The flame will be extinguished today in Tokyo. The wonder is that it was lit at all. Japan defiantly staged an Olympics few thought possible and the athletes, nearly 75 from the Island or Island-based, rallied from the setback of the year postponement to deliver two weeks of unforgettable sport.
The usual negativity pervaded in the Olympic lead-up to the Tokyo Games, but amped to unprecedented degrees because of the pandemic. Then, something happened, as it always seems to in Games. The athletes finally had their say and their stories of striving and sacrifice were told and much of the public cynicism melted away.
The spirit in spectator-less Tokyo was exemplified when the eliminated men鈥檚 high 颅jumpers, including Mike Mason of Nanoose Bay in his fourth 颅Olympics, formed a cheering section around the landing mat to create their own fan base for the jumpers remaining in the final stage.
No one other than those who competed in Tokyo will be able to say they were at an Olympics quite like this, said rower Christine Roper, when the Elk Lake-based Canadian women鈥檚 eight team, gold medals hanging from their necks, arrived at Victoria International Airport late at night to a cheering throng of greeters. That followed similar receptions at YYJ for returning Island bronze-medallists Caileigh Filmer from rowing and Emma Entzminger from softball.
鈥淚t was my first Olympics, but from what I have seen on TV in the past, it was a 颅different Games, for sure,鈥� said Entzminger.
She said she is grateful they happened at all: 鈥淲e were able to compete and that is what the athletes wanted. The Japanese did an amazing job.鈥�
In the most trying of 颅circumstances.
And that 80 per cent pre-Games disapproval in Japan? A staggering 56.4 percent of Japanese households watched the Games on TV. Maybe all it proved is prurient interest and the fact you simply can鈥檛 ignore this five-ring circus when it rolls into your country, but it was something. Also noticeable was that life was pretty much going on as normal with downtown Tokyo streets crowded, despite the declared emergency.
Still, the decision was made to hive the Games off from the public.
In that Olympic bubble, other Island highlights included Kai Langerfeld of Parksville and 2012 Olympic silver-medallist Conlin McCabe just edged for the rowing men鈥檚 pair bronze medal, Victoria cyclist Jay Lamoureux鈥檚 fifth place in team pursuit and former University of Victoria Vikes rugby great Nate Hirayama, captain of the Canadian sevens team, co-carrying the Canadian flag into the opening ceremony to join triathlete Simon Whitfield from London 2012 to become the second Island athlete to do so over the past three Summer Olympics.
The biggest performance disappointment was the Langford-based Rio 2016 bronze-medallist women鈥檚 rugby sevens team that looked slow and spent on the Tokyo pitch, shockingly crashing out in the pool stage, after making headlines for a non-rugby pre-Games news conference addressing social ills in sa国际传媒. One of the players said one weekend does not define the team. It does when that weekend is in the Olympics. With Own the Podium funding based on medals, a massive cut in funding is expected in Langford.
Otherwise, it was a successful Games for sa国际传媒, which won 24 medals, the most in the Summer Olympics outside the 1984 Los Angeles Games boycotted by the former Eastern Bloc. Seven of the medals were gold, including those provided by the women鈥檚 soccer team and the Elk Lake-based women鈥檚 rowing eight.
Patrick Keane of Victoria was relegated to the consolation round of the Olympic rowing at Tokyo but proudly said: 鈥淚t was a dream fulfilled, and even with the restrictions, it was an awesome Games experience.鈥�
These will forever be known as the pandemic Games, but they defiantly kept their 2020 designation even a year later, are perhaps all the more special because of it.
鈥淚鈥檓 so happy to be an Olympian,鈥� said Victoria diver Celine Toth, who made her Games debut in Tokyo at age 29.
