London 2012 hurdles: interact with today’s Google Doodle to spur athlete on

7 Aug 2012

You could be forgiven for whiling away a few minutes on today’s Google Doodle, which allows users to try and get an animated athlete to jump over hurdles at the Olympic Games by using a keyboard to control the pace and jumping movements of the character on the Doodle.

Last night, London 2012 was lit up with the track and field athletics discipline of hurdles. In the men’s 400m finals, for instance, Felix Sanchez from the Dominican Republic won the race, making history, as he had won the same event eight years ago, with the same time of 47.63 – the oldest man ever to win the Olympic 400m hurdles title, at the age of 34.

So, in today’s Doodle, a stylised Google logo, if you are feeling a little weary after the long weekend, you can perhaps ease yourself back into working mode by taking a stab at the hurdles event, albeit virtually, via the animated character.

By making the athlete jump over the hurdles, you can also control the speed and jumps of the virtual athlete. Then, when it’s over, Google will give you a score at the end, and it will also lead you to three buttons – one that returns you to the start of the game, a Google search button, and a tab that leads you to Google+.

Carmel Doyle was a long-time reporter with Silicon Republic

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