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| Olympians train for Marco-Polo event |
2016 Rio Olympics“It’s been a huge dream of mine to finally compete in an Olympic event,” said Canadian swimmer Alex McCarthy who will be part of Canada’s 2016 Marco-Polo team when the next summer Olympics are held in Rio.
“Now if you’ll excuse me… I’ve got to get back to my training,” exclaimed McCarthy who steadily maneuvered himself around the shallow end of the swimming pool while his teammate strategically tried to find him with his eyes closed by yelling out “Marco!” to which McCarthy was forced to whisper back.. “polo….”.
These athletes have been training non-stop for the past six months and know how much is at stake and the skill involved. “You’ve got to be able to listen carefully to others responding “Polo” while you are blind and have to rely on your instincts alone,” said American competitor Marcus Palson.
“It’s also hard the other way. You try to be really quiet and dodge the other guy coming at you, and avoid getting touched,” he added. “The benefit is of course, you can see and he can’t.”
Palson then continued on with his training, amazingly catching someone out of the pool in mid-scrum “FISH OUTTA WATER!!! FISH OUTTA WATER!!!” GOTCHA!!!”.
Each team of Marco-Polo Olympians will compete with hopes of winning a gold medal and a pair of complimentary orange floaties. Other new summer sports to be introduced in 2016 include the Bean Bag Toss and the very popular Eye-Spy-With-My-Little-Eye, an event typically dominated by the Chinese.
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