Olympics or Bust
About Us
THE NUTSHELL:
Two self-professed “Olympaholics” lead an adventure to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, revealing a behind-the-scenes side of the Games rarely seen by the viewing public, all while raising funds for the “Challenged Athletes Foundation” charity to eventually provide an actual limb to a paralympic athlete in need.
THE STORY:
We’ve all had that moment growing up. Sitting in your fifth grade elementary classroom, the teacher at the chalkboard, drawing slowly and neatly the words “CAREER DAY”.
When inevitably asked by the teacher, most of the kids simply raised their hands, with a ridiculous amount of confidence expressing a future career in the absurd.
“I want to be a firefighter!”
“I want to be an astronaut!”
“I’m gonna be a mommy!”
With a certain amount of irony, we all still enjoy looking back on those “career days”, as real life is somewhat different than the cornucopia of imagination that is childhood. Time has seen the kids who wanted to become firefighters chose careers at Enron, the astronauts become tireless lobbyists on Capitol Hill and, well, thanks to advances in In-Vitro fertilization, some of those girls might actually become Mommies. Now if they can just find a husband…
When offered the chance to pontificate on a future career, the two of us were different. We knew we were meant for a different path.
“And what will YOU be when you grow up?
“OLYMPIANS!!”
Our conceptualization of what it meant to be an Olympian at the time was, in hindsight, naive. However, it was a noble endeavor and pure in motivation. After giving it a good shot, well, the reality of the situation reared its ugly head. Tyler was never quite meant to be an Olympic swimmer; simply not fast enough. And Charley was never meant to win that gold medal in the 100M dash. Not enough fast-twitch muscles. Yet, it is through our respective youthful careers in sports and now in life that we realize how awesome the Olympics still are. In a world dominated by fears of political unrest, terrorism and corporate globalization, we strongly believe the Olympic Games give us a chance to celebrate humanity without fear. That is why we are driven toward one purpose, to become “Olympians” in the best context we possibly can.
And thus our journey began. We have been truly obsessed with the Olympic movement since long before we could run, swim, bike, or almost even walk. In 2008, our duo launched a grassroots blog site called “OlympicsOrBust.com”, through which they were able to raise support and funding to travel all the way to China and share our adventures with friends and fans back home through our blog. Our goal was to cover a rarer perspective of the Games not covered by mainstream outlets. Much to our amazement, on peak days during the Beijing Games our site received over 50,000 hits a day, and gathered attention from various news outlets around the world.
The “Olympics Or Bust” team will literally go to any lengths to be closer to their heroes. Our mission is simple: Two olympic-obsessed, entertainment-eagar, street-saavy, Minnesota-migrated, internationally-innovative, endlessly-energetic, sport-spazzing guys strive to attend the Olympics, serve as digital journalists to spread their contagious passion to the rest of the world, and make a big difference in the life of a potential Olympian.
Join Us, Support Us, Critique Us… but DON’T try to stop us… because we mean it when we say: Olympics… Or Bust!
Let the Vancouver Games Begin…. and let them be as Glorious, Inspring and Hilarious as ever!
Five Ring High Five…. – Tyler & Charley