left by the Olympic Games and promote the development of Olympic culture, so that the “Dual Olympic City” style spread farther.

The “Swimming Challenge” event

The organisers chose to hold the Mass Sports Event at the site of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Triathlon venue in the hope of deepening the sustainable use of Olympic Legacies, driving regional sports, cultural and tourism consumption, and promoting the rapid development of the sports economy in the area where the event is held and in the region.

The “Beijing Olympic City Sports and Culture Festival” was initiated by the Beijing Olympic City Development Association in 2010 with the approval of the Beijing Municipal Government. After years of careful cultivation and innovative development, it has now become one of the most influential Olympic-themed urban sports and culture brands. In recent years, the cultural festival has built a platform for the public to exercise and interact with each other through various forms and become a thematic event to pass on the Olympic Legacies and promote fitness for all. And it has created conditions for everyone to participate in sport and be active and fit. Since the event's inception, more than 15 million people have participated in the various activities of the sports and cultural festival.