The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games have come to an end with a single word "Arigato" (Thank you) that appeared on the LED display in the Olympic Stadium in the same typography of the LED display spelling out "Sayonara" at the Closing Ceremony at the Tokyo 1964 Games.
But, as the Olympic Flame was extinguished and the curtain finally fell on these controversial games held during a global pandemic, while Covid-19 in Japan reached a record high (in Tokyo daily cases doubled since the Games started), you realised that maybe that "thank you" note was dedicated to the great sports moments lived during these weeks, but also to those athletes who represented not just their disciplines, but also important human values.
This edition of the Games will indeed be remembered not just for the new disciplines included and for the teen athletes we saw triumphing, but also for some key moments that revealed to us the strength, commitment, courage and passion of some of the athletes.
One of such moments came from gymnast Simone Biles, who withdrew from the US Gymnastics Team for mental health reasons. Biles explained she had the "twisties", a sort of block or misalignment between body and mind that gymnasts may suffer from and that makes them feel disoriented, putting them at serious risk as it doesn’t allow them to land safely on their feet.
After retiring from the all-around, floor and uneven bars events, Biles pulled herself back together and won an Olympic bronze in the individual balance beam final, opting to swap her full-twisting double back dismount for a simple double pike.
Her story taught us that athletes are human beings and not superheroes and that sometimes setting an impossibly high bar also means to be able to take a step back and consider your weaknesses.
Biles opted to compete in the individual balance beam not because she had to show anything to the team, to her fans or the media, but for herself, and in her will to keep on competing there was a lesson for all of us – health is first, the rest will follow.
Her choice was brave, but Biles has always been a strong woman and, by stepping away from all the pressure they put on her, revealed to us following on the Internet or watching on the TV the Olympic Games, all the impact that elite sports can have on an athlete's body and mind.
There were other stories of athletes who took a step away from the stress of further competitions: high jumpers Gianmarco Tamberi from Italy and Mutaz Essa Barshim from Qatar, both cleared the highest bar. Yet, rather than competing in tie-breaker, the two athletes and friends decided to share the gold medal.
Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya also made a brave choice, that brought to attention the political situation in her home country and on Alexander Lukashenko's totalitarian rogue regime. In 2020, Lukashenko rigged an election and declared that he won 80% of the vote, naming himself president for a sixth term.
Since then there have been mass arrests and a crackdown across civil society to stifle his opponents and over 60 athletes and coaches lost their jobs as they took part in last year's protests against the government; some of them were also detained. Younger Belarusians have sought refuge in Lithuania, Ukraine and Poland and Tsimanouskaya decided to defect, calling to mind the stories of Soviet athletes at international competitions during the Cold War.
After she publicly criticized the Belarus team's coaches for failing to conduct the necessary doping tests for her fellow athletes ahead of the women's 4x400m race and for entering her in a relay race for which she hadn't trained to fill in for a disqualified team member, the 24-yar-old athlete was abruptly removed from the competition, told that she had to go back to her home country, threatened and taken to the airport by team officials (it is worth remembering that the head of the Belarus National Olympic Committee is Mr Lukashenko's son Viktor...). At the airport she refused to board the flight back to Minsk, sought police protection and eventually received a humanitarian visa from Poland where they have assured her she will be able to continue her career.
It looks like the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were therefore more than just sports or a fashionable moment to get inspired by athletes uniforms, but a moment to ponder more about health issues, solidarity and, well, politics as well.
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