Olympic Games 2020 - Part two

The Olympic games in Japan come to an end this weekend. They have been far more successful than many in the media appeared to expect.

Covid-19 cases amongst the athletes  seem to have been few and far between although I recall that one country's swimming team had to pull out after some of its members became affected by the virus. Otherwise a few Games attendants too, were compelled to stay away for similar reasons.

The cost  for Japan so far, of the Olympic Games is huge and unlike previous Olympics could not even be partially set off against ticket sales as no spectators were permitted other than athletes and their attendants. Unsurprisingly perhaps, Brisbane was the only bidder for the 2032 Olympic Games and without any of the usual fuss and publicity for a successful Olympic Games bidder, was quietly awarded the holding of the Games for that year.

However so much that is positive has come out of the 2020 Olympics thus far even though Covid-19 caused their postponement from 2020 to 2021. Team GB has exceeded many people's expectations in keeping their performances up with those of previous Games at Rio and London. Then the Japanese have successfully  endeavoured to attract more young people to enthuse about the Olympics by introducing sports that the young, as distinct from their parents, enjoy such as skate boarding. Team GB's  13 year old Sky Brown's bronze medal in that event was a great achievement watched in Tokyo by her parents and her friendship with the silver and gold medal winners in that event was clear from the medal awarding ceremony. Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald's gold medal in the cycling was also a feat though how they managed to cycle so many laps so quickly is beyond my own comprehension much as I enjoy cycling.

The wall/ climbing was hugely interesting to watch despite the absence of any British involvement. The various athletic races were as interesting as ever though quite why the USA did not do as well as in previous games is probably a question for discussion after the Games as is very sadly, the Team GB's rowing squad's results, which were far poorer than in previous Olympics. On the other hand  there are some great hockey, boxing and diving medals though  boxing is not my forte perhaps because it was compulsory at   school - age 12.

The Japanese  also, probably with the encouragement of the Olympic committee, introduced a number of competitions involving male and female participants working together. Not least, this arrangement increased the number of women competitors overall, which is excellent.

To date,  the ladies modern pentathlon  has proved to be one of the hardest sports to be involved in but perhaps the most interesting to watch. Kate French, with her wonderful laser run performance, fully deserved her gold medal. I hope that she will feature in the British honours' list in due course.

Until the Games, I had not appreciated that Belarus was essentially run like a left wing dictatorship but their attempt to whisk off Krystsina Tsimanouskaya for some political purpose or other, was thankfully thwarted and she was granted a humanitarian visa to live in Poland. 

Sadly, Russia as a nation, was not permitted to compete on the grounds of its doping issues previously. However a team known as The Russian Olympic Committee, was permitted to compete, which is perhaps nonsensical, though individual dope free Russian athletes, do deserve sympathy.

Well done and thank you to the Japanese.