olympics Tokyo 2021 Olympics

[Darryl]

With less than four weeks until the Olympic Games are due to start, I thought I'd get a thread going.

[Meepy]

I am flabbergasted it is still on!

[Bad Cat]

I'm surprised it's still happening.

The bonus of it being on is that I have two weeks leave scheduled to stay home and enjoy it.  I put in for it ages ago hoping covid would be under control enough to let it go ahead.  I don't think it should go ahead, but that said, I'm going to stay home for that two weeks and enjoy it.

 

[Over and out]

I am still surprised it is happening. But so excited. A girl that DS has played sport with most of his life is going, and we are just so excited.

Still waiting for the show jumping team to see if we are really excited for it

[Bornagirl]

I'm surprised it's still on, but will probably have the TV on a lot for it.  Love watching high levels of many sports.

It's going to be a bit harder to enjoy, at the same time as holding my breath and hope no countries, especially poor ones, have covid taken back from there.

[Bornagirl]

18 minutes ago, green mango said:

Been watching track events and world records on YouTube and ramping things up in the household. Love all the running events. As a recreational runner I’m in constant awe of the athleticism and love watching the sheer human endurance and speed. Still blows my mind that a person can run 42 odd kilometres in 2 hours. 

I know, right? Due to a medical condition I couldn't run for 20 years, and was a bit annoyed when I got back to it to find my body had aged.   My swansong was the 15k Run for the kids at 1:50 mins.  In my defence I had just turned 60.

 

[Kshy]

Very surprised it’s still on but looking forward to watching.  DD is a runner and have followed many for years.  Waiting for the final team to be announced next week

[Bornagirl]

1 minute ago, green mango said:

Fantastic time!! I regularly do 5km and 10km distances and would love to have the time to run longer. 

It does take up a lot of time. My ageing body meant I had to do a LOT of training in shorter stretches.

I only did the 15k twice. Did plenty of 5k fun runs over those eight years, and several 10k.  In one of the 10k runs I was huffing and puffing and shuffling along, gasping for breath, when Cathy Freeman and two others went gliding past, chatting! They looked like they were in first gear.

[LunaFreya]

The reason it’s still on is because Tokyo can’t cancel it, only the IOC can. I’ll be watching, told DS to try and watch the opening ceremony and other things 

 

I love the men’s gymnastics

[Bornagirl]

2 minutes ago, green mango said:

Cathy Freeman! What’s the story there?

Years ago I used to run the Sydney Bay Run regularly. It’s about a 7km loop. One time I was joined by this guy who wanted to chat while running, which I couldn’t quite manage at the pace I was doing. He was extremely chatty, said he was from Morocco and in their national team. I don’t know if that’s true but he was running so comfortably while carrying on a full conversation. I did get my best time ever with him pacing me, we finished the Bay Run in just under 35 minutes which for me was a major effort haha 

Her charity was one of the major groups doing fundraising via the run. I remember they all wore these bright pink T shirts and lots of others wore them, too.

Don't know if you know Melbourne, but beside the botanic gardens there's a very steep, short street called Anderson Street.   It was part of a 10k Mother's Day fun run one year.  I was inching my way up as a bloke ran past, pushing a pram, chatting to the TWO kids in the pram.

[Catzilla]

Looking forward to watching the athletics and swimming particularly. Might use the opportunity to teach DD more about Japan, and have some Japanese themed nights for dinner during the Olympics (will probably do the same with whatever country hosts future Olympic or Commonwealth Games).

[MaryanneK]

Ooh good idea. My dd learns Japanese at school and does gymnastics,bit would be fun to watch that. When does it start?

[Kreme]

Love the Olympics! Can’t wait to watch it. 

[Rosie28]

1 hour ago, Bornagirl said:

Her charity was one of the major groups doing fundraising via the run. I remember they all wore these bright pink T shirts and lots of others wore them, too.

Don't know if you know Melbourne, but beside the botanic gardens there's a very steep, short street called Anderson Street.   It was part of a 10k Mother's Day fun run one year.  I was inching my way up as a bloke ran past, pushing a pram, chatting to the TWO kids in the pram.

I’ve been running the Tan since I was 4, and have only ever done Anderson St really comfortably- after 4 weeks in Nepal. Altitude training really works!

[Purpleblaze]

I’ve lost so much interest in the olympics over the last 20 years. The addition of new and non traditional sports, the politics, grandeur, drugs, pretty much everything but celebrating pure athleticism. Sure there are wonderful and touching moments, heartbreaking ones and true people stories, but I feel these get drowned out by the commercialisation of the whole event. 

[squeekums-the-elf]

Can't wait. Even dd is excited 

[Sancti-claws]

When does it actually start?

Am hoping that it is wonderful.

Its amazing what sports you end up finding fascinating when the Olympics (or Commonwealth) is on. 

[Jolly_F]

I’m not surprised it’s going ahead - so many countries across the world are opening up to vaccinated travellers, it makes sense it would go ahead. 

Its not really my thing, so probably won’t watch anything other than the highlights. 

[ClaudiaCosette]

9 hours ago, Purpleblaze said:

I’ve lost so much interest in the olympics over the last 20 years. The addition of new and non traditional sports, the politics, grandeur, drugs, pretty much everything but celebrating pure athleticism. Sure there are wonderful and touching moments, heartbreaking ones and true people stories, but I feel these get drowned out by the commercialisation of the whole event. 

I feel similar. I love the Olympics and growing up, it was something I really enjoyed watching. 1992, 1996, 2000 ... classic.

I think it's gone together with me then becoming a grown up and having a lot less time to sit down and actually enjoy it. In 2004 I was overseas when the Athens games were on and I barely caught any of it. 2008 I was busy working, 2012 I was about to have a baby, 2016 I had young kids who didn't let me watch it!

I miss how magical it seemed as a child and teenager. I still love seeing different countries and places, and I think my kids might be a bit more interested in it this year - we've been to Japan and they learn Japanese at school, plus they're much more into sport now. So I'm hoping we might get some time to sit down and watch a few events.

But, there always seems to be something overshadowing it. I also dislike the intense pressure the media puts on some athletes, particularly the Australian swimmers. It's like they're not allowed to fail, and I think that's terrible.

On the other hand, I always love it when an unknown athlete in a less popular sport wins a medal - I'm thinking of how elated Jessica Fox was winning a silver medal in the kayak in 2012. I still remember her name now, but I couldn't tell you which swimmers won gold medals in that Olympics.

[Kiwi Bicycle]

I still remeber watching the opening and closing ceremonies, especially LA 1984, where they had the audience show coloured cards and then turn on torches when it was dark at a certain point. Magical!

But of course all that stuff has been done since time and time again and it's not so impressive.

I have mixed feeling about this Olympics. It could of been canned if the major sponsors allowed it. 

[Bethlehem]

I think time zones play a key role too. When they are on late at night you miss the spirit. 

[123tree]

A work colleague of my husband is attending. My DH reckons he is crazy for even considering it and keeps suggesting that he doesn’t go. Also the colleague is hoping that he won’t have to quarantine on re-entry and DH doesn’t want to go near him if he doesn’t. So much is up in the air around the travel arrangements. 
 

(Colleague is not an athlete and is attending in a different role).  
 

I read that the Japanese public don’t want it to go ahead but it could be a situation if it depends on who you ask. 

[Lurker]

6 hours ago, Jolly_F said:

I’m not surprised it’s going ahead - so many countries across the world are opening up to vaccinated travellers, it makes sense it would go ahead. 

Its not really my thing, so probably won’t watch anything other than the highlights. 

It's shit though because the majority of Japanese people don't want it, and they don't have good vax coverage yet. It's higher than ours, but still low. 

And there's no cheering! I think I'd rather no spectators, if I was an athlete, than silent ones. 

[Iamferalz]

It’s a shame our lockdown (Sydney) does not coincide with the Olympics!  I reckon I’d have the TV on constantly.

[Bornagirl]

3 hours ago, Iamferalz said:

It’s a shame our lockdown (Sydney) does not coincide with the Olympics!  I reckon I’d have the TV on constantly.

I follow AFL but only my own team do I generally watch, or maybe a headline match.

They did their catch-up matches last season while we were still in lockdown, and it was on every night for three weeks or so. I swear it was on every night, even if I wasn't terribly interested.  It was a touch of normality for me, especially as they were not in Vic, and there were crowds and something out there looked NORMAL.