The Road to Tokyo 2020

[sallycinnamon]

The XXXII Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo is coming up this year, in a bit more than six months (204 days to be more precise), and I thought it would be nice to have a thread where we can discuss anything related to pre-Olympics, whether it's news, the torch relay, or just discuss the Olympic sports you like.

 

Yesterday Thomas Bach said that so far preparations have never been in a better state before at any Olympics. I am looking forward to the Games a lot and I am sure Japan will be an excellent host of this event. 

 

As long as I remember, I have always followed the Summer Olympics which is very popular in my country, this time of the year we are in Olympic fever. We have currently 498 medals overall (both Summer and Winter Olympics, right ahead of Japan that has 497 medals), so I'll be happy we'll be able to celebrate the 500th medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

I'll try to take most of my holidays at the end of July/beginning of August so that I can follow as much as I can on TV.  One of my cousins who is a sailor is going to compete there so I will cheer for her a lot.

 

I am also curious whether we'll see Yuzu there and if yes, what will be his role.  

 

Are you also planning to follow the Games?

[sallycinnamon]

 

 

[Umebachi]

Thanks for opening this thread.  I am sure there will be many great moments at Tokyo 2020, although I worry about the heat and humidity...

 

I had signed up to be an Olympics volunteer and had been offered a field position, but I decided to decline.  I was concerned about the heat, but more importantly, I decided I could not take part in the Olympics experience with Ms. Seiko Hashimoto (former head of JSF) as the Olympics Minister.  That was the last straw for me:  by appointing Hashimoto in that key position, Abe administration showed how little they care about ethics or integrity in sports.  

 

My apologies for starting this thread on such a negative note.   So I am praying for all the athletes to break through this dark cloud surrounding the Olympics, and shine a light on the better side of human endeavours.  And I am sure Hanyu-senshu will be there (Nomura Mansai will certainly find a role for him) - and he will play an important role in bringing light and hope for a brighter future - for the Olympics, for Japan, for world peace!

 

 

 

[glilikoi]

I am really looking forward to the opening ceremony, I'm sure Nomura Mansai will do something interesting. I'm not really an avid follower of summer sports so that's what I'm most excited for I was also really excited when Zhang Yimou directed the Beijing one. 

 

As a fanyu, I'm also excited that there's a connection between Nomura Mansai and Yuzuru. It wouldn't surprise me if he would be involved in some way, especially because there is that connection. BTW -for anyone who hasn't seen this, there's an almost hour-long interview/conversation between Nomura Mansai and Yuzuru about the 'essence of performance' and Seimei on Youtube, you can see it here. 

 

Besides the opening ceremony, I'll definitely watch some of the competitions. I'm most looking forward to gymnastics, because I like the combination of artistry and athleticism (a shocker on this forum, surely). Other than that, I'll probably just watch bits here and there. 

 

About what @Umebachi said - I'm also disappointed in the decision to appoint Hashimoto to such a high position. Given her previous history, I don't think she has the integrity needed for this role, and I'm absolutely sure they could have found someone who has the right experience and also their heart in the right place. 

The decision to hold the games in August is also something I've been critical of this whole time. The first Tokyo olympics were moved to October, they should have done something similar this time. But I suppose there was some conditionality involved about being able to have the games in Tokyo, since international sponsors probably prefer the late summer timing. They've already had to move the running events to Hokkaido, which was the right decision, but they should have really seen it coming and not acted like they could just magically prevent it from happening. 

 

I think huge events like this are bound to have their issues, and overall I'm sure Japan will do a good job at hosting the Olympics, so I'm still looking forward to it. Feels so long away now, but I'm sure these months will go by in a flash. 

[kingbanana]

Goku will be an ambassador at the games and that's more than enough to look forward to 😉

 

[Winnie_20]

On 1/6/2020 at 11:38 AM, sallycinnamon said:

 

 

 

That's so cool. 

Except I have *no* idea what sport this is supposed to be.   I thought maybe tennis, but the Team thing threw me off. Unless they've added a team event... 

 

I for one am very eagerly looking forward to the Olympics. I love love love the Olympics, Summer and Winter, and I love Japan. I expect very interesting opening and closing ceremonies, with lots of Japanese culture represented (I wasn't disappointed with the Super Mario bros. appearance at the last closing ceremony), and of course I demand very pretty kimonos and/or yukatas at the medal ceremonies to admire. 

 

Will be focusing on watching all the Equestrian horses stuff (show jumping, dressage, eventing), Gymnastics (artistic, rhythmic, trampoline) and whatever else I can find time for. The timezones thing is a bit of an issue... 

 

The only thing I don't much care about are the number of medals. Why? Because counting in number of medals is such a joke. "Oh hey, they're best Olympian, they won the most medals." Sure, if you partake in a sport that offers a gazillion medals, like Swimming or Gymnastics.

or "That country is the best, it won the most medals!" Sure. Your country also has a gazillion inhabitants, kind of would be really sad if it did NOT top the medal boards, would it? And oh look, it won a million medals in one sport. Wow. Consider me not impressed. 

(Yes, this is a major pet peeve of mine. They do this sort of thing in my home country all the time, only then it's in speed skating. How is one skater who can start in all kinds of short or long distances *and* team events and whatnots a better sportsman than someone who can only earn one or two medals because the sport doesn't offer more than that?)

[yude]

1 時間前, Winnie_20さんが言いました:

 

That's so cool. 

Except I have *no* idea what sport this is supposed to be.   I thought maybe tennis, but the Team thing threw me off. Unless they've added a team event... 

 

 

They are team Japan for table tennis  

 

Thank you sallycinnamon for opening this thread, I can't believe 7 years have passed since Japan was chosen to host the Olympics, time flies!

 

I put this here just for fun, funny ranking by one of the gossip magazines, "The man who is likely to get the gold medal in Tokyo Olympics". (https://nikkan-spa.jp/1635736/2)

 

1. Daiya Seto (81 votes, swimming)

2. Kento Momota (47 votes, badminton)

3. Sani Brown Hakim (27 votes, athletics)

4. Hifumi Abe (21 votes, judo)

4. Tomokazu Harimoto (21 votes, table tennis)

The runners-up:  Yuzuru Hanyu (20 votes), Kohei Uchimura (19 votes, artistic gymnastics), Kei Nishikori (16 votes, tennis), Kenzo Shirai (12 votes, artistic gymnastics) 

 

 

 

[sallycinnamon]

On 1/8/2020 at 10:32 AM, glilikoi said:

I am really looking forward to the opening ceremony, I'm sure Nomura Mansai will do something interesting. I'm not really an avid follower of summer sports so that's what I'm most excited for I was also really excited when Zhang Yimou directed the Beijing one. 

 

As a fanyu, I'm also excited that there's a connection between Nomura Mansai and Yuzuru. It wouldn't surprise me if he would be involved in some way, especially because there is that connection. BTW -for anyone who hasn't seen this, there's an almost hour-long interview/conversation between Nomura Mansai and Yuzuru about the 'essence of performance' and Seimei on Youtube, you can see it here. 

 

Besides the opening ceremony, I'll definitely watch some of the competitions. I'm most looking forward to gymnastics, because I like the combination of artistry and athleticism (a shocker on this forum, surely). Other than that, I'll probably just watch bits here and there. 

 

About what @Umebachi said - I'm also disappointed in the decision to appoint Hashimoto to such a high position. Given her previous history, I don't think she has the integrity needed for this role, and I'm absolutely sure they could have found someone who has the right experience and also their heart in the right place. 

The decision to hold the games in August is also something I've been critical of this whole time. The first Tokyo olympics were moved to October, they should have done something similar this time. But I suppose there was some conditionality involved about being able to have the games in Tokyo, since international sponsors probably prefer the late summer timing. They've already had to move the running events to Hokkaido, which was the right decision, but they should have really seen it coming and not acted like they could just magically prevent it from happening. 

 

I think huge events like this are bound to have their issues, and overall I'm sure Japan will do a good job at hosting the Olympics, so I'm still looking forward to it. Feels so long away now, but I'm sure these months will go by in a flash. 

 

I am also excited to watch the opening ceremony, and I am sure it'll be wonderfully made with Mansai Nomura being the creative director.

 

Some Summer Olympics were held later, I remember Sydney 2000 was in September, for example. I also find it likely sponsors preferred summer, so there's that...I just hope athletes will be able to adjust the conditions well and it won't affect their performances much.

As a fan, I find late July-beginning of August the perfect time for the Olympics since that's usually the time when I go to holidays anyway. I hope I'll be able to follow as many sports at possible this time, too! 

 

1 hour ago, Winnie_20 said:

 

That's so cool. 

Except I have *no* idea what sport this is supposed to be.   I thought maybe tennis, but the Team thing threw me off. Unless they've added a team event... 

 

The only thing I don't much care about are the number of medals. Why? Because counting in number of medals is such a joke. "Oh hey, they're best Olympian, they won the most medals." Sure, if you partake in a sport that offers a gazillion medals, like Swimming or Gymnastics.

or "That country is the best, it won the most medals!" Sure. Your country also has a gazillion inhabitants, kind of would be really sad if it did NOT top the medal boards, would it? And oh look, it won a million medals in one sport. Wow. Consider me not impressed. 

(Yes, this is a major pet peeve of mine. They do this sort of thing in my home country all the time, only then it's in speed skating. How is one skater who can start in all kinds of short or long distances *and* team events and whatnots a better sportsman than someone who can only earn one or two medals because the sport doesn't offer more than that?)

 

As @yude mentioned, it's table tennis Tomokazu Harimoto was born in Sendai and his role model is Yuzu. 

 

That's why I prefer the statistics of total/weighted medals per capita, it does reflect nicely which are the most successful countries considering medals and the number of inhabitants. 

http://www.medalspercapita.com/#medals-per-capita:summer

 http://www.medalspercapita.com/#weighted-per-capita:summer

 

15 minutes ago, yude said:

 

They are team Japan for table tennis  

 

Thank you sallycinnamon for opening this thread, I can't believe 7 years have passed since Japan was chosen to host the Olympics, time flies!

 

I put this here just for fun, funny ranking by one of the gossip magazines, "The man who is likely to get the gold medal in Tokyo Olympics". (https://nikkan-spa.jp/1635736/2)

 

1. Daiya Seto (81 votes, swimming)

2. Kento Momota (47 votes, badminton)

3. Sani Brown Hakim (27 votes, athletics)

4. Hifumi Abe (21 votes, judo)

4. Tomokazu Harimoto (21 votes, table tennis)

The runners-up:  Yuzuru Hanyu (20 votes), Kohei Uchimura (19 votes, artistic gymnastics), Kei Nishikori (16 votes, tennis), Kenzo Shirai (12 votes, artistic gymnastics) 

 

 

 

I see many people want to see Yuzu competing at the Summer Olympics too 

[Winnie_20]

22 minutes ago, yude said:

 

 

The runners-up:  Yuzuru Hanyu (20 votes), Kohei Uchimura (19 votes, artistic gymnastics), Kei Nishikori (16 votes, tennis), Kenzo Shirai (12 votes, artistic gymnastics) 

What I find far more interesting is the mention of Kohei Uchimura and Kenzo Shirai.

Will they actually be participating? Last I hear/read was that it's likely neither will be there? Not sure what that was based on, maybe something like, they weren't good enough at the start of the season and so automatically don't have a chance to qualify for the Japanese team for the remainder of the season, or... something. Anyone know what the current situation is? 

[Sombreuil]

I think they were both injured- there was talk of back to back test competitions to make sure that the gymnasts chosen could put in back to back consistent performances.

 

from Japan Times

 

Kohei Uchimura says he's 'jealous' of athletes with Olympic berths already secured

 

OSAKA – Kohei Uchimura said Saturday he is envious of those athletes who have already earned berths to next summer’s Tokyo Games amid his own recent fitness struggles.

“Olympic spots are allocated in many sports, and I’m very jealous of those athletes,” the two-time reigning men’s all-around Olympic champion said. “That makes me realize again that I really want to compete (at the Olympics).”

 

A six-time world all-around champion, the 30-year-old missed October’s worlds due to pain in both shoulders. He also failed to qualify for the finals at April’s national championships and only managed fifth in his comeback at August’s All-Japan National Senior Championships.

Also missing three-time floor exercise world champ Kenzo Shirai, Japan finished with a bronze for the second straight year in the men’s team event at the world championships in Germany. Russia took gold and China silver.

“It was frustrating that the competition was all about Russia and China. But most frustrating was not being part of the competition,” Uchimura said.

He led Japan to team gold at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics after taking Olympic silver in 2012 and 2008. Uchimura, known as “King Kohei,” still has a chance to qualify for next summer’s games depending on his performance at domestic competitions.

“I want to book a spot (in the Olympics). It’s really do or die,” he said.

Japan’s team will be decided after the NHK Cup in May, the second event in a two-tournament qualifying process that starts at April’s national championships.

The Japan Gymnastics Association said earlier this month it is considering a new format for the NHK Cup in which athletes perform on each apparatus twice in two days in a bid to select gymnasts who can consistently perform.

“I’m used to performing (each event) once, so I’m worried because I’m not sure how much damage my body will suffer,” Uchimura said. “There’s nothing that can be done about it except to compete according to my own rhythm.”

 

[Lunna]

I usually watch opening and closing ceremonies. As for sports I prefer diving, synchronized swimming and gymnastics. But in my time zone it most likely will be during the day, so I don't know if I'll be able to watch, maybe some recaps later, depends on TV schedule.

I'm also a part of Japanese dance group (taking parts in local Japanese themed events - that's my hobby) and from last summer we're learning "tokyo gorin ondo 2020" - you can google official video.

[ralucutzagy]

I can't wait to watch opening ceremony, too! Usually, I watch everything I can but I focus on gymnastics, tennis tournament, water sports, volleyball. I will closely follow soccer at this Olympics because Romania's soccer team is qualified! yay.

[Pink Elephants]

I'm excited, I've never watched a full Summer Olympics before I'll definitely watch archery, fencing, martial arts, probably canoeing and table tennis too

[airi]

I don't really follow much sports lately, but Olympics is Olympics, it has different fell... unfortunately Japanese time zone is absolutely worst for me, and my vacation time this year will be well into September if not later (huge projects at work during summer), so catching anything live will be almost impossible, expect some event happening Saturday-Sunday maybe. Maybe I will buy Eurosport player for Olys time and try watch more interesting events pretending they are happening live

Right now I'm crossing fingers for polish Women's Volleyball team, who is trying to get the last European qualification for the games this week

[Pika]

I love the Olympics so much because it's a very particular energy, it gets me drawn in sports I would have never thought before  This year it will be hard to follow as I will have a lot of work during the Summer but I will try to catch as many things as possible. Also I cannot wait to see which role Yuzuru will play, especially in the relay/opening ceremony