COVID Olympics

O, Jesu,

This is excellent sport,

I faith!

— Shakespeare

IN other words, “OMG, what a way de sport sweet.” And so it was at the 2020 Olympics that actually took place in 2021 because of the accursed novel coronavirus pandemic. I say accursed because it seems as if this virus has come to mash up our lives and our way of living. But we are resilient, we are strong and life has to go on, albeit at a different pace and tempo.

There was even talk of cancelling it. The polls taken in Japan showed that most Japanese wanted the Games cancelled and demonstrated their angst by protesting publicly about this. They were concerned about visitors bringing more of the virus into their country.

But the organisers were resolute and reached a compromise, saying that the Games would be held but with no foreigners allowed and definitely no spectators. The people were still not pleased, but the Games were slated to commence.

The athletes were on tenterhooks — nervous as kittens in a dog pound — for many had trained for countless agonising years to reach their peak last year, only to have to adjust their routine because of the pandemic. It was not easy, although behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining, for the postponement gave others time to recover from injuries.

We’ll see what happened at the COVID Olympics, right after these responses to ‘Spare the rod’.

Hi Tony,

I agree with the old, tested and true concept of applying appropriate and justified punishment to misbehaving boys. I have experienced this in Catholic prep school, being whacked on the hand by a nun with a ruler for accidentally tripping a boy on the playground; being whipped in the school yard at primary school by a male teacher with a leather strap for being late; and being caned by the headmaster at high school for talking too much in class. In each of these cases I refuse to think that those punishments were justified, so I used ‘appropriate and justified’ corporal punishment, carried out by the judge, jury and executioner, without the presumption of innocence.

Wickham

Hey Tony,

I really don’t believe in the heavy-handed type of corporal punishment but a little paddling on the rump for a wayward boy can’t do any harm. Next time, just the threat of it should keep him in line. For the really bad bigger boys though, lay on the strap.

Sandra

The highly anticipated Tokyo Olympics came and went in a blaze of glory and lived up to its expectations, as it certainly offered the thrills, spills, triumphs and despair that this huge sporting occasion usually offers. But this was different, as never before was an Olympics held under such strict health protocols.

Normally the Olympics would be the epitome of social interaction, with thousands of bodies coming together to participate, embrace, mingle and copulate. Oh yes, sex is a huge part of the Olympic experience, so much so that it’s traditional for the organisers to distribute thousands of condoms to the athletes. No medals were given for that activity, but many struck gold.

COVID-19 could have put a damper on that, but where there’s a will there’s a way and young, physical athletes would find a way. There was even concern about the cardboard beds that were supplied, with some saying that they wouldn’t withstand the rigours of heavy sex.

The year 2020 was uncertain for the athletes as they sought to qualify for their respective disciplines. I can speak from experience that our karate team had an extremely difficult route of qualification, and even now I’m still heartbroken that our best contender, Alton Brown — ranked 14th in the world and second in the Panam region, which should make him an automatic qualifier — was denied due to rule changes, cancellation of tournaments and questionable judging.

Nevertheless, the Games were held and the opening ceremony went ahead without the usual pomp and pageantry that we’re used to. But it was still great and we watched as the athletes paraded their flags, albeit in smaller numbers.

There were high expectations for the Jamaican team which, over the past years, always delivered handsomely. Still, this is the post-Usain Bolt era so a void would be left, or so it was thought. But there were still lots of great excitement and drama.

Who would have thought that the great American gymnast Simone Biles would have suffered a meltdown and withdrawn from many events? Who would have thought that the men’s 400 meters hurdles would have produced a world record in such spectacular fashion? Who would have thought that the mighty USA men would not win even one single sprint race?

Many of our athletes were suffering from injuries while others arrived late due to COVID-19 restrictions and travel problems. The Japanese, known for their strict discipline and organisational skills, were not joking, and laid down strict protocol rules that had to be adhered to. There would be no compromise, no bending of the rules.

I have been to Japan for karate and I can tell you, the discipline in that country has no equal.

Our field event participants, who always usually delivered, suffered greatly this time around as the aforementioned injuries and plain bad fortune denied us any field event medals. But, they still performed magnificently, with hearts of lions. The badly injured Tajay Gayle insisted on completing his long jump routine and made it to the finals, but he simply could not perform at his best.

The first final on the track, though, delivered what we had all hoped for, as our three beautiful and magnificent ladies achieved the feat of 1-2-3 in the 100m dash. This was the second time that our Jamaican women were doing this, as back at the Beijing Olympics 2008 they actually came in 1-2-2. Remarkable!

The men’s 100m final gave us no such delight as the void left by Usain Bolt was apparent. But that was short-lived, for joy comes from unexpected places and our tiny, teeny, ‘Thumbelina’ with the heart of a giant, Megan Tapper, produced a spectacular performance in the 100m hurdles to cop a bronze and stun the world. Very few people saw that coming, and even though she is small in stature her bubbly personality, exuberance, beauty and strength stand out above all others.

In the women’s 200m it was expected we would have replicated the feat of the ladies in the 100m, coming in 1-2-3, but this was not to be. An error of judgement by Shericka Jackson in the semi-finals denied her a place in the final. Such is sports, such is life and we are all only human.

But still, we delivered as Elaine Thomson-Herah, who stormed to victory in a personal best in the 100m and new national record, won the Olympic 100m and the 200m twice, becoming the first woman in history to do so.

Shelly-Ann ran her heart out in the 200m but was denied a bronze by that African girl who stormed through like a freight train to take the silver.

That girl was one of two who — having naturally high testosterone levels, thereby giving them an unfair advantage in certain events — were prohibited from running the 400m but could take part in the 200m instead. This makes no sense to me and even though it’s no fault of theirs, that extra testosterone boost does give them an added advantage. The International Olympic Committee is looking into it for further instances of this nature.

But more drama was yet to come, and when young Jaheel Hyde fell in the 400m hurdles after leading comfortably, it broke my heart. I felt it for the young man, as he had his struggles and was doing so well. The shorter version though, the 110m hurdles, was like a supernova with a million shards of brilliant lights with Hansle Parchment and Ronald Levy producing gold and bronze as they sandwiched the massive favourite and previously unbeaten Grant Holloway, who was only losing a race for the first time in years.

That’s why they play the game, that’s why you have to go out there and perform and don’t watch what the ‘experts’ say.

The relays are always tricky as anything can happen — the baton can drop, plus lane violations and other crosses. But after our magnificent ladies delivered in national record time, bringing home the gold in the 4x100m, we were ecstatic.

The 4x400m women’s race was great, as with Stephenie McPherson injured and out after her fantastic run in the 400m for fourth, Shericka Jackson stepped in. We won the bronze, and I must add that Shericka was our best all-round athlete, having competed in the 100m, 200m, the 4x100m relays and the 4x400m relays, winning one gold and two bronze in the process. I cannot recall any other athlete competing in those four events in one Olympics.

What a glorious Olympics this was, with all the drama and excitement that sports bring. Congratulations to the organisers, to our own Jamaica Olympic Association and Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association, officials, coaches and athletes, and the TVJ broadcast team. You made us all so proud.

More time.

Seido1yard@gmail.com

Footnote: Our athletes should be applauded whether they won medals or not. It is extremely difficult to endure years of hard training and gruelling sacrifices, suffering injuries along the way. No one goes out to not do their best but mishaps, injury and general crosses will produce obstacles. Of course, we are disappointed if they fall below our expectations, but can you just imagine how they feel? They are our ambassadors and should be treated with respect and loved. Big up to our wonderful athletes who represented us with distinction and pride. We were the toast of the Olympics. Fun history facts: Lynford Christie, Donovan Bailey, 100m; Sanya Richards, 400m won Olympic gold for Britain, Canada and USA, respectively. All born Jamaicans. It’s in our genes.