Discuss the 2020/2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics here. Have any of you guys been watching, have you not yet watched but plan on doing so? I have been watching them since Friday when they started. Every event has been good thus far, including the swimming and skateboarding. Swimming for the potential world records and skateboarding for the unintentional mishaps (I feel bad for the men and women's skateboarding teams).
Skateboarding has been something that has surprisingly held my attention along with my family. The other night while watching this event, a woman who was taking her turn had the skateboard literally roll out right from under her (as if someone had pushed it) and kept rolling briefly while the person had fallen to the ground and basically slid like a skateboard for a brief moment. It was crazy. I cannot imagine what the fall must have felt like and feel bad for the people participating that have endured these accidents. Obviously, some slack can be cut as skateboarding is one of several new events for this Olympics, and is slated to make a return for Paris 2024.
Besides skateboarding a few other brand new events were added as well. Some of these were added at the request of the host (due to a new IOC rule that allows the host to pick a few activities), while one addition dates back to a request made during the 1950's. Besides these new events, several that were consecutively featured in prior Olympics return as well as events that were featured in the past, but swapped out in later Olympics (Softball is one such sport in that Paris 2024 will not feature the event). The events for this Olympics are:
► Show Spoiler
Legend:
Bold Red means the event is brand new.
Bold Blue means the event has been featured in the past, but not consecutively.
Bold Green represents the events that have been featured consecutively since either the start of the modern games in 1896 or since introduction in a later Olympic game. NOTE: World Wars I and II cancelled the games in 1916, 1940, and 1944. COVID-19 rescheduled the games to 2021.
Bold Orange means the event has been featured in prior Olympics, but that either a men's or women's version was added to this years Olympics (E.G. Women's Madison Cycling).
Event | Year debuted | Game Debuted |
Skateboarding | 2020\2021 (Slated to return for Paris 2024) | Tokyo |
3x3 Basketball | 2020\2021 (Slated to return for Paris 2024) | Tokyo |
Freestyle BMX | 2020\2021 (Slated to return for Paris 2024) | Tokyo |
Surfing | Proposed in the 1950's, but not added until 2020\2021 (Slated to return for Paris 2024) | Tokyo |
Sport Climbing | 2020\2021 (Slated to return for Paris 2024) | Tokyo |
Karate | 2020\2021 (Not slated for return in Paris 2024) | Tokyo |
Synchronized Swimming | 1984 | Los Angeles |
Diving | 1904 (World Wars I and II cancelled 1916, 1940, and 1944) | St. Louis |
Swimming | 1896 | Athens |
Water Polo | 1900 | Paris |
Archery | 1900 | Paris |
Athletics | 1896 (The 1904 Marathon, uh, was interesting) | Athens |
Badmitten | Demoed in 1972, debuted officially in 1992 | Munich, Barcelona |
Baseball | 1912 (Will not return for Paris 2024) | Stockholm |
Softball | 1996 (Will not return for Paris 2024) | Atlanta |
Basketball | 1904 | St. Louis |
Boxing | 1904 | St. Louis |
Canoeing | 1924 | Paris |
Cycling | 1896 | Athens |
Equestrian | 1896 | Athens |
Fencing | 1896 | Athens |
Field Hockey | 1908 | London |
Football (Soccer) | 1900 | Paris |
Golf | 1900 | Paris |
Gymnastics | 1896 | Athens |
Handball | 1936 | Berlin |
Judo | 1964 | Tokyo |
Modern Pentatholon | 1912 | Stockholm |
Rowing | 1900 | Paris |
Rugby Sevens | 1900 | Paris |
Sailing | 1900 (Slated for Athens 1896, but cancelled. Did not feature for St. Louis 1904) | Paris |
Shooting | 1896 | Athens |
Table Tennis | 1988 | Seoul |
Taekwondo | Demoed in Seoul and Barcelona 1988 and 1992 respectively. Debuted officially for Sydney 2000 | Seoul, Barcelona, Sydney |
Tennis | 1896 | Athens |
Triathlon | 2000 | Sydney |
Volleyball | 1964 | Tokyo |
Weight Lifting | 1896 | Athens |
Wrestling | 1896 (Was not played in Paris 1900) | Athens |
Madison Cycling | 2000 (Men's), 2020\2021 (Women's Madison Cycling was added for Tokyo 2020) | Sydney, Tokyo |
Here is the approximate medal count of six of the best teams (In terms of medal count total. Will change):
► Show Spoiler
Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
United States | 13 | 12 | 10 | 35 |
China | 13 | 6 | 9 | 28 |
ROC [1] | 7 | 11 | 7 | 25 |
Japan | 13 | 4 | 5 | 22 |
Australia | 7 | 2 | 9 | 18 |
Italy | 2 | 7 | 9 | 18 |
Update 1: Australia has shot up to 5th place, knocking Great Britain down one (although they are tied in overall medal count) and knocking Italy off the list. The U.S. has gained 4 medals, China 2, Japan 2, ROC, 1, and Great Britain 2 with Australia knocking Great Britain down 1 and knocking off Italy from the list since I posted this.
Update 2: While you were sleeping overnight, the medal count has changed. The U.S. has attained three medals for a grand total of 32. These three were 2 Gold and 1 Silver with Gold and Silver from 3x3 Basketball and Swimming. China has gained 4 total medals: 2 Gold, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze. ROC has gained 4 total medals: 2 Silver and 2 Bronze. This has allowed them to overtake Japan by one medal. Japan has 22 total medals after gaining 2 Golds. Australia and Great Britain have both gained 1 Bronze respectively for a still tied total of 16.
Update 3: The United States has attained 3 medals, 1 of each, for a total of 35. China has won 1 Gold for a total of 28, ROC has won 2 medals for a total of 25. Japan remains unchanged. Australia has gained two medals while Italy has also gained two medals to tie with Australia at 18, knocking Great Britain off the list to 7th.
[1] ROC is short for Russian Olympic Committee. Russia was banned, so rather than punish the athletes, the Russian Olympic Committee is representing these athletes with a generic flag, uniform, and song used in place of the Russian flag, traditional Russian uniform, and Russian national anthem.
Swimming is happening live on your local NBC affiliate right now. it is Women's 1500 Meter Free Final. Katie Ledecky is currently on fire. She has a decent lead and is "lapping" the swimmers in lanes 1 and 2 (like Ledecky can be halfway to the other side of the pool and the swimmers in lanes 1 and 2 would not have yet made it to the other side). The match has just ended and Katie Ledecky just took 1st and the Gold medal I believe with a U.S. swimmer in Lane 3 taking 2nd. The swimmers in lanes 1 and 2 had not even made it to the other side of the pool when Ledecky finished the race. I feel bad for those two swimmers.
In the Olympic Games spoiler, I mentioned that the Marathon at the St. Louis 1904 games was, uh, interesting. I am here to explain why that was so.
The true 1st place finisher of the Marathon, Fred Lorz, was disqualified. During the race, he developed cramps and so someone gave him a ride in their car. When the car broke down near the finish line, he got out and finished the race. He kept up with his rouse until he was found out not long after a photograph with Alice Roosevelt, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt. He was disqualified and barred from performing in the Olympics. He later went on to win the 1905 Boston Marathon.
Thomas Hicks ended up as the winner of the race. He, however, was aided by measures that are not allowed. Near the end of the race, Thomas was given Strychnine, a common rat poison. It was believed small doses of this would stimulate his nervous system, but caused side effects. This was later mixed with Brandy. He managed to barely win the race, and managed to survive thanks to a team of doctors.
William Garcia and Sam Mellor both sustained injuries and almost died due to the dust kicked up by the cars. Mellor had to drop out while Garcia was found on the side of the road.
Andarin Carvajal ended up joining the race at the last minute. He arrived in street clothes cut to look like shorts after losing all his money gambling at dice in New Orleans. Having not eaten in 40 hours, he stopped off at an Orchard and snacked on some Apples that were rotten. This caused stomach cramps, resulting in him taking a nap. Following that, he chatted with spectators and playfully stole a peach from an official. Despite his setbacks, he managed to finish 4th. Many felt he could have won and set a new record if it weren't for his unfortunate delays.
Len Taunyane and Jan Mashiani finished 9th and 12th respectivelt. Len Taunyane could have done better were he not chased a mile off course by a pack of feral dogs.
Albert Corey, a French Immigrant, arrived without correct documentation, so is incorrectly listed as performing on a mixed team (a team which features athletes from various nations).
The day of the race was very hot, and only two water stations were present as they wanted to test whether the theory of purposeful dehydration would result in better performance. And this is the backstory on the very interesting Marathon at the St. Louis 1904 games.
tl;dr Also, if you would like to join a Discord pertaining to this and other Olympics, you can do so here:
https://discord.gg/gEvtcDGdgj Please do share this Discord with anyone that may be interested.