What I’m Watching During the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

By Leslie Quan

Before I divulge the sports I've been watching during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, I want to recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic is still very much plaguing our world and I believe that the Olympics should not have taken place this year. Nevertheless, the International Olympic Committee decided to continue with the games and boycotting the Olympics by not watching it holds no weight in itself. If the games cannot be postponed, then the next best thing is to simply support the athletes who are competing this year and who have worked extremely hard to qualify for the Olympics.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

As a high school cross country and track and field athlete, I am most excited about the track and field events. So far, I have watched men's long jump, men's and women's shot put, women's 100-meter dash, men's and women's high jump, men's and women's 800-meter, men's and women's 100-meter hurdles, and men's and women's 400-meter hurdles. Also, I have been keeping up with the final races of other events like the men's 200-meter dash, women's 1500-meter, and women's steeplechase.

In high school, I was known to run the 300-meter and 100-meter hurdles. I absolutely love hurdling so you can imagine that I was cheering on favorites like USA's Sydney McLaughlin and USA's Rai Benjamin in the 400-meter hurdles. They certainly did not upset me with their performance. Sydney set a world record in an attempt to capture the gold medal from USA's Dalilah Muhammad and Norway's Karsten Warholm also set a new world record winning the gold medal by 0.07 seconds in front of Rai.

One of my favorite moments of the Olympics was when Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi decided to share the gold in the men's high jump. The two friends decided to forgo a jump-off and agreed to share the title of Olympic champion. It truly was a moment that embodies the meaning of the Olympics. Another memorable race at the track and field Olympic stage was 19-year-old Athing Mu winning gold in the women's 800-meter.

I've also been keeping up with the U.S. women's volleyball team as well as the U.S. men's and women's beach volleyball duos. Skateboarding debuted in the Tokyo Olympics this year so I took the opportunity to watch women's park skateboarding where 12-year-old Hiraki Kokona won a silver medal for Japan. I also watched the entirety of the men's triathlon and the finals of the women's BMX freestyle park where Charlotte Worthington became the first and only female to land a 360 backflip which secured her an Olympic gold medal.

Other sports that I didn't anticipate watching but ended up tuning into the finals include women's individual time trial cycling, women's taekwondo, men's and women's weightlifting, women's table tennis, and the gold medal match for mixed doubles in tennis. I watched a few minutes of men's and women's swimming and diving, men's water polo, women's badminton, and women's canoe slalom.

While there are only a few days left of the Olympics left, there are still a handful of events that I'm looking forward to, like the women's volleyball gold medal match and the men's and women's marathon. 

Even though the decision to move forward with the Tokyo Olympics has been controversial to say the least, we cannot forget that athletes who win an Olympic medal bestow a great sense of pride and accomplishment for their country as well as themselves. One example being weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz who won Philippines first ever Olympic gold medal. History is being made during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, and if we can't stop the games, then we might as well celebrate alongside the athletes and all their hard work.