It was a chilly Saturday on the final weekend of October 2023, but that didn’t stop the MBA cohort from participating in the annual Ivey Olympics. Sixteen teams came out to compete against one another in games that tested athletics, academics, and teamwork, with only one team able to take home the title. All participants were decked out in shirts that showcased handsome headshots of our Section Heads, Professor Fraser Johnson and Professor Vaughan Radcliffe. Teams were paired up into eight groups, facing off across seven games to determine who would win the best of seven and progress to the quarterfinals.

Due to an early morning rainfall, the wet grass in front of Ivey was doing our competitors no favours, as the relay Tic Tac Toe began to look like more of a Slip’n’Slide. Watching teams compete in the egg toss was just as amusing, given that it often ended with one of our peers requiring a clean-up. Teams were relieved when they arrived at the Thirteen-Legged-Race, as it became one of the few games where slow and steady could actually win the race. A lunch break was catered from Jimmy the Greek after the first three rotations to ensure that all competitors would last the entire day!

The lunch break wrapped up with one of the most amusing spectacles of the Ivey Olympics… the Dunk Tank. Members of the cohort and even a few Ivey Professors sat in the Dunk Tank, despite the freezing cold water, to raise money for charity. A very special Thank you to Jonathan Soriano and Kurtis Aleksandre from the cohort, and to Professor Fraser Johnson, Professor Lee Watkiss, and Professor Scott Loveland. Congratulations to all who hit the target and dunked our volunteers!!

Some teams began their afternoon outdoors with a simple game of tug of war, while others were fortunate enough to start inside with a game of charades. Although, each team would have to play every game at some point, so it didn’t really matter where they started. Eventually, they would arrive at the feared bubble soccer, where a spectator would likely have a tough time determining if the objective of the game was to score, or to just run into people. Our round robin wrapped up with a home-made obstacle course, which included everything from jumping over mini hurdles to hopping across the field in a sack.

Quarterfinalists who came out of the best of seven competed against one another in either the Obstacle Course or Tic Tac Toe Relay to progress to the semifinals. The last four teams standing faced off in the semi-finals in a game of do-or-die dodgeball, leaving only two teams remaining. Finally… Team NO was crowned Champion after narrowly overcoming Team CashIsKing in a game of Trivia Relay! It was truly one of the most memorable days of the year between the laughs, falls, wins, losses, and more.

A heartfelt thank you to our VP Internal, Mishita Kodnani, her team of Senators, Samer Balaa, Dib Tripathy, and Andrii Yatsura, and Sports and Entertainment Club Co-Leads, Nicole Di Carlo and Bruno Saux, for planning the 2023 Ivey Olympics from start to finish.

Full list of Team Names: Ahaa, Chatham, DrumRoll, Dominance, CoolCat, ThatsNotQuiteRight, CashIsKing, ExcessiveWhiteBoards, WhyDoWeDoThisCase, NO, Redeem Yourself, Oohhh, WheresMyGeneral, WhatTheDickens, Mercury, TellMeMore