High dive belly flop, interspecies relay anyone?

By Paul Majendie

BEIJING (Reuters) - An Irish lawyer determined to make the world a sillier place has launched the race to stage the inaugural Paddy Olympics with madcap challenges like backward running and underwater swimming.

"Nonsense makes sense," said Colin Carroll as he sent out bid documents to the mayors of Boston, London, Beijing, Paris, New York and every city in Ireland, trying to tempt them to host the surreal sporting extravaganza.

"I take being silly very seriously," said the lawyer who has already won a gold medal at the world elephant polo championships in Nepal and became Ireland's first wrestler at the world sumo championships in Japan.

Carroll promised "the world's funniest sports spectacle" with gold medals on offer for three-legged hurdles, egg-and-spoon races, the high dive belly flop and a backwards triple jump contest.

"I urge all athletes at the Olympic Games in Beijing to try for the Paddy Games. It would boost their confidence before the London Olympics in 2012," he told Reuters in a telephone interview from his hometown of Cork in western Ireland on Sunday.

"I am offering a lifeline to Olympians around the world," he said. "I would like to see as many countries as possible up on the podium."

One of the most intriguing events could be the interspecies relay with two animals and two humans.

"You could pass the baton to the animal of your choosing -- you could pick a dog, an elephant whatever," Carroll said.