International Space Station astronauts just held their first ever ‘Space Olympics’

The Olympics in Tokyo might be drawing to a conclusion but while the games on Earth will pause for three years until Paris 2024, the games in space are just heating up.

Yes, you read that correctly, there were sporting events in space this year. Unfortunately, they weren't officially linked to the Olympics but the current inhabitants of the International Space Station have been taking part in their own sports this year, complete with their own unique zero-gravity twists.

French astronaut, Thomas Pesquet, has been documenting the events on his Twitter account. The first-ever Space Olympics involved four sports, two teams and seven athletes.

The first event was the ‘lack of floor routine’ - a take on gymnastics which was won by Russia’s Pyotr Dubrov who managed to avoid touching anything during his very creative routine.

Next up was the ‘no handball’ event which involved the astronauts using only their breath to push around a ping-pong ball and try to score a goal. This finished 1-0 to a team comprised of a Russian and an American astronaut.

Who needs water when you don’t have gravity? That is clearly the mentality that the ISS astronauts had when the two teams put together a sensational synchronised space swimming final, complete with music and some eye-catching moves.

The final event was ‘weightless sharpshooting’ which involved participants firing elastic bands at a motionless target suspended in the middle of a corridor.

There was even a closing ceremony.

Pesquet hasn’t actually disclosed who won the first-ever space Olympics but it’s the taking part that counts, right? We can only hope they do the same again in three years time when Paris 2024 rolls around.