I pretty much followed all the events throughout the two-week span as I usually do. These games were a little more tricky to follow since Tokyo is 13 hours ahead of eastern time. This basically meant that most of the events unfolded while most of America was asleep. However there still were some live events showcased during NBC's prime time coverage such as the swimming races. (These were held during the morning at Tokyo which seems kind of convenient for American broadcasting). Most of the big final events (such as in Track-and-Field) occurred at 7-8am, which I was luckily able to catch most live at work. Quite a few new sports made their debut at these games including surfing, skateboarding, sport-climbing, karate, 3-on-3 basketball, as well as various new mixed gender events. In this post I want to summarize and highlight the top stories of the games.
The Opening Ceremony
Yet even despite the lack of attendance, the performances were all-in-all quite mundane. Compared to the last 3 summer Olympics, where I was completely awe-inspired by the grand-scale demonstrations that was just not the case for Tokyo. This included a punk piano player and a samurai in elaborate dress walking around the stage. Some of the highlights included the drones forming the globe and the pictogram sequence (since Japan invented this iconic Olympic sport symbols they recreated each one on stage). Also worthy of mention was the Japanese tennis star, Naomi Osaka lighting the Olympic cauldron. This of course had to be a great honor for her, as she had recently been battling mental health and withdrew from the French Open and Wimbledon.
Swimming
Female superstar Katie Ledecky got off to a slow start when she was beaten by the Australian Titmus in the 400m freestyle. However she then collected another silver and two golds in the 800m and 1500m freestyle (she has won gold in this event for the past 3 games now). Ledecky added 4 medals in this game for a resounding total of 10 medals making her the most decorated female Olympic swimmer of all time. At the young age of 24 she certainly has a few more games in her future and could continue to set an incredible benchmark for female athletes. Lilly King from IU also made a great showing at these games, by adding 3 more medals to her total collection of 5 now.
In the men's swimming it appeared Phelp's had a clear heir apparent and that was Caeleb Dressel. He won an incredible 5 gold medals in the 50m, 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4x100 freestyle, and 4x100 medley. He also set several world records at these races including the 100m butterfly. He became the undisputed breakout superstar of these games, and just like Ledecky he is only 24 with a very promising future ahead of him. Other notable performances by the male swimmers were Ryan Murphy who won 3 medals and Bobby Fink who won 2 golds in the long distance 800m and 1500m freestyle.
Gymnastics
As soon as Biles dropped out of most her events, it brought new light and attention to her teammates. One of these new breakout stars was 18 year old Sunni Lee who won gold in the all-around individual event (which now makes for a 4 year streak that an American has won this medal). Other medalists included a gold performance in the floor exercise by Jade Carrey and a silver medal in vault by MyKala Skinner. The women's American team won silver defeated by the Russian team. Another breakout star of the female gymnasts was Brazilian Rebecca Andrade who won Brazil's first ever gold medal in gymnastics. Daiki Hashimoto was the breakout star for the men winning 2 golds and a silver for Japan.
Track-and-Field
For me the top performance was by Sydney McLaughlin who won gold in the 400m hurdles at a new world record. She defeated her compatriot Dalilah Muhammad in a very close race, the most exciting race of the games. Coincidentally the men's 400m hurdles was also very exciting with also a new world record set by Norwegian Karsten Warholm. In the glorious sprints, Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson-Herah defended her golds in the 100m and 200m dash. The most surprising result was to see sprinter Marcell Jacobs win gold for Italy in the 100m dash (the result had been won by Americans or Jamaicans since 1996). Italy collected a very impressive 5 gold medals in the athletic events.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United States | 7 | 12 | 7 | 26 |
| 2 |  Italy | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 |  Kenya | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 4 |  Poland | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| 5 |  Jamaica | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 6 |  Netherlands | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| 7 |  China | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 8 |  Canada | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 9 |  Uganda | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 |  Norway | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
 Sweden | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Women Events
Soccer
Tennis
Volleyball
Badminton and Table Tennis
Closing Ceremony and Final Medal Count
The closing ceremony was about as dull as the opening ceremony, once again due to the lack of an audience. I remember the Rio closing ceremony was about as spectacular as it's opening ceremony, in what seemed to be an endless party. That was not the case for Tokyo, and only a fraction of the athletes attended the ceremony. It included the usual national anthem, the united parade of nations, and the lowering of the Olympic Flag. The most anticipated part of the show for me is to see a demo from the future Olympic hosts. However Paris did not even show up to the event and instead provided a video of their city on full display. While the video was cool and exciting I was disappointed that the French snubbed Tokyo in person (and don't think Covid was a valid excuse). Nonetheless the Olympic flame was put out and after two weeks the Tokyo games came to a conclusion.
| Rank | Team | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 39 | 41 | 33 | 113 |
| 2 | China | 38 | 32 | 18 | 88 |
| 3 |  Japan* | 27 | 14 | 17 | 58 |
| 4 |  Great Britain | 22 | 21 | 22 | 65 |
| 5 |  ROC | 20 | 28 | 23 | 71 |
| 6 |  Australia | 17 | 7 | 22 | 46 |
| 7 | Netherlands | 10 | 12 | 14 | 36 |
| 8 |  France | 10 | 12 | 11 | 33 |
| 9 |  Germany | 10 | 11 | 16 | 37 |
| 10 | Italy | 10 | 10 | 20 | 40 |
| 11 | Canada | 7 | 6 | 11 | 24 |
| 12 |  Brazil | 7 | 6 | 8 | 21 |
| 13 |  New Zealand | 7 | 6 | 7 | 20 |
| 14 |  Cuba | 7 | 3 | 5 | 15 |
| 15 |  Hungary | 6 | 7 | 7 | 20 |
| 16 |  South Korea | 6 | 4 | 10 | 20 |
| 17 | Poland | 4 | 5 | 5 | 14 |
| 18 |  Czech Republic | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| 19 | Kenya | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 20 | Norway | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 21 | Jamaica | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| 22 |  Spain | 3 | 8 | 6 | 17 |
| 23 | Sweden | 3 | 6 | 0 | 9 |
| 24 |  Switzerland | 3 | 4 | 6 | 13 |
| 25 |  Denmark | 3 | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| 26 |  Croatia | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| 27 |  Iran | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 28 |  Serbia | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 29 |  Belgium | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| 30 |  Bulgaria | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 31 |  Slovenia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 32 |  Uzbekistan | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 33 |  Georgia | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| 34 |  Chinese Taipei | 2 | 4 | 6 | 12 |
| 35 |  Turkey | 2 | 2 | 9 | 13 |
| 36 |  Greece | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Uganda | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| 38 |  Ecuador | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 39 |  Ireland | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
 Israel | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| 41 |  Qatar | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 42 |  Bahamas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
 Kosovo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 44 |  Ukraine | 1 | 6 | 12 | 19 |
| 45 |  Belarus | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| 46 |  Romania | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
 Venezuela | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 48 |  India | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 49 |  Hong Kong | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 50 |  Philippines | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
 Slovakia | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
| 52 |  South Africa | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 53 |  Austria | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| 54 |  Egypt | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 55 |  Indonesia | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 56 |  Ethiopia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
 Portugal | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| 58 |  Tunisia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 59 |  Estonia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
 Fiji | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
 Latvia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
 Thailand | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 63 |  Bermuda | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
 Morocco | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
 Puerto Rico | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 66 |  Colombia | 0 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 67 |  Azerbaijan | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 68 |  Dominican Republic | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 69 |  Armenia | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 70 |  Kyrgyzstan | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 71 |  Mongolia | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 72 |  Argentina | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
 San Marino | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 74 |  Jordan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Malaysia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
 Nigeria | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 77 |  Bahrain | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Namibia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 North Macedonia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Saudi Arabia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
 Turkmenistan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 83 |  Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| 84 |  Mexico | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| 85 |  Finland | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 86 |  Botswana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Burkina Faso | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Ghana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Grenada | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Ivory Coast | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Kuwait | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Moldova | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 Syria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (93 teams) | 340 | 338 | 402 | 1080 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment