So what did you get out of the 2020 Olympics?

[ASEAN NOW News]

Now the delayed Olympics have actually finished, many of us are perhaps left with many mixed emotions and reactions across the globe.

 

It was no secret that the Japanese would lose even more by cancelling the games for a second time, so there was a financial incentive to go ahead.

 

However, with the Covid pandemic peeking just as the athletes started to arrive, public sentiment in Japan was firmly saying they should cancel the games.

 

 

After 17 days of competing, the IOC with the help of the Japanese organizing committee seemed to have pulled off the impossible.

 

The coverage on TV was of course slightly quitter than normal due to lack of spectators, however with fellow competitors, coaches, media, and local volunteers cheering and clapping, it didn’t seem to matter.

 

And with so many new disciplines introduced for the first time, such as Skateboarding and Speed Climbing making compulsive watching, the 2020 games became cool and trendy, and it delivered.

 

Surely the point is to grow the sports, and to encourage youngsters everywhere to put down their mobiles and start participating too.

 

Seeing 13-year old’s winning medals will inspire many kids to follow in their footsteps. That must be a bonus.

However, the biggest winners have to be all of us sitting at home watching, many in lock down.

 

But for 17 days competing and enjoying these talented competitors, we were able to watch on TV and for a while Covid was not at the top of the agenda.

 

So, what did you get out of watching the 2020 Olympics?

[StreetCowboy]

The timing was not convenient, here, with events on during the working day.

I was too lazy to scan the TV schedules to record the Sevens, which I would have watched had it been on at the weekend.

I watched the road cycling, which made a strong argument for banning race radios; I love seeing people race as fast as they can throughout the race; save the cagey cat-and-mouse for the track sprint.

 

We were out on Sunday in Shah Alam, and a motorcyclist at traffic lights told us about Azizulhasni's silver medal.  There's a fair bit of effort being put into developing Malaysian cycling, with Selangor running a tiered criterium series with graded races from blokes I can almost keep up with to the State riders competing for Olympic places in National races.  And its great that your ordinary man in the street knows about the nation's cycling success.