#24 – The Fast & The Curious: Tokyo’s Gift

When the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe dressed up as Mario to accept the Olympics back in 2016, no one could have foreseen what 2020 had in store for us.

With the Olympics behind us and the Paralympics on show now, I have to thank Tokyo and the IOC for putting on a phenomenal Games when we needed it the most.

Lamont Marcel Jacobs tearing up the track. Ariarne Titmus thrashing the water as her coach cheers her on. Curious new sports like climbing and skateboarding which they showed during work hours.

The stadiums were empty, but I have no doubt that fans and people around the world in various states of lockdown and quarantine were glued to their screens.

One scene jumped out at me. I was watching high jump and noticed the crowd were just a handful of athletes. They brandished their national colours, but cheered, encouraged, celebrated and commiserated with every jump.

It’s no secret Japan have some pretty serious coronavirus issues. Many athletes have given up relative safety of their own homes and will have to quarantine upon return. After the world spent 18 months grappling with a pandemic, the nations of the world supported each other in the arena.

It was a brilliant act of sportsmanship, which was followed up by two high-jumpers deciding to share gold medal honours. If social distancing wasn’t a thing, they would have probably stood arm-in-arm on the podium.

Nations in arms instead of taking up arms after 18 months we’ve just had is what the Olympics are all about for mine.

The best part is we only have to wait 3 years for the next Olympics. Over to you, Paris!

Next week: No seems to be the hardest word