And so ends Tokyo 2020.
Some will call it the 'COVID Olympics'. Some will call it "The Olympics That None Saw", because of the lack of fans in the stadiums and arenas. Some will say it should never have happened anyway, bearing in mind it was unpopular with the Japanese people and only happened in the first place to please IOC sponsors.
And all of that was probably true.
But it was also fantastic. It was an Olympics where everyone triumphed to even get there - after the longest year of their lives - to get to battle for the biggest triumphs in their chosen sports.
And while we all loved to see our countries do well, it was also awesome that we could praise the other countries do well too.
I mean, who didn't have a tear in their eye when the 13-year old Brazilian girl won the women's skateboarding contest, and was wildly applauded by her fellow contestants, who turned the whole competition in a huggy puddle? Who didn't love the 'Miracle Under Water', when Tunisian 18-year old Ahmad Hafnoui beat swimming giants from Australia and the USA to Olympic 400m swimming Gold - and looked as shocked as anyone else? Had it been an American who had won that race against all the odds, Disney and Netflix would already be in a multi-million dollar battle for the TV rights.
The world stood up and applauded the sportsmanship of Qatari high jumper Mutaz Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi, who decided to share the gold in the men's high jump, instead of trying to best each other. There were also beautiful moments in the boxing room - especially after Irish boxer won her gold medal bout and immediately hugged her opponent and her opponent's team harder than her own!! And on the triathlon course, the winners celebrated everyone finishing, not just themselves (Because if. you can do swimming, biking and running in one spell, you deserve a pat on the back from everyone).
This year it seemed the athletes were willing to celebrate each other's successes. Because there was no laps of honor, athletes decided to hug each other more and be seen celebrating with the other silver and bronze medallists. There was very little - it seemed - sore losing.
Of course, there were the sad moments. God only knows how many athletes didn't partake in the Olympics because of being tested positive for that evil disease, COVID-19. Superstar golfers Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm couldn't play for their countries after positive tests. And although a lot of Brits were celebrating Kate French's women's penathlon gold, many of us felt for Annika Schleu, who was walking away with the event until her horse - the inappropriately named- 'Saint Boy' - acted like a sinner and refused two fences in the showjumping and smashed into a third, relegating her into the ranks of the 30s. The devestation on her face still haunts us.
Biles will be back. She'll be 27 in Paris, and will be favored to win the lot again. But for now, we all struggled alongside her. I can only hope that she - and so many people (not just athletes) get through it all.
Some will call it the 'COVID Olympics'. Some will call it "The Olympics That None Saw", because of the lack of fans in the stadiums and arenas. Some will say it should never have happened anyway, bearing in mind it was unpopular with the Japanese people and only happened in the first place to please IOC sponsors.
And all of that was probably true.
But it was also fantastic. It was an Olympics where everyone triumphed to even get there - after the longest year of their lives - to get to battle for the biggest triumphs in their chosen sports.
And while we all loved to see our countries do well, it was also awesome that we could praise the other countries do well too.
I mean, who didn't have a tear in their eye when the 13-year old Brazilian girl won the women's skateboarding contest, and was wildly applauded by her fellow contestants, who turned the whole competition in a huggy puddle? Who didn't love the 'Miracle Under Water', when Tunisian 18-year old Ahmad Hafnoui beat swimming giants from Australia and the USA to Olympic 400m swimming Gold - and looked as shocked as anyone else? Had it been an American who had won that race against all the odds, Disney and Netflix would already be in a multi-million dollar battle for the TV rights.
The world stood up and applauded the sportsmanship of Qatari high jumper Mutaz Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi, who decided to share the gold in the men's high jump, instead of trying to best each other. There were also beautiful moments in the boxing room - especially after Irish boxer won her gold medal bout and immediately hugged her opponent and her opponent's team harder than her own!! And on the triathlon course, the winners celebrated everyone finishing, not just themselves (Because if. you can do swimming, biking and running in one spell, you deserve a pat on the back from everyone).
This year it seemed the athletes were willing to celebrate each other's successes. Because there was no laps of honor, athletes decided to hug each other more and be seen celebrating with the other silver and bronze medallists. There was very little - it seemed - sore losing.
Of course, there were the sad moments. God only knows how many athletes didn't partake in the Olympics because of being tested positive for that evil disease, COVID-19. Superstar golfers Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm couldn't play for their countries after positive tests. And although a lot of Brits were celebrating Kate French's women's penathlon gold, many of us felt for Annika Schleu, who was walking away with the event until her horse - the inappropriately named- 'Saint Boy' - acted like a sinner and refused two fences in the showjumping and smashed into a third, relegating her into the ranks of the 30s. The devestation on her face still haunts us.
Then the haunted opening and closing ceremonies containing a lot of fireworks, but a quarter of the athletes who partook in the Olympics themselves, and zero celebrating fans waving flags and holding hands, as we'd seen in London, Rio and so many others before that.
As we know about the pandemic times, the most affected of things have been our brains. After rotting them for months upon months in our houses, expecting everyone to go out and be 'as normal' is a hard push. We've noticed that COVID was an equal kryptonite to athlete.
So when Simone Biles, who was for all intents and purposes the face of Tokyo 2020 due to her amazing gymnastic abilities, her battle for civil rights and against the demons of sexual molestation by former US gymnastics doctor, decided to leave her first Olympic event early and only return for the final one because of Mental Health, things got real fast. Sure, there was social media who painted her as a 'quitter'. I should know. I was one of them. But then I found out about Biles' mental health meant that she had the 'twisties', in which her routines could not be done without a far bigger chance of injury. Then I shut up, and cheered her onto her bronze.
Biles will be back. She'll be 27 in Paris, and will be favored to win the lot again. But for now, we all struggled alongside her. I can only hope that she - and so many people (not just athletes) get through it all.
But beyond Biles, there was some amazing, uplifting stories. There were athletes who had finally got to the pinnacle after so many years of trying. There was the transsexual weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, a 51-year old men's race walker, and a 62-year old showjumper. It showed that the Olympics, while mostly a young person's sport, covers all ages and genders, too.
For the last two weeks and despite the raging Delta Variant making the pandemic return to the forefront of our consciousness, the Olympics made us all go away.
Let's hope the crowds are back in Paris 2024, shall we?
