The free app is part of a mass participation initiative by London 2012 legacy project Get Set taking place between now and Rio 2016 that challenges young people to travel and record the 9,298-kilometre distance from the Olympic Stadium in London to its Rio de Janeiro equivalent.

Five to 19-year-olds are being encouraged to work in teams to run, walk, skip, hop or travel any way they like as the app logs the distance covered and awards virtual badges for reaching milestones and trying different sports.

As well as Coe, BOA vice-chair Annamarie Phelps helped launch the app at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, while double Olympic gymnastics bronze medallist Max Whitlock and Paralympic sprint bronze medallist Olivia Breen joined local school children to kick-start the virtual journey to Rio 2016.

The app challenges young people to travel and record the 9,298 kilometres distance from the Olympic Stadium in London to its Rio de Janeiro equivalent ©BOA


"The Get Set programme started as a way to inspire and engage young people around London 2012 - and it is still going strong," Coe said.

"Since 2012, more than four million young people have been part of it and I will be writing to all 24,500 schools registered with the programme to ask them to get together, get active and continue to live the Olympic and Paralympic values all the way through to Rio 2016."