BELLEVUE, Ky. — In celebration of the Olympic Games in Paris, one northern Kentucky city is giving kids a chance to compete on a slightly smaller stage.

What You Need To Know

  • Bellevue Mayor Charlie Cleves built a podium, which is going to be stationed in Beach Park for the duration of the 2024 Olympic Games

  • Kids 12 and under in Bellevue competed for their own gold medals in the "Junior Olympics"

  • They didn’t let the rain stop them from battling their hearts out in javelin throwing, track and field, shot put, a cartwheel competition, soccer and more

  • Hearing how excited kids got for the games only reinforced to Cleves how important this was for the city to set up

Bellevue Mayor Charlie Cleves is invested in getting kids in his city active. So much so, he built a podium, which is stationed in Beach Park for the duration of the 2024 Olympic Games.

“I don’t see any other mayors doing stuff like this. I want to make Bellevue the most family friendly city in the whole tri-state area,” Cleves said. “I think it instills in them a love for sports. And wanting to go up that podium and get that medal. Who knows what’s going to come of these kids with getting them started this young?”

The podium was, indeed, not just for pictures. Kids 12 and under in Bellevue competed for their own gold medals in the city’s "Junior Olympics."

They didn’t let the rain stop them from battling their hearts out in javelin throwing, track and field, shot put, a cartwheel competition, soccer and more.

“I thought it was really cool,” Leighton Ellis said. “Because of the real Olympics coming up, I think it’s like a really nice thing to have for kids.”

Hearing how excited kids got for the games only reinforced to Cleves how important this was for the city to set up.

“To keep them from just playing with a tablet or something all summer long. We accomplished what we wanted. We got a lot of kids down here. We got them in a park. Not at home watching TV. Having some exercise and they had a lot of fun,” he said. “There’s a whole lot of them here that it’s the first Olympics they’re going to really remember. And now I bet you there’s a lot of them excited to watch the Olympics.”

June Saldman confirmed she is now more excited to watch the games, especially one particular event.

“They said that breakdancing would be in the Olympics this year, so I’m gonna be watching that,” Saldman said.

Perhaps one day she’ll add another gold medal to her collection.

This event was part of a series of “bucket list” events the city of Bellevue is rolling out in an effort to get kids to exercise more.

Related Stories