Summer Olympics 2021

[TotallyOz]

I enjoyed the opening ceremony this year. I think Japan did an excellent job and I thought the performances were beautiful. Is anyone watching them this year?

[msclelovr]

Almost no-one, @TotallyOz  

Though I wonder what the true viewing figures will be, I imagine all TV coverage will be very costly and unprofitable. 
 

My sympathies are with the athletes having to perform in Japan at the height of Summer.

[spoon]

Watched it live but sadly not from the beginning. I think i started watched during the parades of B/F/P countries. Orders of countries is using Japanese alphabetical order. The pictogram and drone part were exceptional!

Also lots of excitement when japan was using lots of anime/games music for the parade lol

[reader]

From Japan Herald

22-year-old Japanese Yuto Horigome has become the first-ever Olympic skateboarding champion

[10tazione]

I wanted to start a post with the title "Cute Asian Olympian Medallists 2021" and would have posted this guy as a start, but I admit I was too lazy.

[10tazione]

OK here is another one,
Ulugbek Rashitov from Usbekistan, Taekwondo Men's -68 kg.

[PeterRS]

19 hours ago, msclelovr said:

My sympathies are with the athletes having to perform in Japan at the height of Summer.

Mine too. Only just realised that the 1964 Tokyo Olympics were held in the much cooler month of October. Holding them at the height of summer it is not just the heat that will affect many of the athletes, it is the hellish humidity. It's worse there than Bangkok. I remember when the 2002 soccer World Cup was held jointly by Japan and South Korea. Many of the teams had a couple of weeks acclimatising in various hot relatively dry parts of the world. But the Football Associations seemed totally unaware that it is the humidity that is the killer when you have to run and run for 90+ minutes.

[PeterRS]

Maybe a good time to remember one of the greatest of all Olympic themed songs. Two mega stars, one an iconic pop singer, the other a legendary opera diva got together after it was announced that Barcelona would host the 1992 Olympics. An opera lover, Freddie Mercury had long admired Montserrat Caballe who had been born in Barcelona. Their 1987 duet, "Barcelona" was unique and a surprise hit around the world. Caballe originally had doubts but came to have a great respect for Mercury's talents.  Even though Mercury had died in 1991, a recording of the duet was featured at the Olympic opening ceremony the following year.

 

[a-447]

19 hours ago, spoon said:

The pictogram and drone part were exceptional!

I agree. They were fantastic.

However, the other parts were disappointing, as I expected Japan to use the ceremony to highlight its technology. But it's the Japanese way to take a sombre approach to things in times of crisis so I guess I'm not really all that surprised.

Friends there tell me that although most people didn't want the games to go ahead, everyone is now watching.

And isn't Yuto Horigame gorgeous! So "kawaii". Sponsors in Japan will be lining up to throw money at him and his face will be everywhere. One medal and his whole life has changed forever.

[PeterRS]

How wonderful that double world champion Tom Daley has won an Olympic Gold medal in this fourth summer Games. That achievement in the Synchronised High 10 m. Platform Dive is the realisation of a dream he had aged 11. Now one of the world's most famous gay athletes, married to screenwriter Dustin Lance Black ("Milk" for which he won an Oscar, "J. Edgar" about the feared FBI Director and his gay lover) and with a 4-year old son, Daley competed in Beijing in 2008 when he was just 13. He picked up 2 bronze medals London. Then in Rio, for the first time he failed to make the Finals of a major competition and was thrown into despair. With encouragement from his husband he fought back. Now at the age of 27 he has fulfilled his dream, beating the Chinese favourites with the last dive with his diving partner Matty Lee.

What makes Daley's story so compelling is that he has fought adversity for much of his life. He was bullied at school, his adored father died of a brain tumour aged only 40, and he then faced the problems all famous people have in coming out. He did this on his own terms, no doubt encouraged by Black, with a impressive, matter-of-fact video issued in 2013. He has now become an advocate for the LGBTQ community. As he told the BBC -

"When I was a little boy, I felt like an outsider and different," began Daley. "I felt I was never going to be anything because who I wasn't what society wanted me to be.

"I hope that seeing LGBT people performing at the Olympic Games gives young kids belief and means they won't feel so frightened, scared and alone.

"Whoever you are, no matter where you come from, you can become an Olympic champion - because I did it."

Black, Daley and their son Robbie: Instagram photo

[spoon]

https://www.malaymail.com/amp/news/life/2021/07/26/malaysian-olympic-swimmer-welson-sims-dashing-looks-sets-hearts-aflutter-at/1992711

[reader]

 

[reader]

From The Associated Press

'About time’: Gay athletes unleash rainbow wave on Olympics

OKYO (AP) — When Olympic diver Tom Daley announced in 2013 that he was dating a man and “couldn’t be happier,” his coming out was an act of courage that, with its rarity, also exposed how the top echelons of sport weren’t seen as a safe space by the vast majority of LGBTQ athletes.

Back then, the number of gay Olympians who felt able and willing to speak openly about their private lives could be counted on a few hands. There’d been just two dozen openly gay Olympians among the more than 10,000 who competed at the 2012 London Games, a reflection of how unrepresentative and anachronistic top-tier sports were just a decade ago and, to a large extent, still are.

Still, at the Tokyo Games, the picture is changing.

A wave of rainbow-colored pride, openness and acceptance is sweeping through Olympic pools, skateparks, halls and fields, with a record number of openly gay competitors in Tokyo. Whereas LGBTQ invisibility used to make Olympic sports seem out of step with the times, Tokyo is shaping up as a watershed for the community and for the Games — now, finally, starting to better reflect human diversity.

“It’s about time that everyone was able to be who they are and celebrated for it,” said U.S. skateboarder Alexis Sablone, one of at least five openly LGBTQ athletes in that sport making its Olympic debut in Tokyo.

“It’s really cool,” Sablone said. “What I hope that means is that even outside of sports, kids are raised not just under the assumption that they are heterosexual.”

The gay website Outsports.com has been tallying the number of publicly out gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and nonbinary athletes in Tokyo. After several updates, its count is now up to 168, including some who petitioned to get on the list. That’s three times the number that Outsports tallied at the last Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. At the London Games, it counted just 23.

“The massive increase in the number of out athletes reflects the growing acceptance of LGBTQ people in sports and society,” Outsports says.

Daley is also broadcasting that message from Tokyo, his fourth Olympics overall and second since he came out.

After winning gold for Britain with Matty Lee in 10-meter synchronized diving, the 27-year-old reflected on his journey from young misfit who felt “alone and different” to Olympic champion who says he now feels less pressure to perform because he knows that his husband and their son love him regardless.

Continues at

https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-lgbtq-athletes-4c4d04b03dc0f3a070e287be092c50d4

 

[reader]

From CNN Sports

Hong Kong fencer Edgar Cheung looks at his gold medal after beating Italy's Daniele Garozzo in the men's foil final on July 26. It was Hong Kong's first gold at the Summer Olympics in 25 years.

Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

 

[PeterRS]

7 hours ago, reader said:

From CNN Sports

Hong Kong fencer Edgar Cheung looks at his gold medal after beating Italy's Daniele Garozzo in the men's foil final on July 26. It was Hong Kong's first gold at the Summer Olympics in 25 years.

This ia a fantastic achievement, the more so as Garozzo had won the Gold in Rio. Fencing is not a very popular sport in Asia. Although it looks relatively simple and the bouts are usually over quickly. it is also a gruelling one. I took up fencing at University. After 15 minutes I would always be exhausted. I never felt anything like that playing my other sport, squash. Cheung gave up school when he was about 15 to concentrate on fencing. Now his dream has come true. I am sure it will give Hong Kong people much cheer after a miserable two years.

[JKane]

[PeterRS]

Yesterday I watched the women's football (soccer for our North American readers) match between the USA and Australia. For the last few years we have heard all sorts of appeals that women in pro soccer should be paid as much as men and that the quality of the matches were as good and as exciting. I will no doubt be accused of being sexist, but I thought the whole match was dreadful. Not a word I would use lightly as I have been watching soccer since I was at university and really enjoy the game. In all those years I have seen superb matches and extremely poor matches. In my view yesterday a pair of high school teams could have played a lot better. The tactics in this game were incomprehensible, the ball skills frighteningly bad, the passing deplorable and the shots on goal all but pathetic. I'm sorry ladies, but as an advertisement for ladies being paid as much as their professional counterparts in the men's game, this was a frightful display!

[spoon]

https://www.outsports.com/platform/amp/olympics/2021/7/12/22565574/tokyo-summer-olympics-lgbtq-gay-athletes-list

Top of the list by country is USA and top of the list by sport is Soccer. 

27 countries have at least 1 lgbtq athlete and this time, the first transgender olympian competing as well! 

https://www.outsports.com/olympics/2021/6/21/22542991/laurel-hubbard-new-zealand-weightlifting-transgender-olympics-tokyo

A funny tiktok commenting on the list hehe

 

[JKane]

[PeterRS]

Wow! And Wow again! Norway's Karsten Warholm's smashing his own world record way out of the park in the 400 m hurdles surely has to be this Olympics greatest moment.

I understand that after each Olympics the Committee decides which new sports to add and which to drop. One event I was partially able to see last night was the equestrian jumping. I did not watch for long. I find it so boring. The three equestrian disciplines have been part of the Olympics since 1912 and surely they should be the first to be sent packing. Is there any other sport that requires an animal before it can happen? The cost of the equestrian events must be far higher than most other sports given the need to fly in so many horses and have an arena exclusively for them.

[reader]

Japan's Daiki Hashimoto earned his second gold medal in men's gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics with a first-place finish on the horizontal bar.

The 19-year-old had already won gold in the individual all-around, and he closed his week in style with another gold Tuesday at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. He also won silver with Japan in the team final.

[PeterRS]

7 hours ago, reader said:

Japan's Daiki Hashimoto earned his second gold medal in men's gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics with a first-place finish on the horizontal bar.

The 19-year-old had already won gold in the individual all-around, and he closed his week in style with another gold Tuesday at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. He also won silver with Japan in the team final.

I watched him on the horizontal bar yesterday. He was the last to do his routine and half those before him had fallen at some point. He looked so secure throughout and seemed a sure thing for the gold. I don't think that photo does him justice. He is much cuter!! 😃

[PeterRS]

I just saw perfection again. The 14 year old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan won the women's 10m high diving. She was peerless, even beating into second place her 15-year old compatriot who is the World Record holder. Rarely have I ever seen so many top marks of 10 from diving judges. Quan was unbelievable to watch! As the commentators said, she was "sensational". And this was her first ever international competition! How can she possibly improve for Paris in 3 years time, I wonder?

[reader]

Adopted from Cambodia at 18 months of age by his new dad in Florida, Jordan Windle will compete in Friday's 110m platform competition.

From MSN / NBC

He was adopted and raised by a gay dad. Now he's an Olympian and symbol for LGBTQ rights

Watching Jordan Windle execute a perfect dive from the 10-meter platform — analogous to jumping headfirst from a three-story building — you’d never know he was scared of anything. 

“I’m afraid of heights,” he told NBC Asian America, “but I love putting on a show. Being able to fall from 10 meters and create such a little splash — the reaction is incredible.”

After placing second at the Olympic trials in June, the University of Texas at Austin senior will compete in the men’s 10-meter platform preliminary at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday. The 22-year-old diver, who was adopted at 18 months old from Cambodia by a single gay American man, has spent the last 15 years preparing for this moment.

Windle, who was the youngest person to ever qualify for the Olympic diving trials at age 12, has made waves in the sport since he started diving at age 7 at an aquatics summer camp in South Florida.

Tim O’Brien, the son of U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame diving coach Ron O’Brien, immediately spotted how Windle naturally pointed his toes and positioned his shoulders behind his neck. He believed Windle could be a national champion one day.

Windle went on to be a six-time junior national individual champion, a seven-time senior national champion and a two-time NCAA champion, setting a men’s platform diving record at the Big 12 Championships in 2018. 

Since the start of his diving career, he’s been compared to the Olympic legend and activist Greg Louganis, who is also adopted and has served as a mentor to Windle for many years. When Windle and his father co-authored the children’s book, “An Orphan No More: The True Story of a Boy,” Louganis wrote the foreword. 

As a transracial adoptee, Windle said, he was bullied as a child for having a gay father “and just being different in general.” A longtime ally to the LGBTQ community, Windle uses his platform to educate and encourage others to support marginalized people and was part of the “It Gets Better” anti-bullying campaign when he was younger.

While millions of Americans will root for Windle as he competes this week, he’s also something of a hero in his homeland, and the first diver of Cambodian descent to compete in the Games. 

When Windle first returned to Cambodia in 2016 as a national champion, his arrival caused a media storm. His diving exhibition in Phnom Penh was attended by hundreds of local schoolchildren and orphans, he said, to whom he spoke via a translator. 

Since making the U.S. Olympic diving team, Windle said, he has seen an influx of Cambodian fans following him on social media. 

The Olympian plans to return to Cambodia in the future and hopes to start a nonprofit diving program in the Southeast Asian country one day. “Once I visited, it showed me that there are people out there looking for opportunity,” he said. “I can share my story and give them that opportunity to take a chance and live a great life in the future.”

But for now, his focus is on enjoying the remaining days of his Olympics journey and performing the exceptional dives he’s worked toward since childhood. 

Continues with photos and video

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/olympics/he-was-adopted-and-raised-by-a-gay-dad-now-hes-an-olympian-and-symbol-for-lgbtq-rights/ar-AAMWl1W

[faranglaw]

On 7/25/2021 at 5:05 AM, reader said:

From Japan Herald

22-year-old Japanese Yuto Horigome has become the first-ever Olympic skateboarding champion