Now here’s a sport I could excel at! I wonder if the winner will compete in the Couch Potato Olympics?
A 62-year-old Ecuadorean has snored long enough to win Spain’s first siesta championship.
Unemployed security worker Pedro Soria Lopez took the top prize of 1000 euros ($1430) after sleeping for 17 minutes amid the uproar of a teeming Madrid shopping centre.
Organisers said he not only slept soundly but his snoring registered 70 decibels – roughly the equivalent of the noise of someone talking – and earned him extra points.
The somewhat tongue-in-cheek, nine-day contest ended overnight. It was aimed at promoting a revival of this timeless custom so identified with Spain but which organisers say is in danger of fading away because of the pressures of modern times.
Here’s more details on the championship.
I would Americanize this sport by having the participants watch a more active sport while napping on the couch.
I lived in Latin America for several years. I loved the afternoon siesta. I napped through at least one 6 point earthquake in the Yucatan. The country pretty much stops between 2 and 4 pm. Between those hours, any man-sized bit of shade was occupied by a body. It looked a lot like the aftermath of a neutron bomb!
Tip: Don’t sleep before entering the competition.
“promoting a revival of this timeless custom so identified with Spain”
I had no idea sleeping on a couch in the middle of a Mall was a timeless custom in Spain. It sure beets the timeless custom in the UK of sleeping in your own urine and defecation on the streets of London.
What a shame!
I am from Ecuador, and we have a name for those champions: “longos vagos”.
Well, I think we can figure out why he’s unemployed… sleeping on the job.