Olympics@Ryman

We may be an official partner of the New Zealand Olympic Team, but within our villages, it was residents who chased our version of Olympic glory during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

So many Ryman residents have passions and pastimes that they continue to thrive at within our villages. Therefore, creating an event like Olympics@RYMAN was a prime example of what it means to pioneer the way for residents.

The sporting lineup we had on offer included swimming, bowls, cycling, relay walking, and Quiznastics. There was something for everyone. To up the ante, we incorporated technology solutions to enhance events and to enable residents to connect with all 41 of our villages while they competed! Including Ryman villages across the Tasman!

Watch some of their stories here.

Lawn bowls

Residents played in four-person mixed teams. They competed in inter-village knockout tournaments to determine the teams that went through to the semi-finals. With the assistance of artificial intelligence, semi-finals and finals were played in real time despite games being played in different locations. The bowls final was screened at every Ryman village.

Swimming

Our swimming event included a men’s and women’s 30m breaststroke. Following individual time trails, the fastest six men and six women went through to the final. Advanced technology enabled athletes to compete in real time at six different venues. The race could be viewed as a single, multi-lane swimming event and advanced time-keeping technology ensured athletes knew their time and position relative to other swimmers.

Cycling

This was an individual 10.5km cycling time trail. The event used a Zwift bike (stationary road bike) with a screen attached that projected a virtual reality course through villages in Japan. Following the village time trials, the fastest 20 males and 20 females competed in the final for the chance to win gold, silver and bronze.

Endurance walk relay

This event involved a 21.6km endurance walk, split between six competitors (3.6km each). Following village time trials, six competitors plus two reserves from each village competed at athletics parks across multiple locations. Races between villages were animated as a race to the top of Mount Fuji, with screens being displayed at each village so walkers could keep an eye on their competitors.

Quiznastics

This was an opportunity for residents to put their brains to work while they enjoyed one of their favourite village activities – Happy Hour! Individual village quiznastics heats determined the teams that represented their villages in the virtual inter-village quiznastics final. Questions combined general knowledge with, you guessed it, Olympic trivia. The quiznastics final was broadcast live to all of our villages.

Our swimming sensations make a splash

Relay walk brings out competitive spirit

Ryman residents bowl us over

There was no stopping these Olympics@RYMAN legends

Residents embraced tech-enhanced events like pros

Competitor or supporter, residents were in it together