Mark Krull is my uncle. He is a retired patent lawyer and inventor living in Bend, Oregon. He is the man behind the Nautilus Select-Tech dumbbells and other successful fitness products. His latest venture is much more ambitious. Along with two partners, Stephen Ihli and Eric Small, he aims to get the sport of jump rope sprint added to the Olympic Games, as soon as the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. They have been working on this new sport since 2010.

Their main promotional material is a narrative film, a faux-documentary version of what has actually happened to them thus far on their quest. JumpRopeSprint is a charming and goofy film, meant for families and has been shown at a series of festivals. Krull, in addition to executive-producing the movie, also worked with Ihli to invent a new jump rope specifically tailored for competition and team training. They sent me a production sample along with a copy of the film.

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