Kitten Summer Olympics

The Rio Olympics aren’t the only major athletic event to look forward to this summer. Hallmark Channel will be debuting the Kitten Summer Games at the same time as the Olympics’ opening ceremony.

The network has experience hosting competitive cat content. Since 2014, Hallmark Channel has aired their annual Kitten Bowl head-to-head with the Super Bowl (and Animal Planet’s long-running Puppy Bowl). This summer’s program will feature more than 100 “cat-letes” competing in events such as wrestling, tennis, volleyball, gymnastics, track and field, and “boxing” (as in, kittens climbing into boxes).

Like the actual Olympics, the games will include big-name competitors like Cat Lewis, Hissing Bolt, Nadia Come N’ Scratch Me, and Pawdre Ag-Hissy. If you understood even half those references, a sporting event centered on cats may be right up your alley.

The Kitten Summer Games premieres at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, August 5.

What do the four-legged footballers of the Hallmark Channel’s Kitten Bowl do in the offseason? They go for the gold in their own Summer Games, including a de-cat-hlon and freestyle wrestling.

The cuteness quotient was off the leash as the tiny competitors found their footing on bite-size playing fields, frolicking on scratchable rings at the gymnastics “venue” and jumping little hurdles decked out with delectable feathers intended to keep competitors on the move over at track and field.

Escapees were corralled by spotters, who ringed the sets as huge cameras shot the action.

Hallmark decided to stage a kitten Olympics special on the success of its three Super Bowl-timed Kitten Bowls.

“Unlike a lot of other professional athletes, they kind of take their sweet time. All of a sudden in the middle of a big event there’s a cat nap.” “They don’t know the rules. They don’t care. They kind of just freestyle it at an awful lot of these events.”

“You’ve gotta keep an eye on them. They’re animals, and they’re bloodthirsty competitors.”

source: bigstory.ap.org, mentalfloss

What sports will athletes (not “cat-letes”!) compete at the Olympics in Rio? Do you know? Here is the list:

1. Archery 2. Artistic gymnastics 3. Athletics 4.Badminton 5. Basketball 6. Beach volleyball 7. Boxing 8. Canoe/kayak slalom 9. Canoe/kayak sprint 10. Cycling BMX 11. Cycling mountain bike 12. Cycling track 13. Diving 14. Equestrian sports 15. Fencing 16. Football 17. Golf 18. Handball 19. Hockey 20. Judo 21. Marathon swimming 22. Modern pentathlon 23. Rhythmic gymnastics 24. Rowing 25. Rugby sevens 26. Sailing 27. Shooting 28. Swimming 29. Synchronised swimming 30. Table tennis 31. Taekwondo 32. Tennis 33. Trampoline gymnastics 34. Triathlon 35. Volleyball 36. Water polo 37. Weightlifting 38. Wrestling

Who is who?

1.Nadia Come N’ Scratch Me

2. Pawdre Ag-Hissy

3. Cat Lewis

4. Hissing Bolt

Key

1. Nadia Comaneci

2. André Agassi

3. Carl Lewis

4. Usain Bolt

What sport do they do? Can you make pairs?

Key

1. b.

2. c.

3. d.

4. a.