Germany Mud Olympics: Competitors get caked at annual event Published duration 23 July 2018

The coastal town of Brunsbüttel in northern Germany has celebrated its 13th Wattoluempiade - its annual Mud Olympics.

image copyright AFP

image copyright AFP

image copyright AFP

Inaugurated in 2004, the event sees hundreds of competitors from 40 teams from Germany and neighbouring countries compete in sports on the mud flats at the mouth of the river Elbe, where it enters the North Sea.

image copyright Reuters

The annual event, held over the weekend, included football, volleyball and handball tournaments, with players getting caked in mud from head to toe.

image copyright AFP

image copyright AFP

Although what these guys below are up to is anyone's guess.

image copyright Reuters

There is also sledge racing, with competitors using sledges that are specially designed for transporting objects over the mud flats of the German North Sea coast.

image copyright Reuters

image copyright EPA

On Saturday, there was the lighting of the Mud Olympic Flame to open the games.

image copyright Wattoluempia

Wattoluempiade is also well-covered by media, with a reported 400 camera crews and media representatives covering the event, including sports photographers producing striking images.

image copyright EPA

image copyright EPA

image copyright AFP

The Mud Olympics has two mottos: "Schmutziger Sport für eine saubere Sache" (dirty sport for a clean cause) and "Stark gegen Krebs" (Strong against cancer).

image copyright Reuters

Since 2004, the event has raised more than €330,000 (£294,000) to help cancer patients and their families in the west coast area of Germany's Schleswig-Holstein state.

One beneficiary is the West Coast Cancer Counselling Centre, which was created in Brunsbüttel in 2015.

image copyright AFP

Athletes competing at Wattoluempiade are called wattlets and organisers of the event are called wattikanos.

image copyright EPA

German TV host Panagiota Petridou (below) also joined in the fun and received a mud splattering.

image copyright AFP

image copyright Wattoluempia

.