The Closing Ceremony - Rio

The Rio Olympics has finished. I was excited about watching it as usual.

I thought that the showcase by the next host city Tokyo was pretty good.

The Flag Handover Ceremony

Our new Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike waving the Olympic flag

(from: http://www.huffingtonpost.jp)

Some characters which are famous and popular not only in Japan but in the world, Hello Kitty, Captain Tsubasa, Pac-Man, Draemon, Super Mario appeared.

Mario trying to study a map to see how to get to Rio

Then, when he opens the map,
MARIO!!

(from: http://gomaruyon.com)

Surprisingly, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, dressed as Super Mario, emerged from a pipe.
This stole the show!!

(from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk)

I have already said but again. I really liked the cauldron in the Rio Olympics.
The photo doesn't show how beautiful it is. You should see the moving cauldron.

(from: http://www.sanluisobispo.com)

The flame went out.

 

 (from: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk)

Thank you, Rio!

(from: http://www.creativebloq.com)

the MOST AMAZING thing in the Rio Olympics for Japanese!

I wrote about "the MOST SENSATIONAL subject in the Rio Olympics for us Japanese" in the article before this one.

And, I think that the MOST AMAZING thing in the Rio Olympics for us Japanese is this.

Japan won the SILVER medal in the Men's 4 x 100m Relay!

In track and field, it's very hard for Japanese athletes to even advance to the finals. However, SILVER!!

Jamaica finished first and America was third.
Japan finished second between the two major sprinting countries, Jamaica and America.
Moreover, a narrow margin!

(Note: America was disqualified for violating the baton pass rule, and Canada got the Bronze medal.)


The moment that batons were relayed to the last runners;

Red uniform --> Japan
Yellow uniform -- > Jamaica
Blue uniform --> America

Narrow margin!!

(from: http://kaigai-matome.net)

 Almost the same!!

(from: http://www.huffingtonpost.jp)

Bolt giving the Japanese last runner Asuka Cambridge a glance

(from: http://mainichi.jp)

But, Usain Bolt was too fast.

The margin widened in an instant

(from: http://www.asahi.com)

Japan not only got the silver medal but set a new Asia record!

Ryota Yamagata, Shota Iiduka, Yoshihide Kiryu, Asuka Cambridge

(from: http://dot.asahi.com)

Some Jamaican said that an person who could stop Japan from winning was only Bolt.
What a wonderful praise!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Usain Bolt finished his Olympic career with incredible great achievement "Triple-Triple"!!

He won the gold medal THREE times in a row in the Olympics in the following THREE events.

100 meters
200 meters
4 x 100 meters Relay

Historic great accomplishment!!!!
I'm sad that we are not able to watch his performance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

(from: http://rio.headlines.yahoo.co.jp) 

Japanese women are the most powerful and strong?!

In the Women's Wrestling, Japanese showed amazing performance!!

Three Gold Medalists

Dosho, Icho, Tosaka

(from: http://www.asahi.com)

First
Eri Tosaka won the GOLD MEDAL in the 48kg level.
She is 22 years old and it's her first Olympics. Great job!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next,
the GOLD MEDAL again! by Kaori Icho in the 58kg level.

She has become the first woman to win a gold medal in four straight Olympic Games in any sport.

Icho making FOUR by her fingers

(from: http://www.asahi.com)

By the way, men who did it in the past are;

Al Oerter (the US) in the discus throw
Carl Lewis (the US) in the track and field
Michael Phelps (the US) in the swimming

Only three people in the Olympic history!

I think it's fair to say that Icho has become a LEGEND like Carl Lewis and Michael Phelps.

The IOC president Thomas Bach applauded her achievement in his press conference yesterday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was far from over.


Sara Dosho won the GOLD MEDAL  in the 69kg level.

I thought that Japanese women wrestlers would get all the gold medals in the Wrestling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next was Saori Yoshida (53kg level), who has been called "the strongest female in primates."

She was most expected to win a gold medal of all the Japanese Olympic athletes. Also, she aimed to win a gold medal in four straight Olympic Games as well as Icho.

However, she ended up the SILVER MEDAL.

Her missing the gold medal was the MOST SENSATIONAL subject in the Rio Olympics for us Japanese.

She was crying, crying and crying, and apologizing, apologizing and apologizing.
I'm sure that many Japanese including me wept with sympathy and said, "Don't be sorry."

But in the end, I said "crying too much."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the sensational atmosphere due to Yoshida's missing the gold medal, Rieko Kawai won the GOLD MEDAL in the 53kg level.

Kawai expresses her delight

by throwing her coach.

(from: http://mainichi.jp)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Japanese women wrestlers have been strong for a long time, and Yoshida and Icho have been leading and driving the women wrestling world.
Both are now 30's and this might be their last Olympics. But it seems that there is no need to worry. Strong new generation has come up.
Other three gold medalists are, Tosaka is 22, Dosho is 21 and Kawai is 21. The Japan's women wrestling seems to keep being champion!

Will you marry me? in the Olympics

Just after the medal ceremony of Women's Rugby Sevens, one lady who was a volunteer stadium manager was looking for her girlfriend, Isadora Cerullo who is Brazilian rugby player.

Then, she proposed to her!

(from the article)

Same-sex marriages is legal in Brazil.


6 days later,

As soon as a Silver medalist in the Women's 3m Springboard He Zi (China) stepped off the podium, a Bronze medalist in the Men's Synchronised 3m Springboard Kai Qin (China) walked to her, Keeled down and proposed to her!

(from: www.mirror.co.uk)

Have a happy life together!!

3 silver medalists at the same event!!

Surprisingly, there was a three-way tie for the silver in the 100m butterfly.

They stood on the podium together!

 

Michael Phelps (the US), Chad le Clos (South Africa), László Cseh (Hungary)

and

The Gold Medalist Joseph Schooling (Singapore)

(from: http://www.sankei.com)

The flag raising was like this.
I saw this style for the first time!

 (from: http://www.sankei.com)

 By the way,

Michael Phelps won 6 medals in the Rio Olympics and got 28 Olympic medals in total in his career. Amazing!

The 21-year-old Gold Medalist Joseph Schooling brought Singapore's first-ever Olympic gold medal!! and first-ever medal (any color) in swimming.

Congratulations, Joseph and Singapore!!

According to an article, Schooling met Phelps when he was 13 years old.

Phelps and Joseph boy

(from: the article)

8 years later,

(from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk)

Schooling will show great performance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics too!!

Honoring Rivals

Kohei Uchimura won the gold medal at the gymnastics Individual All-Around. The 2nd straight gold medal at the Individual All-Around in Olympics.

He and Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine） showed a dead heat.

Verniaiev was scoring higher than Uchimura, but at his last performance on the Horizontal Bar, he lost the read and ended up the Silver medal.

Actually, I thought that his last score was very lower than his performance. In fact, there was booing from the audience when his score was showed.

At the press conference, a reporter asked Uchimura that he is liked by judges, or something like that.

 

Silver Medalist Max Whitlock (the UK), Uchimura, Verniaiev

(from: https://geinou-news.jp)

He answered in a calm that he doesn't think so and we are judged fairly.

A person who was angry with the question was Verniaiev.

He said,

"Judges might have their own feeling but judging the scores is fair and sanctity (? <-- I don't know the appropriate English word.) . Uchimura always gets high scores. It's a meaningless question."

Verniaiev must be very chagrined at missing the gold medal. He was sure he won after finishing his performance. Many people in the venue also thought that, so there was booing.

But he respects his rival. What a nice sportsman!!

Verniaiev is still 22 years old. I look forward to watching his great performance again and the scene that he gets the gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics!

Uchimura and Verniaiev

(from: http://www.nbcolympics.com)

Long-sought gold medal... with a funny comment

Japan got the LONG-SOUGHT gold medal at the gymnastics Men's Team.

At the gymnastics Men's Team, although they got;

2005 Athens : GOLD
but
2008 Beijing :SILVER
2012 London : SILVER

So they have been saying the same sentence repeatedly, "getting the Gold medal at the Team was our most important goal."

The thrilled Japanese gymnasts and coaches

surrounded by the media

at the moment of clinching the victory

The comment by the youngest gymnast in the team, 19-year-old Kenzo Shirai at the podium is a bit of hot topic among Japanese.

Usually, medals and victory bouquets were given to athletes in Olympics games, but in the Rio Olympics, wooden sculptures of the Rio 2016 logo are given instead of victory bouquets.

(from: http://www.abplive.in)

He received it.

 (from: http://www.livenan.com)

Soon, he speaks to the athlete next to him.
"What is this?"

 (from: http://www.livenan.com)

he goes on to say,
"I wonder if it's a toothbrush holder?"

What?!

He said pretty seriously, but.... funny for us!

Great results by Japan's judo

All the judo events at Rio has finished.

Look at the following result of Japanese!

At almost all the classes, they got medals!
Especially, men didn't miss any class!!

However, Japanese judoists who missed a gold medal show their disappointment. It's a usual scene, because getting a gold medal is considered as their mission or vital thing.
I often hear Japanese judoists say that "anything other than a gold medal is all the same" or "there is a world of difference between gold and silver."
There is some kind of tragic atmosphere among them, and I don't like it.

There are many many judoists all over the world. Becoming TOP 3 among them is incredibly outstanding thing. I want them to congratulate themselves and praise their own effort they have been making in the past.

Also, I think showing disappointment is something like blasphemy toward silver and bronze medals. Please respect silver and bronze medals more.