Next year’s Roma European Athletics Championships will make their way into the phygital space thanks to metaverse company XMetaReal and an innovative project developed by the EuroRoma 2024 Foundation (LOC).
Come September, athletics fans can enjoy a space that’ll enable them to explore the venues of next summer’s Championship. Larissa Iapichino (pictured), winner of the long jump gold at the European Athletics U23 Championship in Espo, Finland will be the first athlete to enter the Roma 2024 metaverse as the project’s official ambassador.
“I can’t wait to leap into the Roma 2024 Metaverse and use my avatar to meet other visitors. The virtual world can represent a positive opportunity to engage new people, especially the youth, in athletics disciplines, expanding the audience not only in reality,” said Iapichino.
Virtual events in the metaverse
XMetaReal will build a new digital environment inspired by the venues that will host the athletics competitions. The Roma 2024 Metaverse will be inaugurated in September with the competition itself kicking off from June 7th to June 12th, 2024.
Vittorio Zingales, founder and CEO of XMetaReal stated, “The possibility of transforming a sports event into a social event, expanding the audience and spreading the values of sports, represents the reality of today, both physical and digital.
“We should be proud to have initiated such an important initiative. Embracing digital innovation in a particular field like sport truly means nurturing a mindset that looks to the future. Another leap forward towards the digital transformation of our country,” said Zingales.
Once the Roma 2024 Metaverse is inaugurated, fans across the globe can visit the space using their avatars, travel to and from various locations, take a tour of the famous Stadio Olimpico track and even get a preview of the jump and throw platform positions during the Championships.
To explore the Roma 2024 Metaverse, fans can simply connect using their devices. Those wearing VR headsets specifically designed for Virtual Reality can enjoy a more immersive experience. Fans can also interact with digital assets and receive Roma 2024 tokens.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
