Mission Olympic, the Netherlands’ largest nationwide school sports competition reached its thrilling finale in June at Amsterdam’s Olympic Stadium. Students aged between 12 and 19 from a record 275 schools have been competing since April in 20 sports, from badminton and basketball to street dance and swimming, and the final didn’t disappoint.

Helping cheer on the competitors were this year’s Mission Olympic ambassadors including former Olympic legend and the Netherlands’ most successful volleyballer, Bas van de Goor; women’s hockey silver and bronze Olympic medalist, Minke Booij; judo Olympic champion, Mark Huizinga; and seven-time Olympic finalist in the uneven bars, Epke Zonderland.

“Thanks to Mission Olympic, many thousands of students have the chance to try out sports they might have never played before,” says Bas van de Goor. “With so many young people getting active, Mission Olympic is positively contributing to the Netherlands’ goal of hosting the 2028 Olympic Games by spreading enthusiasm around sport and fitness, and, most importantly, participation.”

This year, for the first time, teams participating in Mission Olympic were able to gather support online by posting their profile, photos and details of their personal mission and sharing them via Facebook and popular Dutch social networking site, Hyves. The team with the most online supporters won a sports clinic with one of the Olympic ambassadors.

September 6, 2011 | Filed under Community, English, Show All and tagged with Olympics.