Wife-carrying championship takes place in Hungary
All eyes have been on Paris in the last couple of weeks - as the Olympic Games have been taking place. But another major sporting event happened this weekend that you may have missed. The wife-carrying championship was staged in central Hungary. The BBC's Tim Allman followed the action.
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00:00All eyes have been on Paris in the last couple of weeks as the Olympic Games have been taking place,
00:05but another major sporting event happened this weekend that you might have missed.
00:09The wife-carrying championship was staged in central Hungary.
00:13The BBC's Tim Allman followed the action.
00:18In many ways, a successful sporting double act is a bit like a marriage.
00:23There must be trust, partnership, commitment and, in this case, a lot of mud.
00:31These days, competitors don't actually have to be husband and wife.
00:35Women can carry men, men can carry women.
00:39As long as someone is carrying someone.
00:43It was really good, exciting, said Darina.
00:46Although it was a little difficult, I think. Well, not for me.
00:50For me, it was difficult, said Patrick.
00:54Legend has it, wife-carrying dates back to the time of the Vikings.
00:59But it was in Finland in the 1990s that the modern-day version of the sport was first staged.
01:06It's actually more complicated than you might think.
01:09There are multiple ways of carrying your partner.
01:12There's the old-fashioned piggyback.
01:14Or how about this across-the-shoulder technique.
01:18And this is called the Estonian method.
01:20And this is called the Estonian method.
01:22Which proved to be highly effective for eventual winners Lithuanian couple Vytautas and Neringa.
01:30She's doing everything perfect.
01:32She holds tight, she doesn't bother me, you know.
01:35Go, go, go. She doesn't say that.
01:37She stays quiet, she holds tight.
01:40She does a lot of hard work also.
01:43It's 50-50.
01:46And they did it in a record time of 54 seconds.
01:49Which makes them, they say, the fastest married couple in the world.
01:56Tim Allman, BBC News.