This sports challenge took an innovative approach to competition that allowed participants (including physically challenged individuals) of different genders, ages and levels of ability to compete in their efforts to achieve personal goals — and thus celebrate the founding spirit of the modern Olympic Games.

In sports, winning and losing are important, but striving to better oneself by pursuing a goal is just as important. This movie presents a group of male and female athletes, children and adults, including physically challenged individuals, taking on a sports challenge with the spirit of an athlete.

Each participant trains for a month to beat his or her own personal record. Then a swim meet is held with a special rule — the participant with the slowest record starts first and others follow in ascending order. If all achieve their personal best, they finish at nearly the same time. The person who most significantly surpasses his or her personal best reaches the finish line first.

It shows that everyone can improve themselves through effort.

Preparations are underway for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Most people will only become involved through their support of the athletes and few will have the opportunity to see the Paralympic Games, which still don’t receive the attention they deserve.

Our project celebrates the spirit of the Olympics as quoted by Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympic Games. "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the effort itself; what is essential is not to have conquered, but to have fought well."

All participants in this project are suffering setbacks. Some are swimmers discouraged by failed efforts to improve their records and others are physically challenged. The project inspired them, as well as many viewers, to strive to reach beyond their current limits in sports and life in general. It also increased many people’s interest in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

This professionally edited documentary style movie presents the emotional highs and lows of participants during a month of filming as they trained individually with professional coaches and together in joint training sessions. Background music effectively brings out the emotion from tense beginning to triumphant conclusion. The movie was released on YouTube and Facebook.

Despite being over 9 minutes in length, the movie received over 2,000,000 views and over 50 reviews within a month of its release.