Rules and General Information

[Crochetville LLC]

The 2008 Crochet Games of Ancient Greece

Eligibility: The 2008 Crochet Games of Ancient Greece are open to all crocheters around the world who wish to celebrate the spirit of the ancient Greek games by challenging themselves and their crochet abilities.

The Game: Begin and complete the crochet project of your choice in the time between the beginning of the opening ceremonies (August 8, 2008) and the extinguishing of the flame at the closing ceremonies (August 24, 2008) of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Times will be posted later when they're available. Since we don't know the exact time the flame will be extinguished, we have set an official stop time of 11 am eastern time on August 24, 2008.

Rules:
1. Select a project that will be a challenge for you to complete during the 16 days from the beginning to the end of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

2. The definition of "challenge" will be left up to each individual competitor. As the real ancient Greek games featured many different sports, you may select your challenge from a number of different categories. You may accept the challenge of learning a new technique. You may accept the challenge of completing a time-intensive project in this limited amount of time. If you're a brand-new crocheter, any project may be a challenge for you to accept. From newbies to experienced crocheters, select a project that is a challenge for you.

3. The 2008 Crochet Games of Ancient Greece are designed to be fun. Select a project that will be a stretch to complete, not impossible. The goal should be to select a project that is possible to complete, but only with a good deal of dedicated effort and a little bit of sacrifice.

4. You may not start your actual project until the beginning of the opening ceremonies (August 8, 2008).

5. You may work on your project any time you wish between the beginning of the opening ceremonies and the time the flame is extinguished.

6. The goal is to complete your project before the flame is extinguished during the final ceremonies. Since we don't know the exact time the flame will be extinguished, we have set an official stop time of 11 am eastern time on August 24, 2008.

Training
You may use the time up to the beginning of the opening ceremonies on August 8 to train for the 2008 Crochet Games of Ancient Greece. Use this time wisely: wind your skeins into balls, swatch until you can achieve gauge, experiment with your chosen yarn to see if you need to make a change, and so on. Do everything in your power to make sure you are in prime athletic condition for the start of the 2008 Crochet Games of Ancient Greece.

Medals
Winners of the ancient Greek games were immortalized in poems and statues by writers and artists. While we can't immortalize you, we will give you recognition as follows:

Gold: Project is 100% complete
Silver: Project is 95-99% complete
Bronze: Project is 90-94% complete
Honorable Mention: Project is 80-89% complete

Percent completion is to be determined by yourself on the honor system. There will be a Medal Status thread for you to post your medal status after the flame is extinguished.

Medals (buttons for your blog or personal web site) will be posted here at the conclusion of the games.

GOLD MEDAL:


SILVER MEDAL:


BRONZE MEDAL:


HONORABLE MENTION:


How to Join
If you want to be a part of the 2008 Crochet Games of Ancient Greece, please post in the Join the Greek Games thread with the following information:

--What you're crocheting (name of pattern, where it can be found, a link if possible, etc.)
--Why this is a challenge for you

After you have posted in the Join thread, we'll add you to the list of participants in our Athletes thread.

Blog Button
Please feel free to save a copy of our 2008 Crochet Games of Ancient Greece button (created by Donna) on your own webspace and include it on your blog or personal website. You're welcome to use the button even before you're ready to be listed as an official athlete.



Teams
You may participate individually or as part of a team. Teams will be organized once we have a better idea of who wants to participate in teams and which projects they have chosen.

Team participation is just for fun so you can build team spirit with those who have undertaken a similar challenge. You may want to create a team cheer or find other special ways to give special encouragement to the members of your team. The achievements (or lack thereof!) of your team members does not affect your own medal status.

Teams will be listed in post #2 of the Athletes thread.

Prizes
We will have some prizes (to be announced) to award at the end of the 2008 Crochet Games of Ancient Greece. Prize winners will be randomly drawn from all medal winners (gold/silver/bronze/honorable mention) who post their medal status in the Medal Status thread within 24 hours after the flame is extinguished. Since we don't know the exact time the flame will be extinguished, we have set an official stop time of 11 am eastern time on August 24, 2008. Therefore, you must post your medal status within 24 hours of this time, by 11 am eastern time on August 25.

Sponsors
We are seeking sponsors to provide the prizes for our drawing. If you or your company would like to donate a prize (pattern, yarn, hooks, etc.), please PM AmyS or Donna. You will be recognized with a thank you and a link to your business in our Sponsors thread.

Buzz
Please feel free to post about and discuss the 2008 Crochet Games of Ancient Greece on your blogs and to invite your friends to come participate with us. (See disclaimer below: please do not refer to this event as the Crochet Olympics.)

Disclaimer
Although we are holding this event at the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2008 Crochet Games of Ancient Greece are not officially affiliated with or endorsed by the International Olympic Committee, the US Olympic Committee, or the Olympic Committee of any other country.

In 1998, Congress enacted the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, placing restrictions (beyond what is allowed in traditional trademark law) on the use of the word "Olympics." So that the US Olympic Committee (which is very vigorous in protecting their trademarks) does not send Crochetville a cease-and-desist letter, and to enable us to continue the fun of our games without disruption, we must ask that you not refer to the 2008 Crochet Games of Ancient Greece as the "Crochet Olympics." We have verified this by speaking on the phone with the legal department of the US Olympic Committee.