15 April 2024 – Ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, a new Olympic Channel original series – presented with Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partner Toyota – sees 10 inspirational athletes reflect on where their unique journeys to the Games first started, as they pursue their Olympic and Paralympic dreams in Paris.

The Starting Line, which premieres on 15 April on Olympics.com, sees five athletes and Para athlete stars, such as Kenyan 100m champion Ferdinand Omanyala, world Para high jump gold medallist Ezra Frech from the USA and French breaking champion Carlota Dudek, return to their home towns, where they seek out the people and places that first nurtured their sporting passion. In the second season, the five other athletes featured are Japanese Para javelin champion Shunya Takahashi, two-time Paralympic powerlifting medallist Ni Nengah Widiasih from Indonesia, Olympic 4x400m relay gold medallist Michael Norman from the USA, Canadian world breaking champion Philip Kim and Mexico’s two-time Olympic diving medallist Alejandra Orozco.

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The 10-episode documentary-style series aims to inspire audiences to think about what they can achieve in their own lives when they make a start, as it looks at the challenges that each athlete has had to face, accept and overcome on their Olympic or Paralympic journey.

The series also showcases the vital role played by the friends, families and communities that support each athlete behind the scenes, as well as highlighting how these athletes are now inspiring the next generation.

“The Starting Line series, created in collaboration with Toyota, celebrates the remarkable journeys that athletes embark on as they prepare for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and proves that greatness comes from anywhere,” said Anne-Sophie Voumard, Managing Director of IOC Television & Marketing Services.

“Toyota’s support in developing this series exemplifies a shared commitment to inspiring change and empowering people around the world. Together, we aim to encourage audiences everywhere to reflect on their potential and the impact of taking that first step towards achieving their dreams.”

Anne-Sophie Voumard
Managing Director of IOC Television & Marketing Services

“For Toyota, The Starting Line series puts the athletes front and centre. It focuses on the inspiration that they can bring internally and externally,” said Toyota’s Dedra DeLilli, Group Manager for Sponsorship Marketing. “As part of the wider Start Your Impossible campaign, this is a rallying cry to encourage people to have the mindset shift to overcome difficulties and make something positive happen.”

“Everything is possible”

Spain’s two-time world judo champion Nikoloz Sherazadishvili is among the athletes featured in The Starting Line. When his family moved him from Georgia to Spain at a young age, his father instilled a love of judo in him that has since seen him win two world titles and compete at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. As he prepares for his second Games, Sherazadishvili reveals in the series that he feels he is now competing not only for his adopted home country, but also for his Georgian roots and the memory of his father.

“To be the best in the world, you have to know yourself. If you don’t have that small part or that little time to enjoy with your people, with your family, it’s very difficult to continue, to last so many years.”

Nikoloz Sherazadishvili
Spain’s two-time world judo champion

Two-time Paralympic bronze medallist Manon Claeys also stars in the series*.* The Belgian Para equestrian star reflects on the 2007 horse-riding accident that saw her break her neck and three vertebrae in her back, sustaining nerve damage on her right side. After returning to the saddle, she went on to win two bronze medals at the Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

“For me, my strength as a rider is the team behind me, because alone you can do so little and, with a good team around, you can achieve so much,” she says. “It took me nine years to compete again. I want to be an example, not only for people with a disability. You need to set goals and you need to go always for your goals. I think that everything is possible if you believe.”

Start Your Impossible

The Starting Line is the latest co-production between Toyota and the IOC. Previous collaborations have included the original series From the Start, which saw athletes pay tribute to the people who believed in them since the beginning of their journeys, and the Webby award-winning series What Moves Me, which revealed how world-class athletes overcame their own personal barriers.

In the build-up to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Toyota also co-developed the original series Unleash the New, which shared the inspiring personal stories of five athletes preparing for their first Olympic Games in new sports and disciplines debuting at Tokyo 2020, and Is It Possible?, which highlighted the efforts of boundary-breaking sports stars, while YOU GOT THIS! saw several stars reveal what goes through their mind in the final 60 seconds before they compete.

Alongside The Starting Line, these branded content series are an integral part of Toyota’s Worldwide Olympic Partnership with the IOC and its long-term commitment to support the creation of a more inclusive and sustainable society in which everyone can challenge their impossible through stories of determination, as well as through Toyota technologies.

These series also align with Toyota’s overarching “Start Your Impossible” initiative, which aims to inspire its employees, partners and customers, and connect them with the company’s core beliefs. This includes its commitment to supporting a more inclusive and sustainable society in which everyone can “challenge their impossible, and their continued support for Global Team Toyota athletes.

Toyota joined The Olympic Partner programme in 2015, becoming the first-ever mobility partner of the Olympic Movement. The company works with Organising Committees to provide sustainable mobility solutions for the Games, while also delivering a mobility legacy in the host cities and countries.