TV Games are child’s play
Eight highlights from Tokyo: Seeing Olympics through the eyes of children rekindles why sport can be fun
The Tokyo Games appear to have been saved by the force of humanity. Ignore the medals, the pomp and the International Olympic Committee’s corporate bulldozer.
The governing body effectively pulled rank on Japanese sovereignty to keep the asterisked event from becoming a historical void.
In hindsight, many sports fans will be grateful*.
Cue the joy of watching wall-towall sport, the idiosyncrasies of unfamiliar disciplines and the provision of the best babysitter since grandparents.
Seeing the Games through the eyes of children rekindles why sport can be fun, particularly when there’s a banquet on offer via the TV remote.
The event officially opened eight days ago, so here are eight moments which captivated.
1 Dressage dancing
How do these riders and their mounts synchronise routines to music? Clippity-clop, our equine friends boogied their way across the ring to Genesis’ Follow You, Follow Me, Barry Manilow’s Copacabana and Madonna’s Holiday. The human athletes also looked resplendent sporting blazers in dripping humidity as a nod to the sport’s military origins.
2 A hurt box of road cycling analogies
Commentating any sport well for hours on end requires dedication and imagination. Enter New Zealand broadcaster Mark Watson. He has been a Games regular since Beijing and injected such pep into more than 10 hours across both road races. In an oral breakaway from the verbal peloton, he had riders “pedalling in squares”, “breathing razor blades” and experiencing “bonfires in their legs”. The concept of not eating an elephant whole but carving it into small pieces was a touch unpalatable in this era of wildlife conservation yet, ironically, brought the races to life.
3 Dean Boxall’s Ultimate Warrior impersonation
Perhaps one for those at primary school in the late 1980s. The sight of the Australian swimming coach thrusting repeatedly against a glass poolside balustrade after Ariarne Titmus’ 400m freestyle victory will have rekindled memories of the former masked professional wrestler throttling the top-ring rope prebout. What a hilariously Neanderthal response. However, in the age of Covid and keeping with the Ultimate Warrior theme, he perhaps should have kept the mask on like the late Jim Hellwig as his blond locks drafted behind him.
4 Trailblazers
As New Zealanders are encouraged to get out and enjoy the outdoors, mountain biking is relevant. The skills on show, the stamina required to execute them and the need for alertness to prevent others passing made for compelling viewing. The strategic and occasionally sadistic course design, especially with rock placements, also earned kudos. A close silver on the podium here would be canoe slalom. Rudyard Kipling’s “heart and nerve and sinew” were prerequisites as athletes wrestled with their boats and paddles.
5 Encouraging “yoof”
As someone who wouldn’t know an ollie from a nollie, the introduction of skateboarding drew a jaundiced eye. My initial reaction ranged somewhere between amusement and apoplexy. I now appreciate the IOC were futureproofing their product. The point was underlined when two 13-yearolds, Japan’s Momiji Nishiya and Brazil’s Rayssa Leal, took gold and silver in the women’s street event. The only trouble? This is another judgment-based sport leading to subjective rather than definitive — think “faster, higher, stronger” — outcomes.
6 Fairweather friends
Surely Erika Fairweather’s performance at the pool helped turn tepid compatriots into converted Games disciples? On the second night, the unassuming 17-year-old from Dunedin’s Kavanagh College broke the country’s 400m freestyle record to qualify fourth-fastest for the final. Her disbelief and subsequent joy would’ve disarmed cynics.
7 A stab in the light
Normally New Zealanders would expect fencing to feature on Country Calendar with posts, staples and kilometres of wire. Yet every four years at the Games comes a chance to channel your inner Zorro and school up on the epee, foil and sabre. The linear, rather than lateral, movement along the illuminated piste means there’s nowhere to hide for those who riposte, feint and parry.
8 Yusra Mardini
The Olympics are better for stories like that of the 23-yearold. She has competed at the Rio and Tokyo Games for the refugee team. When you’ve fled war-torn Syria, got on a sinking boat across the Aegean Sea, smuggled yourself into Greece and trekked on foot to Germany, two lengths of the pool must seem a doddle.
* With apologies to the Japanese economy.