After finishing with a bronze medal in the women's 100m T34 Paralympics final, Australia's Robyn Lambird shared this message in a post-race interview for Channel 7:
“I just want to show all the kids out there - with disabilities or not - if you have a dream, chase it ... there's always a way, and you can find that way.”
Motto: ‘United by Motion’
officially the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
When the Covid virus arrived in the world, there were many decisions to be made about whether the 2020 Olympic games would be held that year. On 24 March 2020, they were postponed for twelve months.
Then again, this year (2021) much to-ing and fro-ing occurred about whether it was safe to go ahead. A second wave of the Covid virus, the Delta strain was more dangerous than the first and caused increased cases in Japan. It was finally announced that the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 would commence with the Opening ceremony on 23 July 2021, running until 08 August 2021.
Due to a pandemic state of emergency being declared in the Tokyo area, the games would be held behind ‘closed doors’ meaning no spectators, apart from the athlete teams. Outside sports events could be attended by the public following correct preventative measures. (Probably the first time this has happened in its history.)
IOC President Thomas Bach stated that "we will support any measure which is necessary to have a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games for the Japanese people and all the participants.”
There were five new sports introduced to the Olympics in Japan - baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding, bringing the total number of sports at the 2020 Olympics to 33.
I loved the fact that the bouquets presented to the athletes came from regions affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The individual flowers were selected to represent the prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima, Iwate, and Tokyo. The sunflowers were grown in Miyagi, planted by parents whose children had died during the disaster; the white and purple Eustomas and Solomo’s seals were provided by a non-profit initiative to boost the local economy in Fukushima; the small bright blue Gentians were grown in Iwate; and Aspidistras grown in Tokyo, were chosen to complete the bouquets.
Miraitowa is the official mascot of the 2020 Summer Olympics, meaning Future and Eternity.
Apart from the usual exciting races in Swimming and running and cycling, I really enjoyed the new sport climbing and skateboarding. The climbing was unreal to watch as it was more like running as they flew up the wall like spiders, legs and arms grabbing the holds as they went. The skateboarding was frightening in the heights and acrobats involved, but fantastic that our Aussie boy won his gold medal.
Social and Ecological changes were noticeable during these games.
Sharing: A beautiful heartwarming moment occurred whilst I was watching the finals of the men's high jump. Mutaz Essa Barshim, 30, of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi, 29, of Italy, decided together to split the title down the middle and share the gold medal. Their mutual respect and abiding friendship broke through the tense would-be tiebreak, the first time since 1912 that the Olympics saw joint gold winners—by choice.
HuffPost: They both ended with jumps of 2.37 meters and no failed attempts. With the bar raised to 2.39 meters, the Olympic record, neither jumper could clear it. The competition was tied. After three failed attempts each, an Olympic official offered them a jump-off to decide the winner.
“Can we have two golds?” Barshim asked him.
“It’s possible. If you both decide…” the official said.
He’d barely finished his sentence before the two men had looked at each other, slapped hands and Tamberi leapt into Barshim’s arms.
Mental Health and Athlete safety: Simone Biles, a top USA and worldwide recognised gymnast stopped mid-competition because she felt mentally unready to perform a risky vault. She suffered from mental fragility after being a sexual assault survivor from her national team doctor and her state team physician in the past. Nassar’s molestation of hundreds of female gymnasts became one of the worst sex-abuse sports scandals of all time. Biles never hid. She went to the arena each day to support her teammates. Then she climbed atop the balance beam floating across, as the curtain closed on one of the Games’ premier sports. dismounting with two backflips in a tucked position.
Biles placed her hands on her heart and walked off the stage to hug her coach, teammates and opponents.
She did it just for herself. A defining moment and image in the Tokyo Games.
“I would change nothing,” Biles told reporters. “We have to focus on ourselves as humans, not just athletes, because we lose touch of our human feelings sometimes.”
Boccia was unreal. It is played by athletes with a significant physical impairment affecting all four limbs. An indoor ball sport similar in a way to bowls, it tests muscle control, concentration, accuracy and strategy. Athletes compete in singles, pairs and teams’ events. They sit in wheelchairs propelling a leather ball down a shute/ramp device to roll their balls close to the ‘jack’. Their helper is not allowed to advise or even see what is happening with the players red and blue balls and stands with their back to the play. Brilliant.
On Saturday 28 August 2021, Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli two Afghanistan athletes arrived in Tokyo after being evacuated from Kabul via France. When the Taliban returned to power, taking control of Kabul, it seemed they would miss attending. The Afghanistan flag joined the flag parade, carried around the arena at the Opening ceremony in a show of solidarity. A major global operation commenced assisting their safe departure and arrival. Rasouli missed his men’s 100m T47 on Saturday but was in time for the 400m heats. Zakia represents her country in taekwondo.
The Afghanistan chef de mission, Arian Sadiqi, said: “I strongly believe that, through the Paralympic movement and the Paralympic Games, we all can deliver the positive message that peaceful coexistence is best for humanity, that we should celebrate our differences knowing that we have more in common than that which divides us, and that we should keep and cherish peace because quarrels and negative feeling only destroy humankind.”
Some interesting details are below about the different categories.
Paralympics welcomes athletes from six main disability categories: amputee, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, visually impaired, spinal injuries and Les Autres (French for "the others", a category that includes conditions that do not fall into the categories mentioned before). A common disability found in the 'less autre's category is that of dwarfism.
The amputee category is defined as one where the athlete has lost at least one major musculoskeletal joint; the ankle, knee, and elbow are common examples. The loss of a single finger or a toe would not qualify an athlete for inclusion in this category.
Intellectual disability is defined as one when the athlete was afflicted with the disability prior to reaching the age of 18 years, and when there is proof from either physicians or other third-party specialists that the athlete has a limitation of mental function in two or more specific areas. Academic performance, communication skills, community living skills, the ability of the athletes to safely care for themselves, and their ability to live on their own are the standards against which the disability is assessed.
‘Track and field’ are divided into over 50 classifications; swimming has over 14, and each classification supports different competitions.
Eligible impairment types are: Impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia as in cerebral palsy (increased muscle tension & limited stretching ability), ataxia (uncoordinated movements/damaged central nervous system), athetosis (slow involuntary movements), vision impairment and intellectual impairment.
Classes 1-5 are for wheelchair athletes. Classes 6-10 are for standing athletes. Finally, class 11 is for athletes with intellectual impairments. Within the wheelchair and standing classes, the lower the number, the greater the impact the impairment has on an athlete's ability to compete. The prefix T is for track events, RR for Race Running.
As in the Olympics, standing athletes are considered to have finished a race the moment the trunk of their body reaches the finish line. Wheelchair races are judged based on the order in which the centre of the front wheel of each racer's wheelchair reaches the finish line.
officially the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
When the Covid virus arrived in the world, there were many decisions to be made about whether the 2020 Olympic games would be held that year. On 24 March 2020, they were postponed for twelve months.
Then again, this year (2021) much to-ing and fro-ing occurred about whether it was safe to go ahead. A second wave of the Covid virus, the Delta strain was more dangerous than the first and caused increased cases in Japan. It was finally announced that the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 would commence with the Opening ceremony on 23 July 2021, running until 08 August 2021.
Opening Ceremony 23 July 2021
Due to a pandemic state of emergency being declared in the Tokyo area, the games would be held behind ‘closed doors’ meaning no spectators, apart from the athlete teams. Outside sports events could be attended by the public following correct preventative measures. (Probably the first time this has happened in its history.)
IOC President Thomas Bach stated that "we will support any measure which is necessary to have a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games for the Japanese people and all the participants.”
There were five new sports introduced to the Olympics in Japan - baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding, bringing the total number of sports at the 2020 Olympics to 33.
I loved the fact that the bouquets presented to the athletes came from regions affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The individual flowers were selected to represent the prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima, Iwate, and Tokyo. The sunflowers were grown in Miyagi, planted by parents whose children had died during the disaster; the white and purple Eustomas and Solomo’s seals were provided by a non-profit initiative to boost the local economy in Fukushima; the small bright blue Gentians were grown in Iwate; and Aspidistras grown in Tokyo, were chosen to complete the bouquets.
Miraitowa is the official mascot of the 2020 Summer Olympics, meaning Future and Eternity.
Miraitowa
Apart from the usual exciting races in Swimming and running and cycling, I really enjoyed the new sport climbing and skateboarding. The climbing was unreal to watch as it was more like running as they flew up the wall like spiders, legs and arms grabbing the holds as they went. The skateboarding was frightening in the heights and acrobats involved, but fantastic that our Aussie boy won his gold medal.
 |
| skateboarding |
 |
| sport climbing |
Social and Ecological changes were noticeable during these games.
Sharing: A beautiful heartwarming moment occurred whilst I was watching the finals of the men's high jump. Mutaz Essa Barshim, 30, of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi, 29, of Italy, decided together to split the title down the middle and share the gold medal. Their mutual respect and abiding friendship broke through the tense would-be tiebreak, the first time since 1912 that the Olympics saw joint gold winners—by choice.
HuffPost: They both ended with jumps of 2.37 meters and no failed attempts. With the bar raised to 2.39 meters, the Olympic record, neither jumper could clear it. The competition was tied. After three failed attempts each, an Olympic official offered them a jump-off to decide the winner.
“Can we have two golds?” Barshim asked him.
“It’s possible. If you both decide…” the official said.
He’d barely finished his sentence before the two men had looked at each other, slapped hands and Tamberi leapt into Barshim’s arms.
Gianmarco Tamberi, Italy and Essa Barshim, Qatar with their shared medals
 |
Both sides of the medals |
* * *
Sexism: Remarks made by some Japanese organizing officials relating to gender inequality led to their resignations before the games even commenced.* * *
Mental Health and Athlete safety: Simone Biles, a top USA and worldwide recognised gymnast stopped mid-competition because she felt mentally unready to perform a risky vault. She suffered from mental fragility after being a sexual assault survivor from her national team doctor and her state team physician in the past. Nassar’s molestation of hundreds of female gymnasts became one of the worst sex-abuse sports scandals of all time. Biles never hid. She went to the arena each day to support her teammates. Then she climbed atop the balance beam floating across, as the curtain closed on one of the Games’ premier sports. dismounting with two backflips in a tucked position.
Biles placed her hands on her heart and walked off the stage to hug her coach, teammates and opponents.
She did it just for herself. A defining moment and image in the Tokyo Games.
“I would change nothing,” Biles told reporters. “We have to focus on ourselves as humans, not just athletes, because we lose touch of our human feelings sometimes.”
* * *
Hydrogen flamed Olympic torch
Ecological Matters: The host country Japan used the event as a platform to promote a vision for a ‘carbon-free future’. It fuelled the Olympic and Paralympic cauldrons and the flames in the torch relays, entirely with renewable hydrogen. The Olympic village in Tokyo is an example of a potential ‘hydrogen city’, with hydrogen used to heat water in cafeterias, dormitories and training facilities. The renewable hydrogen used to fuel the Olympic flame was produced at a newly built facility in Fukushima, a region devastated by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent meltdown at the region’s nuclear power facility. It also supplied green hydrogen for zero-emission vehicles - 100 fuel cell buses and 500 Mirai hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehicles used as transport around the Olympic precinct.
THE PARALYMPICS
Motto: ‘United by Emotion’
Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games
Just a couple of weeks after the Olympics concluded, the Paralympics commenced on 24 August running till 05 September 2021. There are 4405 athletes competing in 22 sports with 539 events.
The word “Paralympic” derives from the Greek preposition “para” (beside or alongside) and the word “Olympic”. Its meaning is that Paralympics are the parallel Games to the Olympics and illustrates how the two movements exist side-by-side. They have always been held in the same year as the Olympic Games and at the same venues Since the Seoul Summer Games (1988) and the Albertville Winter Games (1992).
The Paralympic movement goes back to 1948, when Sir Ludwig Guttmann introduced the first Stoke Mandeville Games for World War II veterans with spinal cord-related injuries.
This year in Japan ‘Someity’ is the official mascot of the 2020 Summer Paralympics. ‘Someity’ comes from a type of cherry blossom. It also echoes the English phrase "so mighty".
The Paralympic Games are amazing to watch, and I can’t help but feel in awe of these people who go beyond their bodily restrictions to achieve such skill and reach such heights in their chosen sports. They say they are ‘just ordinary’ but the effort and dedication from them and their support teams/families is extraordinary.
To see the swimmers with hardly any limbs racing their way down the pool, brings tears to my eyes, whilst I sit here with four able limbs just watching.
The Olympic Cauldron
Ecological Matters: The host country Japan used the event as a platform to promote a vision for a ‘carbon-free future’. It fuelled the Olympic and Paralympic cauldrons and the flames in the torch relays, entirely with renewable hydrogen. The Olympic village in Tokyo is an example of a potential ‘hydrogen city’, with hydrogen used to heat water in cafeterias, dormitories and training facilities. The renewable hydrogen used to fuel the Olympic flame was produced at a newly built facility in Fukushima, a region devastated by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent meltdown at the region’s nuclear power facility. It also supplied green hydrogen for zero-emission vehicles - 100 fuel cell buses and 500 Mirai hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehicles used as transport around the Olympic precinct.
(From a report by Michael Mazengarb 19 July 2021)
* * *
All in the fun of competing in the Triathlon
A wonderful invention for the athletes after their races, to connect with family
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
THE PARALYMPICS
Motto: ‘United by Emotion’Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games
Just a couple of weeks after the Olympics concluded, the Paralympics commenced on 24 August running till 05 September 2021. There are 4405 athletes competing in 22 sports with 539 events.
 |
| The Opening Ceremony |
Lighting the flame
The word “Paralympic” derives from the Greek preposition “para” (beside or alongside) and the word “Olympic”. Its meaning is that Paralympics are the parallel Games to the Olympics and illustrates how the two movements exist side-by-side. They have always been held in the same year as the Olympic Games and at the same venues Since the Seoul Summer Games (1988) and the Albertville Winter Games (1992).
The Paralympic movement goes back to 1948, when Sir Ludwig Guttmann introduced the first Stoke Mandeville Games for World War II veterans with spinal cord-related injuries.
* * *
This year in Japan ‘Someity’ is the official mascot of the 2020 Summer Paralympics. ‘Someity’ comes from a type of cherry blossom. It also echoes the English phrase "so mighty".
‘Someity’
The Paralympic Games are amazing to watch, and I can’t help but feel in awe of these people who go beyond their bodily restrictions to achieve such skill and reach such heights in their chosen sports. They say they are ‘just ordinary’ but the effort and dedication from them and their support teams/families is extraordinary.
To see the swimmers with hardly any limbs racing their way down the pool, brings tears to my eyes, whilst I sit here with four able limbs just watching.
29 August 12:50 (JST): PHOTO: Brazil's Gabriel Geraldo dos Santos Araujo
poses after competing in men's 200m freestyle - S2 heat
Boccia was unreal. It is played by athletes with a significant physical impairment affecting all four limbs. An indoor ball sport similar in a way to bowls, it tests muscle control, concentration, accuracy and strategy. Athletes compete in singles, pairs and teams’ events. They sit in wheelchairs propelling a leather ball down a shute/ramp device to roll their balls close to the ‘jack’. Their helper is not allowed to advise or even see what is happening with the players red and blue balls and stands with their back to the play. Brilliant.
Runners with different disabilities
The guide attached to a running athlete with sight impairment
On Saturday 28 August 2021, Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli two Afghanistan athletes arrived in Tokyo after being evacuated from Kabul via France. When the Taliban returned to power, taking control of Kabul, it seemed they would miss attending. The Afghanistan flag joined the flag parade, carried around the arena at the Opening ceremony in a show of solidarity. A major global operation commenced assisting their safe departure and arrival. Rasouli missed his men’s 100m T47 on Saturday but was in time for the 400m heats. Zakia represents her country in taekwondo.
The Afghanistan chef de mission, Arian Sadiqi, said: “I strongly believe that, through the Paralympic movement and the Paralympic Games, we all can deliver the positive message that peaceful coexistence is best for humanity, that we should celebrate our differences knowing that we have more in common than that which divides us, and that we should keep and cherish peace because quarrels and negative feeling only destroy humankind.”
* * *
Some interesting details are below about the different categories.
Paralympics welcomes athletes from six main disability categories: amputee, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, visually impaired, spinal injuries and Les Autres (French for "the others", a category that includes conditions that do not fall into the categories mentioned before). A common disability found in the 'less autre's category is that of dwarfism.
The amputee category is defined as one where the athlete has lost at least one major musculoskeletal joint; the ankle, knee, and elbow are common examples. The loss of a single finger or a toe would not qualify an athlete for inclusion in this category.
Intellectual disability is defined as one when the athlete was afflicted with the disability prior to reaching the age of 18 years, and when there is proof from either physicians or other third-party specialists that the athlete has a limitation of mental function in two or more specific areas. Academic performance, communication skills, community living skills, the ability of the athletes to safely care for themselves, and their ability to live on their own are the standards against which the disability is assessed.
‘Track and field’ are divided into over 50 classifications; swimming has over 14, and each classification supports different competitions.
Eligible impairment types are: Impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia as in cerebral palsy (increased muscle tension & limited stretching ability), ataxia (uncoordinated movements/damaged central nervous system), athetosis (slow involuntary movements), vision impairment and intellectual impairment.
This was a nailbiter, Aussie Lauren was pipped at the finish line
Classes 1-5 are for wheelchair athletes. Classes 6-10 are for standing athletes. Finally, class 11 is for athletes with intellectual impairments. Within the wheelchair and standing classes, the lower the number, the greater the impact the impairment has on an athlete's ability to compete. The prefix T is for track events, RR for Race Running.
As in the Olympics, standing athletes are considered to have finished a race the moment the trunk of their body reaches the finish line. Wheelchair races are judged based on the order in which the centre of the front wheel of each racer's wheelchair reaches the finish line.
* * *
So with the Olympics over and the Paralympics almost, there is concern that there could have been a Covid effect from them being held as many suspected.
There has been a steep rise in the numbers sick in the broader community and the hospitals are not coping. Oxygen stations have been set up outside for those struggling.
* * *
Great post, thanks, Isabel.
ReplyDeleteThank you Crissouli for reading and comment
DeleteA very comprehensive post. Thanks for all the info. I didn't have the time or inclination really to watch the Olympics or Paralympics. You have told some very heartwarming stories. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAlex, glad you enjoyed the post. We are a bit of a sporting family so watched both games. Thank you
DeleteJust catching up on blog reading. Congratulations on your posts. I enjoyed the distractions of the Olympics and loved the skateboarding and BMX freestyle too, I haven't got into the Paralympics - think I'd had my fill of sport for the moment.
ReplyDeleteHi GeniAus
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading my post and your congrats. There certainly was a lot of sport for awhile there.