And the Gold Medal Goes to…
The 2020 Summer Olympics came to a close this week. I hope you had a chance to watch some of the games. They were inspiring, competitive, and different.
First of all, the games were referred to as the 2020 Olympics despite the fact that 2021 is almost over. The pandemic delayed this global event for a full year—and apparently the Olympic Committee didn’t want all the apparel and signage from 2020 to go to waste!
There were some very interesting changes introduced this year. In addition to mask-wearing and all the winners having to place their own medals around their necks, there were five new sports in this year’s Olympics: baseball/softball, karate, surfing, something called ‘sport climbing,’ and skateboarding.
If you watched the highlights from the games, you may have also seen a few other unusual events. I happened to tune into rhythmic gymnastics. This is a sport where athletes twirl around a very long ribbon on a stick, toss it high into the air, do a cartwheel or two, then catch the ribbon before it hits the ground (think: gymnastics-meets-majorettes). I was also fascinated by artistic swimming: it was like synchronized swimming, but with intense music, acting, “dancing,” and the swimmers being catapulted out of the water by the sheer strength of their teammates. How do these athletes endure a four minute routine and never have their feet touch the bottom of the pool? (Do I even need to mention those water polo players?)
For the majority of Olympic sports, the athlete’s endurance and strength are quite impressive.
Then there are the less “aggressive” sports. Take dressage for example. In this event, horses prance/dance to music. I heard a lot of people questioning whether dressage should be considered a “sport” when the horse is doing most of the work. Good question.
There’s also the very competitive Walking—where the definition of “walking” is so specific that athletes can get a red or a yellow card for violating the straighten-your-knee-when-your-foot-makes-contact-with-the-ground rule.
I’m not judging one sport over another. Believe me, I’m as impressed with the determination of the gymnasts as I am the focus of the archery competitors. Each event is so unique and intense in its own right.
I find the entire Olympics to be entertaining— regardless of the sport being featured. I also love the behind-the-scenes stories we get to hear. Did you see the feature about US diver Krysta Palmer and her parents who are long-haul truck drivers? Both parents work for a trucking company called Schneider. Whenever possible, the company was able to coordinate the parents’ driving routes across the US to the places where Krysta was competing.
What about Tom Daley from Great Britain? Yes, he’s an Olympic diving champion… but over the past three weeks he has also become more known for his knitting and crocheting than his dives. Did you see him stitching in the stands? He even knit a small pouch to carry his gold medal. More impressive is the fact that this young man is using his fame to raise awareness for the UK-based Brain Tumour Charity in memory of his father who died of brain cancer in 2011.
Despite how you feel about the sports currently featured in the Olympics, I think we can all agree that certain events from the past have since been appropriately removed. These included Live Pigeon Shooting, featured in the Pairs 1900 Olympics, where the goal was to shoot as many live pigeons as possible. I cannot even comment on this one. And in 1912 in Stockholm, there once was Pistol Dueling. The good news is that the participants didn’t actually shoot at one another. They simply shot at mannequins with targets on their chests. Still it seems like a strange event. And luckily we no longer have Poodle Clipping as a sport. Featured in the 1900 Paris Olympics as a test event, 128 competitors had to clip the fur off as many poodles as they could in a certain amount of time. The gold medal winner was Avril Lafoule who clipped 17 poodles.
So many lessons and feel-good stories came out of the games this summer. In almost every sport, we saw diversity and inclusion represented as 206 countries came together to compete. You may have seen San Marino, the worlds’ fifth smallest population, which won its first-ever medal ever in Tokyo for trap shooting. The West African nation of Burkina Faso won its first-ever medal for the men’s triple jump. And although Turkmenistan has flown its flag over the Olympics every year since 1996, they never won a medal until Polina Guryave won silver this year for women’s weight lifting. Tiny nations’ athletes became world-famous over the course of a few weeks.
More than anything, the Olympics showcased pride. Regardless of your sport, your country of origin, or the country you chose to represent in the games, there was so much pride in every event. Competitors were understandably proud of their own accomplishments. Families—cheering from home—were overwhelmed with pride as they witnessed their athletes’ victories. And countries were filled with pride for the people who represented them.
Congratulations to all of the medal winners—from soccer to badminton and everything in between. Cheers to the athletes who didn’t win a medal, but made it all the way to Tokyo to represent their sport. And best of luck to all the people who are already gearing up for the Paris 2024 Olympics! The countdown is on…
This Week’s Resources
Simon Biles: The True Champion
You cannot watch the 2020 Tokyo Olympics without taking note of Simon Biles’ message. Talk about courageous! Read here to learn more about her mental health advocacy, and kudos to her sponsors for strongly supporting her as well: Simon Biles Story
Strangest Olympic Sports of the Past
The Olympics feature the world’s greatest athletes. In the past, they were also known to have featured more obscure sports like Tug-of-War (discontinued in 1920), Club Swinging (launched in 1904) and One-Handed Weight Lifting (a sport only allowed for men). To read more about these three “sports” as well as 14 other doozies, click here: strange olympic sports
What do Harleys and Lemonade have in common?
If you were out riding your motorcycle at Sturgis this past weekend, you likely came across eight-year-old Wyatt Dennis’ very popular lemonade stand. This kid offers “donation only” delicious lemonade to thousands of Harley enthusiasts at the popular event in Sturgis, South Dakota. Wyatt donates a portion of his profit to a children’s hospital. The rest of the money he earns goes to his college fund, as well as a new set of LEGOS he’s been saving for: sturgis lemonade stand
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