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Muse Let Olympic Athletes Do Heavy Lifting In 'Survival' Video

Clip features footage of Olympic athletes going for the gold.

Muse never do anything halfway. It's either completely over-the-top and full out, or they just don't show up.

Which, if you think about it, kind of describes Olympic athletes as well. Nobody spends their life training for that one big moment by jogging to the finish line or throwing a single back flip when a double will guarantee a spot on the podium.

We've already mooned over the high camp awesomeness of the British trio's rousing official song for the 2012 Summer Games in London, "Survival." In a statement Muse explained that the tune was written, "with the Olympics in mind. It's about total conviction and pure determination to win."

That goes a long way toward explaining why Muse don't appear at all in the just--revealed video for "Survival," which instead features a thrilling montage of past Olympic glory and defeat.

Because the Olympics area all about inclusion and global unity, the nearly four-minute clip makes sure to include all the sports that will be featured, from the biggies like gymnastics, swimming, soccer, basketball and track and field, to table tennis, rhythmic gymnastics, kayaking, equestrian, bicycling, water polo, badminton, wrestling, judo, field hockey, diving, sailing, archery, synchronized swimming, BMX, weightlifting, pentathlon, handball, canoe slalom, beach volleyball and fencing. Lots and lots of fencing.

The clip opens with a countdown back from 2012 to 1896, the birth of the modern games, which rolls out over triumphant moments from the past century-plus of competition. As singer Matthew Bellamy begins his Queen-like call to athletic greatness we see a montage of sportsmen and women staring with intensity and raising their arms in victory, or going down in a heap as he sings the lines, "Race, life's a race/ And I'm gonna win/ Yes, I am gonna win."

With the games scheduled to kick off on July 27, the video's editors made sure to include the obligatory shots of a swimming master Michael Phelps with his hands thrust up in victry as well as gymnast Nastia Liukin (who, it turns out, will not be at the Games), as well as dozens of other international competitors giving it their all to the strains of Bellamy's exhortation to do "whatever it takes."

In the middle the Olympic credo, "Faster, Higher, Stronger" flashes across the screen as the song builds to a chorus-assisted crescendo amid shots of thrilling goals, towering gymnastic jumps, weightlifting feats of strength, boxing knockouts and serious javelin action.

"Survival" will be played throughout the hundreds of hours of games coverage, as well as when the athletes enter the venues and just before medal ceremonies.

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