Sunday Open Thread
Let the 2020 Olympic games begin…
Friday, July 23, 2021 marked day 0 for the official opening of the postponed
Summer Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. The scheduling is a little wonky considering the time difference. Our Friday night was Japan’s Saturday morning. As I write this Saturday evening they are already on Sunday morning, Day 2, while we’re still catching up with Day 1.
Two new events making their Olympic debuts in the games this year are skateboarding and surfing. I think there is a third. I have to check on that. But I have to admit I am super excited about these two. I know peeps may not consider skateboarding a ‘real’ sport, but meh, these are the times. They’re athletes in every sense of the word just like the others. So, kudos to them. Word is they’re already approved for 2024 games in Paris.
July 25 – August 1, twenty men and twenty women will compete in the Olympic Surfing event at Tsurigasaki Beach. Looking forward to this one. For scheduling and results, see here, at Olympics dot com.
There are two skateboarding competitions for both men and women: park and street. Tonight (Saturday) began for the men’s street prelims and men’s street finals. Men’s park prelims will begin Aug 4, at 8 pm, and men’s park finals at 11:30 pm. [all times for these are eastern]
Women’s street prelims begin July 25, starting at 8 pm and finals start about 11:25 pm; and women’s park prelims begin August 3, at 8 pm and finals begin at 11:30 pm.
Little bit of obligatory background fun facts for the day:
“The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olympic torch relay, which formally ends with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. The flame then continues to burn in the cauldron for the duration of the Games, until it is extinguished during the Olympic closing ceremony.”
Olympia, officially Archaia Olympia, is a small town in Elis on the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, famous for the nearby archaeological site of the same name, which was a major Panhellenic religious sanctuary of ancient Greece, where the ancient Olympic Games were held every four years throughout Classical antiquity, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. They were restored on a global basis in 1894 in honor of the ideal of peaceful international contention for excellence.
The sacred precinct, named the Altis, was primarily dedicated to Zeus, although other gods were worshipped there. The games conducted in his name drew visitors from all over the Greek world as one of a group of such “Panhellenic” centres, which helped to build the identity of the ancient Greeks as a nation.
Olympia, Greece
John Karakatsanis from Athens, Greece
In case you missed it:
World No. 2 tennis player Naomi Osaka, who represents Japan, served as the final Olympic torchbearer for the Tokyo Olympic Games, lighting the Olympic flame during Friday night’s Opening Ceremony.
The flame was originally lit at a ceremony in Olympia on March 12, 2020, but as a precaution against COVID-19, the Greek portion of the torch relay was canceled. After keeping the flame lit for a year because of the Olympic postponement, the Olympic Torch Relay began in earnest on March 25, 2021 from the J-Village National Training Centre in Fukushima Prefecture, and then traveled through all 47 prefectures across Japan over a period of 121 days before reaching Tokyo on July 9.
NBC Olympics
Highlights from my Saturday night Olympic watching and interwebz surfing:
According to CBS Olympics, the first beach volleyball match set between Japan and Czech Republic was canceled because of COVID-19 positive test
Markéta Sluková-Nausch of the Czech Republic tested positive and the match was called off. “The suspended match was an expansion of trouble for the Czech team, which has now seen six positive COVID-19 tests.”
Swimmer Chase Kalisz wins the first U.S. gold medal of Tokyo in the 400m Medley and Jay Litherland takes silver for the one-two for the United States.
This next one made me smile, too. Good job, Ahmed.
OUCH!!
Okay, it’s 10:30 pm, so I’m breaking here for the night with highlights. I’ll check in the morning pre-post time and see if we can add any more.
Gooood morning, TNBers!
And as flip on the television and open browsers I watched the earlier recorder women’s individual foil Leigh Kiefer take the gold ‘for the first time in US history for any men or woman’ in this event. Woot!
Here is another first that just happened, first ever Olympic gold in women’s Taekwondo.
After signing off last night [Tokyo’s Sunday] Reuter’s reported another coach is in COVID quarantine.
“TOKYO, July 25 (Reuters) – Dutch rowing coach Josy Verdonkschot has tested positive for COVID-19, the Netherlands Olympic Committee (NOCNSF) said on Sunday, and has gone into a 10-day quarantine. The news comes after 21-year-old Dutch single sculls competitor Finn Florijn tested positive on Friday.”
Unfortunately for US, France took the win here with a final score 83-76.
For most coverage, pretty much all the major, and lesser, outlets, television and print, are reporting on schedules and results, and all around Olympic news. NBC Olympics is the ‘official coverage’, but by no means the only.
TOKYO OLYMPICS DAY 2 ROUNDUP: Expected and unexpected U.S. medals What you missed last night
Each day of the Tokyo Games, NBC Olympics will provide a roundup of news from a variety of sports. Catch up here on all the storylines and must-see highlights you may have missed while you were sleeping.
Okay, rapping it up now because I’m late. Use all these links for your Olympic coverage and moments and add any others in the comments for us.
Happy Sunday!
This is an Open Thread