Olympic Spectacle

By the evening of Sunday, Aug 8, the day the Tokyo 2020 drew its conclusion, the news headline in Toronto has returned to the same babble that had been repeating for the last year and a half - the spikes in COVID cases in Ontario and in the US, vaccination rates, reopening of international border - as if the Olympic spectacle had never happened.

Well, the spectacle really had gone by too quickly for me. For the short 2 weeks or so, I have been accustomed to browsing through the phone to line up my favourite sports for the day and staying late to catch the odd competitions that I really only see every 4 years. I will definitely miss showing my daughter all the different kinds of sports and seeing her eyes lit up. To her, Olympics are a big party, and one day, Jocharvel will take Sofia and Aidan to the big party in person.

The Olympics have always been the event that brings the world together. It is burst with thrill, excitement, pride, disappointments, joy and all the emotions there are. It is just always satisfyingly enjoyable to watch!

I hope fewer people would argue now that pressing on with Tokyo 2020 is a good decision. It must be tough to pull off a monumental endeavour like the Olympics in times like this. I can only imagine it is easier just to call it quit with the Games already delayed by a year and with the host country under mounting (and well-founded) apprehension, but it is only in times like this, the Olympics truly empower the world and remind us how extraordinary and resilient we can be.

I admire Olympic teams around the world for overcoming their health concerns and complete at the Games, and I appreciate Japanese public for the sacrifice in this trying time for having to watch the events on TV even though they might hear the starting pistol from a stadium nearby (and of course for the risk of higher transmission and). For the rest of the world, we got a nice break from the otherwise mundane life in the shadows of the pandemics, and we had exciting events to look forward to everyday.

To savour the Olympic excitement a little bit longer, here's my recount of the memorable moments:

• One of the biggest upset in road cycling history - Anna Kiesenhofer from Austria beating the race favourite, world champion, Annemiek van Vleuten. The reason for winning? Formidable determination and perseverance - Kiesenhofer broke out with a small group of cyclists early in the race and never looked back. Normally, the early leaders would eventually be caught up by the peloton (as were the rest of the break out cyclists), at which point the strong contenders would break out to win; but not this time, Kiesenhofer broke out from the small group with 40km to go and just peddled like there was no tomorrow. As soon as she crossed the finish line, she disappeared from the camera and was lying on the ground panting heavily. I thought she was going to die.

For the unfortunate van Vleuten, the reason for losing the gold medal? It turned out that Olympic road cycling race forbids the use of electronic communication (unlike other road races). Without the communication, van Vleuten and others in the peloton simply lost track of the break out cyclists and started the pursuit too late. She even thought she had won the race! I have every reason to believe that van Vleuten would she have caught up to Kiesenhofer if she knew the situation, but hey, this is how Olympics should be - good old fashion sport competition. That said, salute to van Vleuten for her strong come back after a mid-race crash. She is a true champion too!

• Canada beating Sweden narrowly in penalty kick in women's soccer final. On the surface, Sweden seemed like a strong team, with more effective control, passes and offence, but Canada responded with relentless defense. They held on to the game until it was decided by an intense shootout. This amazing team made Canadian proud! It is sad at the same time for Sweden too, as it really was their gold to lose. Again, this is the charm of Olympics. Just love it.

Just a reminder, the next Olympics will be only 6 months away, in China. Oh China, China... I hope you don't not just show off the flashy venues and fireworks, but really, be nice to everybody, don't be a jerk - well, that is probably an entirely different topic.