Like much of the planet, I was glued to Olympics.
Like half of the planet, all the good stuff seemed to be on during the night which
meant the following day was spent trying to avoid social media and headlines, so
the result was not known beforehand. For the events that really mattered, I made
sure I knew the results in advance as the dog hates us shouting at the tele.
Overall, I think it was the games of
sportsmanship, racial harmony, gender equity and generally a celebration of all
things that are good in the world. The lack of crowed meant the camera picked
up what the competitors were saying to each other, clapping each other, looking
amazed at somebody else’s effort.
The mixed
relays (both genders) in swimming and running showed very clearly… guess what…
women can’t run as fast as men and can’t swim as fast. I think we might know that,
but it was a safe place to point it out. The fact that there were world record
holders of each gender doing their ‘leg’ shows that the best of the best still
have disparity, so in some cases it’s equity and equal opportunity, as equality is
somewhere else. Equity is why men should
lift the case of dog food, and women should just run everything. What’s that
famous joke? Who makes the important decisions in the house? The wife says well
he does. I decide what school the kids go to, what car we buy and what house
we live in.’ ‘So, what important decisions does your husband make then?’ asked
the interviewer. ‘Oh, you know, should there be a united nations presence on
the West Bank. Should Putin be welcomed
at the G7? Did the ball go over the line in 1966?’
Anyway, in no order at all here’s my observations
of the 2020/2021 games.
Karsten Warholm, the Viking, destroying the
400 m world record. The American Benjamin was second and he broke the world
record as well. I think everybody who crossed the line in that final broke a
record of some type. The look on Warholm’s face as he looked at the time. He
really didn’t believe he had gone that fast.
Tom Daley, knitting between his dives,
making an Olympic cardi he later auctioned for charity. His competitors in the
hot tub watching him on the screen and punching the air with joy when Tom landed
the big dive (do you ‘land’ a dive?)
The big mental health debates that were
going on. In public, the debate is that it’s good to see athletes are coming out and
speaking about their troubles. In private, the chatter seems to be more that, to be
an Olympic medal winner they should, by definition, be as mentally tough as they are
physically fit. It’s that ability to hold your nerve when the next three
seconds could define the rest of your life. More than I could do.
Simone Biles and the twistees. What a great
champion to say. ‘Well actually, I’m struggling with that at the moment.’ I think golfers call it the yips. A sudden
and inexplainable lack of fine motor control
in one aspect of a series of movements.
I read that the highest-ranking downloaded
events were the women’s beach volleyball and the women’s gymnastics. Well done
to the Danish, German and Norwegian teams for breaking the rules and covering
up. Also, nice to see Pink the musician offering the pay the fine.
And who else saw the German pentathlete
fighting with her borrowed horse. She didn’t win. For 100 years the modern pentathlon has tested
the skills of ‘a soldier’. Swimming, running, shooting under pressure, fencing (epees
not garden) and riding a horse you do not know. They do all of that in one day.
The 3k run at the end has stations to stop and fire 5 shots accurately at a
target, so you need to run fast, but keep the heart rate down. The competitors
get twenty minutes to get know a horse they have drawn from a pool of horses
that can all jump over 1.2 metres. The horse, Saint Boy, that the German woman
in gold medal position drew had already got another competitor eliminated. She
could have asked for an exchange, but she didn’t. I’m sure you caught the
footage of a rider and a horse having a huge argument. The horse won as it always
would. The rider should have dropped the
reins and let the animal settle. But she didn’t. The whip was out, the spurs
were in. She was eliminated. Out the competition, her dreams of four years
gone. As a test of horsemanship, she failed. We are now having trial by social
media. It's unfair on the horse, the event has no place in the modern Olympics. Not sure what I think about that.
The images of the horse and rider at the start of the round have been removed from the internet. You can see the horse refusing half way through the round, and the clip of the German coach 'punching' the horse. It looked, to me, more like she was trying to get its buttocks off the rail in an attempt to make it go forward.
BMXing – a group of drunk dads on their wee
kids bikes having a lark was how somebody described it. They were braver than
me!
And the weird Tv coverage? They cut the men
cycling time trial 5 minutes before it ended. I kid you not. We got a full hour of the women’s
marathon, ten minutes of the men’s.
The karate with the invisible opponent? Did
anybody see that? It’s a bit like dressage
but without the horse, a series of moves to do with great precision and control
of strength, but then there was the face pulling. I kept expecting Peter Sellers
to appear and say, ‘Do you have a lis soonce for theee minkeee?’ (Inspector Clouseau
joke!)
One of the best bits… the high jumpers, the
best of pals, the greatest of rivals, sharing a gold, medal as the competition had
been going on for too long and the officials wanted to go home. So, they gave
them one each. Fabulous to see.
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Who needs to watch the Olympics when we have Coverage by Caro! Loved it.
ReplyDeleteI think some of my commentary might have added to the experience!
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