Week One Recap at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Welcome! It has been one week ever since the Opening ceremony for the 32nd Modern Olympics where Naomi Osaka lit the cauldron for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games. So much has already been in 7 days and we still have over a week left of the games. It is yo girl emilia and I am here today to update you on what has been happening in Japan and offering my own thoughts. Let the games begin!
The Contrasting Ambiance of the games
The Tokyo 2020 games are the first Olympics to have been postponed, the only other time Olympics have been canceled was during WW1 and WW2. As we all know now, this is due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that caused the games to be postponed one year. Because the Olympics is an event that brings people from all around the world together, procedures have been taken place to try and prevent huge outbreaks in the Olympic Village. This includes taking COVID spit tests every single morning, wearing masks everywhere, a ton of plexiglass screens to distance people, and VERY empty venues. Even during the Opening Ceremony, protests against the games by the local Japanese people could be heard inside the stadium. When watching the games, there is this dystopian and eerie ambiance because celebrations echo instead of blend in with the noise of the crowd. Many athletes have had their Olympic dreams shut down because they tested positive and are unable to compete due to mandatory quarantine, providing an extra layer of pressure on these games.
On the contrary, these Olympic games also promote a lot of positive ideas. The famous cardboard beds that the athletes sleep on will be recycled and repurposed after the games, promoting ideas of sustainability and limiting waste. The Olympic Village will be transformed into apartment complexes after the Games. The wooden Olympic rings in the opening ceremony are from trees planted by athletes during the Tokyo 1964 games, displaying the use of meaningful resources. Even the Olympic medals are made with recycled metal from technology. Another big point of these games is gender equality. For each country there were 2 flag bearers, something never done at any games before, and the Tokyo 2020 games are the most gender-balanced with 49% female athletes. In swimming, there were new events added that were supposed to promote gender equality. Prior to Tokyo, only the women were allowed to swim the 800m freestyle, and the men were only allowed to swim the 1500m freestyle. At these games, men and women can swim both events (more on that later). Along with new events, there are also new MIXED relays in swimming. In the relays, you are allowed 2 women and 2 men and are allowed to choose which order they swim in. I watched one of them this morning and it was super entertaining and very strategic to put together, I honestly hope that they have it for future games as well. The addition of more events spans other sports too such as rowing, track and field, shooting, and basketball.
New Sports that Give these Games some Clout
Tokyo also has brought back some sports and introduced some brand new ones that have had a lot of attention recently. Baseball and Softball were brought back into the games due to their popularity in Japan and the host nation even won the gold medal for Women's Softball! Skateboarding and Surfing are 2 sports that are brand new to the Olympic games and have also received a lot of attention because...well surfers and skaters are just cool and everyone wants to be as chill as Jagger Eaton. He wore his Airpods and had a big smile on his face while competing and ended up winning a Bronze medal for the US in skateboarding. What is really interesting is that baseball and softball will NOT occur in the Paris 2024 games, but skateboarding and surfing will (Turns out they will be surfing in Tahiti, French Polynesia in 2024, how nice is that?). 3x3 Basketball was also introduced into these games and it will also be in the 2024 Paris Games.
Another thing that has brought these games a little bit of clout is TikTok. Hundreds of these Greek God athletes are on TikTok trying to break the cardboard beds, showing their daily routine, or participating in trends with their teammates. I see a lot of Olympic TikToks on my For You Page and when I look in the comments to see what people are saying, so many people agree that the Olympic village is like one big summer camp for athletes around college age. I saw some comments saying that they were having FOMO because the Village looks so much fun and that the athletes get so much free gear (Like a brand new Samsung phone!) Many athletes have risen to fame not just because of a medal, but because of their entertaining TikTok content. An example is US rugby sevens player, Ilona Maher, who has shown all the details of the Olympics and has made so many of us rugby sevens fans. TikTok is causing these games to seem a lot more personal and closer to us, even if there is a huge time difference. We realize that these athletes are humans and they have emotions, fears, and a huge amount of motivation. But let's talk about those emotions and fears for a moment.
The Spotlight on Mental Health
Even before the Olympics started, headlines popped up saying that 6-time Paralympian medalist swimmer, Becca Meyers, pulled out of these Paralympics after she was denied her request of bringing her mother as her personal care assistant. Becca Meyers is both deaf and blind due to a genetic disorder and in Rio 2016, she was stranded and frustrated in her room at the Olympic Village and starved herself because she couldn't find her way to the dining hall and around the Village. Her parents ended up being able to help her and refuel properly before her events and she went on to win 3 gold medals. After that, the US Olympic Committee allowed her to have her mother as her personal care assistant at international meets, yet due to COVID, they couldn't approve her mother for the Tokyo Paralympic Games. So, to focus on her mental health and well-being and to prevent a repeat of the Rio games, Becca pulled out.
Another famous athlete also pulled out of the finals of her events, and it put a spotlight on the pressure these athletes have at these games. Simone Biles pulled out of the team finals and the All-Around finals for Women's gymnastics at the Olympics, citing that she wanted to focus on her mental health and did not feel comfortable competing. In the first rotation for the team finals, Biles went on vault and was expected to do 2 and a half twists, but she ended up only doing one and a half. In the world of gymnastics, "twisties" is a term used when gymnasts do not know where they are in the air, or if they feel like they do not have control over their skills. It can be incredibly dangerous because one bad landing could lead to injury, as it did for French gymnast Aït Saïd, who broke his fibula at the Rio Olympics on vault. Messages of support for Biles and how she decided to pull out due to her mental health spread all over the Internet. The athletes at these games do not only have the pressure of competing in an attempt for a medal or a personal best, but they also have the pressure of COVID and dealing with all of the restrictions that have had never been at any other games before. Competing alone in these circumstances is incredibly admirable and these athletes represent our countries with pride.
Now for the Sports Recap
Ok, that's enough rambling about other stuff, let's talk about sports. Go sports! These games have started with gymnastics and swimming at the beginning, and track and field will be in the latter half of the games. For the first time since 1972, the US did not win any medals on the first day of the games. Yet, swimmer Chase Kalisz got the US its first medal of the games, he won the 400 IM with gold.
Swimming Recap (because I am a swimmer ;)
As stated above, Chase Kalisz (US) got the gold in the 400 IM, and Jay Litherland (US) also got silver in the 400 IM. In the 400 Free, an unexpected swimmer from lane 8 won gold! Ahmed Hafnaoui from Tunisia had an incredible time and reaction of him winning gold and was quite memorable for everyone. In the women's 400 IM, Yui Ohashi won Gold for Japan, Emma Weyant and Hali Flickinger won silver and bronze for the US. The women's 4x100 freestyle relay was a shocker (to me at least) because the favored Australians ended up winning gold and breaking their own world record, yet the CANADIANS were the ones who beat the Americans. So it was Aussies, Canadians, and the Americans with the bronze medal.
What has surprised me about these Olympics is how fast the women's Canadian swim team is. In the 100 fly, you had Margaret Mac Neil win gold, and Torri Huske (US), who broke the American Record during Olympic Trials, didn't even medal! In the Women's 400 Freestyle, Ariarne Titmus from Australia ended up beating Katie Ledecky, starting a so-called "rivalry" at these games. The US men ended up winning their 4x100 freestyle relay, and afterward, Caeleb Dressel gave his gold medal to Brooks Curry, who swam in the prelim to help get the US relay to finals.
In the men's 200 Freestyle, Tom Dean and Duncan Scott from Great Britain went 1/2 and then Fernando Scheffer from Brazil won the bronze. Regan Smith, the 2019 World Champion in the 100 back won bronze while Kaylee McKeown from Australia won Gold and went to a new Olympic Record (SHE BROKE THE WORLD RECORD DURING THE AUSTRALIAN OLYMPIC TRIALS). Ryan Murphy got bronze in the 100 back, and then 17 year-old Lydia Jacoby from Alaska won gold for the 100 breastroke! Lilly King got bronze.
Ariarne Titmus won gold and went broke the Olympic record for the 200 freestyle, Katie Ledecky didn't medal and got 5th. It is alright though because later in the night Lecdecky swam the 1500m and won gold! Erica Sullivan (US) won silver and it was a historical moment for the first ever Women's 1500m freestyle in Olympic history. Yui Ohashi won gold again for Japan in the 200 IM, and Alex Walsh & Kate Douglass from the US won silver and bronze. The Americans didn't even medal for the men's 4x200 freestyle relay, and Great Britain won gold.
Bobby Finke did the un-finke-able and won gold in the 800m freestyle (first ever in the Olympics) with a sprint in his last 25m. No Americans medaled in the men's 200 breastroke, but Zac Stubblety-Cook from Australia broke the Olympic record and won gold! In the 200 butterfly, Zhang Yufei of China broke the Olympic record with gold, Regan Smith and Hali Flickinger won silver and bronze! I was surprised with how good Smith is at fly because she is normally hyped to be a backstroke swimmer. Then, the highlight of day 6, Caeleb Dressel broke the Olympic record and won gold in the 100 freestyle! King. He cried when being interviewed and on a video call with his family in Florida, who were also crying. Who else was crying? Oh yeah, me. Unlike the men, the women's 4x200m freestyle relay ended up winning silver with Ledecky anchoring and zooming past the Aussies. Hell yeah!
The women's 200 breastroke was a #girlboss moment because Tatjana Schoenmaker from South Africa broke the World record, while Lily King and Annie Lazor won silver an bronze for the US. Big hugs in the pool with the American and South African swimmers that was wholesome. Ryan Murphy swam the 200 backstroke and added silver to his hardware for these games. While the 100 freestyle for women had Emma McKeon breaking the Olympic record and winning gold for Australia, followed by Sarah Haughey of Hong Kong and Cate Campbell of Australia. The men's 200 IM finished with Wang Shun of China with gold, Duncan Scott of DB with silver, and Jérémy Desplanches of Switzerland with bronze. Micheal Andrew of the US finished 5th (HA!), whoops who said that?
On Day 8 of the games, Caeleb Dressel broke his own World Record in the 100 butterfly and won gold for the US (I cheered so loud when he broke the WR after his really long turn). Kaylee McKeown of Australia won the 200 backstroke, and Canada and Australia took the silver and bronze. The 800 freestyle was an hyped race because Ariarne Titmus and Katie Ledecky were head to head again. Ladies and gentlemen, may I announce that Katie Ledecky is a 3 time Olympian in the 800m freestyle. She won gold in 2012, 2016, and now in 2021. Titmus won silver for AUS, and Simona Quadarella from Italy won Bronze. The first ever Mixed 4x100 Medley ended up with Great Britain winning gold and taking the World Record, China with silver, and Australia with Bronze. The US-who had a STACKED relay, got 5th. *ahem* time to #protectLydiaJacoby because the reason why the US got 5th was NOT due to Lydia Jacoby's goggles falling onto her face. The order that the US chose for their swimmers was just not strategic and was slower than how the other teams swam. Jacoby went almost an identical time to the won she won gold with, so do not put blame on her, blame the coaches that made up the order.
Well. That was a lot of swimming, but that is mostly because swimming happens in the beginning of these games and we only have one more day :( I am honestly pleasantly surprised by the amount of swimmers from other countries that medaled and put pressure on the American swimmers. The Australians were always fast but their women's team is improving a lot, then the women's Canadian team is really fast and won many silver medals. The men's Hungarian team is very impressive, especially with Kristof Milak, who won gold for the 200 fly and silver for the 100 fly. The Italians have also increased in speed as have the South Africans, very excited to see what swimming will be like at Paris 2024 and FINA Worlds at Fukuoka, Japan in 2022.
Gymnastics:
Biggest headlines from women's gymnastics includes that Simone Biles pulled out of the All Around and Team finals to focus on her mental health. Simone pulled out during the first rotation of the Team finals, so the other three gymnasts: Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, and Grace McCallum, had to pick up another skill to help fill in for the events that Simone pulled out from. Let me tell you, these girls DELIVERED. Suni Lee put up one of the best scores for the uneven bars in the whole competition, and Jordan and Grace put up really good scores to help them through the competition. A tweet from 2012 and 2016 Gold Medalist, Aly Raisman said, "Congratulations to the US women’s gymnastics team for WINNING the silver medal!" highlighting that these women getting silver is a huge accomplishment. They won silver with three girls competing, which I say is pretty fantastic. In the individual all around competition, Suni Lee and Jade Carey represented the US and it was a pretty close competition. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and Angelina Melnikova of the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) were all neck and neck with Suni Lee, but in the end, Suni won gold for the US followed by Rebeca with silver and Angelina with bronze. Rebeca's medal is actually the first medal ever for Brazil with women's gymnastics!
With men's gymnastics, the team final ended with the ROC winning gold, Japan silver, and China bronze. What I found interesting though was that one of the US gymnasts introduced a brand new skill, and it is officially named after him. Brody Malone completed an interesting mount up onto the parallel bars, where he
Volleyball :
One of the first TikTokers that ever came across my for you page was the Libero for the men's US National Volleyball team, and they have surprisingly been doing alright. They are currently 2-2 and the US women's team is 3-1 right now. Now, to switch gears here for a moment because I am Polish, the men's volleyball team (who were the world champions in 2018) are currently at the top of their group 4-1, go Polska!
Upsets and some exciting moments of the Games so far:
In tennis, Naomi Osaka lost pretty early on and Ashleigh Barty of Australia (ranked #1 in the world) lost in the first round. The US men's basketball team lost their first game against France, which is the first games they have lost in the Olympics since Athens 2004. The US women's soccer team lost their first game 3-0 with Sweden, but they have since bounced back and beat the Netherlands 2-2 with 4-2 penalty shootouts. They are heading off to the semifinals! With softball brought back to these games, the women's teams who medaled were Japan with gold, the US with silver, and Canada with bronze. Tom Daley of Great Britain finally won his gold medal! He won it in men's synchronized 10m platform with his diving partner Matty Lee! China and ROC got silver and bronze in that event. All of the medalists for women's skateboarding street were UNDER 18! Momiji Nishiya from Japan won gold and is 13, Rayssa Leal from Brazil is 13 won silver, and Funa Nakayama is 16 of Japan who won bronze! Crazy! Shooting has also won the US a lot medals, with 3 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze!
So many exciting moments and shocking upsets from these games and we still have a week left!
First Time Medals for many countries
There have been a lot of historical medals in these games, some awarded with brand new events, others are the first medals for their representing countries in Olympic history. Here is a list of all of these amazing women because it is honestly so exciting!
-Flora Duffy representing Bermuda won gold in the women's triathlon
-Hidilyn Diaz representing the Philippines won gold in the 55kg women's weightlifting
-Alessandra Perilli representing San Marino won bronze in women's trap shooting (becomes the smallest country to have ever received a medal, San Marino has a population of 34,000)
A Shift in the Games?
With the US not winning any medals on the first day and the decrease in the number of gold medal athletes, one begins to wonder if the US is slipping on its dominance in the games. Don't get me wrong, the US is still winning the medal count right now, but it is NOT winning the gold medal count (as of July 30th). There was this really interesting article I read from the LA Times in June talking about how this might be the last summer Olympics that the US is very dominant in.
Here is the link if you want to read it
The reason is that the way we train Olympians in this country, which is that we have a college athlete to Olympian pipeline. NCAA recruiters get young and talented athletes and give them scholarships to good schools and good programs that expand their athletic careers, which could eventually lead them to an Olympic medal. Due to the pandemic, many colleges around the country had to cut their athletic programs and are relying on football and basketball to bring in revenue. Newsflash, American football is not in the Olympics and the US Women's Rowing Eights placed 4th in Tokyo. This is not a jab at the hardworking athletes, this is just pointing out that the US places a priority on other sports that guarantee them revenue and that the way we recruit and train Olympians was hurt due to the pandemic. Stanford intended to cut men's volleyball, wrestling, field hockey, men's and women's fencing, lightweight rowing, men's rowing, co-ed and women's sailing, squash, and synchronized swimming, which all except for squash are Olympic sports (they have since gone back on that decision, but other schools around the country went through and cut many programs).
I could go on and on about this topic, but while watching these games where I see that the athletes who are hyped up to be gold medal winners by the media or commentators then are beaten by other countries, it makes me wonder what are other countries and athletes doing that is giving them gold. Granted, we haven't had any sort of world competitions for many sports due to COVID and due to the Olympics (for example, there are normally no World Champions Meets in swimming the years of the Olympics, they occur every 2 years). I was talking about this with my mom the other day, but it seems that this year's Olympics really seems to be doing its job where it is a huge event of many countries actually COMPETING rather than just one country dominating it all. Maybe the US will begin to dominate in other sports? Other countries take the gold in sports we used to claim for our own? Only time will tell, which I am excited to see!
The closing ceremony is set to take place on August 8th, so we have another week of exciting sports and many more medal ceremonies and memorable moments. At the bottom of this post, I have included a link to a couple of articles that talk about the sustainability at these games if you would like to read them. Thank you for reading this blog post recapping week one of the Olympic games and I hope you enjoy the rest of these historical games!
All my love,
yo girl emilia
Talking about gender-balanced games
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