It is billed as "An Event that Attracts the World". Over 175,000 people and 18,000 athletes from about 80 countries will embark on Columbus, Ohio this weekend for the largest multi-sports event in North America, the 2011 Arnold Sports Festival.
"Last year (at the Winter Olympic Games) in Vancouver, there were 6,600 athletes competing," said Stephanie Lorenz, the promotions director of the Arnold Sports Festival.
"In 1970, Arnold won $500 at Veteran's Memorial, where he met Jim Lormer, and that prize has grown to a half a million dollars, and into the Arnold Sports Festival there is today," Lorenz said.
The Arnold Sports Festival generates approximately $ 42 million in visitor spending for the City of Columbus, and the festival has frown in both attendees and events each year.
"It is because of you that we have the most successful athletic event in the world right here in Columbus, Ohio," said Arnold Schwarzenegger in a clip from the Festival's promotional video.
Among the highlights of the festival is the Strongman competition, which features the ten strongest men in the world carring a thousand pounds up an incline.
New this year to the Arnold Sports Festival is a film festival, which celebrates Schwarzenegger's greatest passion, that of film.
Lorenz added that 25 countries and 60 area high school students submitted movies (of 15 minutes or less) for the first-ever Arnold Film Festival. All of the movies are about sports and athletes.
The Arnold Film Festival will take place at the Arena Grand Movie Theatre in the Arena District. Props from Arnold's movies will be seen at the film festival as well.
Also new this year are the Track and Field Tournament, which will take place on the Ohio State University's campus at the French Field House, and the Hockey Challenge, which will take place across the street from the Arena Grand at the Dispatch Ice Haus.
Daily admission to the festival is $ 15, and does not include special events, such as Party with the Pros or the Ask Arnold Training Seminar.
For more on the Arnold Sports Festival, including a detailed rundown of the weekend's events, go to http://arnoldsportsfestival.com/.
This blog is a spin-off of A Man and His Awards, and hosts weekly football predictions as well as predictions for the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament.
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