The Perseverance Games: Surreal Olympics approach their end

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TOKYO – The cauldron volition beryllium snuffed Sunday connected the exhausting, enlightening, sometimes enraging 2020 Tokyo Olympics — held, actually, successful 2021. These are the Games that were to beryllium tolerated, not celebrated.

They volition beryllium both.

Imperfect but not impossible, these Olympics — willed into beingness contempt a pandemic that sparked worldwide skepticism and hard-wired absorption from Japan's ain citizens — conscionable mightiness spell down arsenic the Games that changed sports for good.

These became the Olympics wherever the athletes had their say. The Olympics where intelligence wellness became arsenic important arsenic physical. The Olympics wherever tales of perseverance — spoken, documented and discussed loudly and astatine magnitude — often overshadowed existent performance.

It wasn't lone those who stood connected the medals basal astatine the hyper-scrutinized unit cooker successful Tokyo, wherever spit tests for COVID-19 and sleeping connected cardboard-framed beds were portion of the regular routine. It was each of them.

Their voices were heard, successful large ways and small, done hundreds of reminders that their intelligence and carnal wellness were not for sale, not adjacent to the $15.5 cardinal behemoth that underwrites galore of their grandest dreams.

Those voices were notably reflected successful the words of Simone Biles, who, aboriginal on, reset the speech erstwhile she pulled retired of the gymnastics meet, declaring her well-being was much important than medals.

“It was thing that was truthful retired of my control. At extremity of the day, my intelligence and carnal wellness is amended than immoderate medal," said Biles, who benched herself portion battling “the twisties.”

And by Naomi Osaka, the tennis subordinate who lit the cauldron connected Day 1, but only aft spending the summertime insisting that the satellite perceive to her — truly perceive — alternatively of lone watching her connected the court. The planet's highest-paid pistillate jock and the big country’s poster girl, she faced expectations that were hard to handle.

“I decidedly consciousness similar determination was a batch of unit for this,” said Osaka, prime of big state Japan to airy the cauldron.

Hundreds of athletes found immoderate mode to usage their voices successful ways they hadn’t considered until the Tokyo Games — and the seismic 18 months that led up to it — each but commanded it.

They learned to speech astir what it felt similar to marque sacrifices and accommodations for 4 years, past five, to travel to the Games without friends and family, to enactment themselves retired there, and to cognize they volition beryllium judged not connected who they are but connected however accelerated they run, however good they shoot, oregon whether they instrumentality the landing.

“I’ve been acrophobic that my worthy is tied to whether oregon not I triumph oregon lose,” Allyson Felix wrote the greeting earlier her bronze-medal tally successful the 400 meters made her the astir decorated pistillate way jock successful Olympic history. “But close present I’ve decided to permission that fearfulness behind. To recognize that I americium enough.”

They came successful each shapes and sizes. A transgender weightlifter, a nonbinary skateboarder, and Quinn, the archetypal openly transgender Olympian to triumph a golden medal. Teenage skateboarders, and surfers seeking gnarly waves — astir of whom ne'er dreamed of being connected the Olympic stage, hugging and sharing tips and reminding america each that this is expected to beryllium fun.

They wove tales astir sportsmanship: the precocious jumpers headed for a tension-filled tiebreaker for first, who stepped backmost and told a way authoritative they should some triumph a gold.

And astir advocacy: shot players looking astatine a midday gold-medal crippled successful the searing heat of the Olympic Stadium and deciding they deserved better. The world's apical tennis players demanding their matches beryllium rescheduled, a petition that went unheeded until Paula Badosa near the tribunal successful a wheelchair with heatstroke and Daniil Medvedev told the seat umpire, “I tin finish the lucifer but I tin die. If I die, are you going to beryllium responsible?”

And astir intelligence health: During a teary post-race interview, sprinter Noah Lyles conceded helium came arsenic overmuch to tally arsenic to dispersed the gospel that became the slogan of these fraught Games held during fraught times: It’s OK not to beryllium OK.

And astir sex equity and inclusion: The International Olympic Committee added 5 caller sports and 18 caller events for Tokyo to make an adjacent fig of women and men for each sport, excluding shot and softball. But erstwhile Britain's archetypal pistillate Black swimmer was denied usage of a headdress that acceptable her voluminous afro, the speech connected a deficiency of diverseness successful the excavation became louder.

“I conscionable privation radical to cognize that nary substance your contention oregon background, if you don’t cognize however to swim, get successful and larn to swim,” Alice Dearing, co-founder of the Black Swimming Association, said after the women's unfastened h2o marathon. “Don’t fto anyone archer you it’s not for you.”

IOC president Thomas Bach said 2 days earlier the adjacent that the Tokyo Games “far exceeded my idiosyncratic expectations," due to the fact that erstwhile spectators were barred arsenic a pandemic precaution helium feared "these Olympic Games could go an Olympic Games without soul.”

Instead, Bach said, helium recovered the intimacy successful the bare venues made for an aggravated atmosphere. “In galore cases you did not recognize that determination were nary spectators," helium said. “Maybe successful immoderate cases you could adjacent acquisition the feelings of the athletes person and amended than being surrounded by truthful galore spectators.”

It is Bach’s occupation to telephone the Olympics a success. Maybe, though, that extremity was met successful Tokyo conscionable by reaching the decorativeness line. But of people determination were highlights on the way.

— Italy shockingly establishing itself arsenic a sprint powerfulness with a astonishment win by Marcell Jacobs successful the men's 100 meters followed by “four Ferraris” teaming to triumph the 4X100 relay for different gold medal.

— Lydia Jacoby, the archetypal swimmer from Alaska successful the Olympics won gold, and Caeleb Dressel collecting 5 golds successful the pool.

— Sunisa Lee, the archetypal the Hmong American Olympian, winning golden successful the women's all-around. And successful these games wherever societal media usage soared and TikTok became the level of prime for the Olympians, Lee blaming her bronze connected the uneven bars from the distractions created by her caller Internet fame.

— Streaming usage surging among viewers, and NBC reporting that 3 cardinal minutes of contented watched connected its platforms were digital.

“I deliberation the full satellite volition beryllium rather blessed that this lawsuit is going connected successful sports, successful the times that we’re surviving successful close now," said Alexander Zverev aft winning golden successful men's singles tennis for Germany successful beforehand of countryman Bach.

Though determination were intermittent protests — a radical of 10 oregon truthful extracurricular the tennis final, large capable that the players could perceive and different tiny assemblage extracurricular Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremonial and earlier way and tract events — the Japanese did person crushed to celebrate. The big federation acceptable a extremity to triumph 30 medals successful Tokyo and astir doubled that fig with 53 arsenic of Saturday night.

Outside the Olympic bubble, COVID-19 cases soared successful Tokyo to regular grounds highs, though Bach exonerated the Olympics due to the fact that 11,000 athletes were placed distant from the colonisation and regular investigating for everyone other produced highly debased rates of positives.

The pandemic inactive rages, and the Beijing Winter Games are acceptable to unfastened a specified six months from now. And COVID-19 is conscionable 1 of the issues facing the adjacent scheduled Olympics — the IOC has rejected several caller demands to determination the Games from China implicit allegations of quality rights violations.

“Our work is to present the Games,” said IOC spokesperson Mark Adams. "It is the work of others — the United Nations, who person been precise supportive of the Olympic Games, and governments to woody with this — and not for us. The IOC has to stay neutral.”

The IOC did get progressive erstwhile Belarus attempted to instrumentality sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya to her state aft she criticized coaches connected societal media. It helped intervene arsenic she alternatively went to Poland with a humanitarian visa. Then it booted 2 Belarus coaches from the Olympics, their credentials revoked for their relation successful the Tsimanouskaya saga.

The Games, of course, volition spell on. They ever do. Japan volition manus the Summer Olympics emblem to France connected Sunday for the 2024 Paris Games. Tokyo organizers volition extremity with a “Worlds We Share”-themed ceremonial designed to marque athletes and viewers “think astir what the aboriginal holds" and “expresses the thought that each of america inhabits their ain world.”

The athletes did that already successful Tokyo, wherever the Olympics volition beryllium everlastingly remembered arsenic the Games that persevered.

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More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2020-tokyo-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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