Tokyo Olympics

Anyone excited to watch? Any particular events you like to watch and are looking forward to? Which athletes are you looking forward to seeing? Anyone like the offbeat events, like badminton and table tennis? Anyone else dislike NBC’s coverage as much as I do?

2 Likes

Lol, wish we had Canadian tv where I am now. Loved the CBC coverage.

I like all the Olympic events but am partial to the swimming.

3 Likes

I honestly think they should have postponed these until 2022. I hope it goes well, and that the level of infections doesn’t increase in Japan.

4 Likes

In case anyone was like me and wondering the exact dates it’s Friday, July 23 to Sunday, August 8.

We will be on a family vacation part of that time so Hoping this will be a family late evening activity to watch. At home we do get a couple Canadian stations so that may be an option.

Re: what to watch, I enjoy track and field and swimming a lot.

As a side, D2 recently shared she has had a few dates recently with someone who is competing in Tokyo! Wrestling, which would not be my usual choice to watch but I guess we will be keeping track this time!

9 Likes

D and I enjoy the gymnastics! We can’t wait to see how the US does!

Our whole family enjoys watching the opening and closing ceremonies, which are always entertaining.
We also enjoy watching swimming, diving, and track and field. Swimming is fun, but it can get a little repetitive. Diving is always thrilling to watch.

H likes to watch but he hates the commercials and doesn’t like how they cut back and forth between events.

In 2016, I didn’t like how they didn’t show the end of the women’s gymnastics team competition until around 11 at night…I hope they don’t do that this time, but that’s probably wishful thinking!

In 2008 we had a former student from our school (where I work and my kids attended) make it to the Olympic trials for swimming. He didn’t qualify to compete in Beijing but he did get fairly close!

I also had a student who was a competitive diver and would travel all over the US and the world competing. I don’t think she’s ever gone to the Olympics, I’ve kept my eyes peeled for her name, but haven’t seen her…

2 Likes

We are excited for swimming, gymnastics, and track & field.

4 Likes

Ditto. :slight_smile: Those are my favorites, but I will try to watch as many events as possible.

Definitely the opening and closing ceremonies, although I’m guessing that these will not be as extravagant this time. We’re not regular sports viewers but enjoy bit of everything, especially the gymnastics. I guarantee there will be reminiscences about ABC’s Wide World of Sports from the 1960s as we’re watching.

I know two athletes who will be participating. One in the water and one on the field. There will be lots of excited texting back and forth with family and mutual friends. I hope this doesn’t turn into a mess like Cornwell after the G7 meeting!

5 Likes

Oh, I hope we still get CBC. Our cable station lineup changes every so often … I will need to check. Canadian tv coverage of the Olympics is awesome!

1 Like

I like everything, especially gymnastics, track and field, soccer, tennis, swimming, etc… I hate that they previously didn’t show things live and made us wait until the end of the broadcast (often too late)for the best events. Hopefully this year will be better.

That’s why Canadian tv is far superior. They showed things live. Expected that we liked sports and weren’t stupid. They show the sports and not the human interest stories and a little bit of competition

2 Likes

We live in Tokyo and we won tickets to a couple of sessions in the domestic ticket lottery held pre-pandemic - two track and field sessions and two gymnastics sessions, including the women’s individual final. Two weeks ago they announced that domestic spectators would be allowed up to 10,000 per event or half-capacity, and they were going to have a second lottery to handle that cut back. Today they announced they are postponing the lottery, and I think that, in the end, they will decide to have no spectators at all, as the COVID-19 cases are increasing rapidly again in Tokyo. Japan somehow really dropped the ball on vaccination, so less than 10% of the population is vaccinated, and that is making everything harder with respect to the Olympics. I’m mostly disappointed for my kids, who are both athletes, as I think there is a thrill to watching things live, but it will be fun to watch on tv in any event, and the times will be convenient for a change. I do want to see Simone Biles, and we are all excited about the sprint events in track, and I am also hoping to watch some of the equestrian events. Japanese TV Olympics coverage tends to be pretty good - they just show the events straight. US TV tends to cut away too often for touching personal stories, etc.

8 Likes

Gosh that’s so disappointing to hear about the low vaccination rate, cases on the rise and questions about spectators.

I’m
Sure the spectators are a motivating factor for the athletes

1 Like

Love gymnastics, swimming and diving.

1 Like

I can’t wait. I’m so excited. But there are a few events I just can’t watch. I won’t name them, because I’m sure I’ll insult someone. :wink:

I love the 1v1 events like the martial arts, boxing, wrestling, etc. And if you follow the fitness thread, I love weightlifting. And I’m always interested to see the fastest humans on Earth.

Who’s planning to watch the newly-added events: surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding, baseball and karate? I’m skeptical we have big enough waves in Japan to make surfing very exciting, but I think I’ll give skateboarding a shot. Baseball could also be very interesting - baseball is big in Japan and Korea, and we’ll also get to see countries like the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Israel play, as well as the US, of course. I’m sorry, however, that neither Taiwan nor Cuba will be here for the Games.

1 Like

We only watch the gymnastics, but we are huge gymnastics fans and are super excited to watch the women (and men) perform. NBC commentating is the absolute worst. Tim Dagget and Nastia Luikin need to be replaced.

We’ll definitely be watching swimming; I’ve watched so many on deck over the years. I always love watching Katie Ledecky and other veterans like Hali Flickinger. I’m excited to watch the young swimmers like Claire Curzan and Katie Grimes. Really, we just love swimming in this house.

1 Like

The time difference is big - 13 hours difference Tokyo to home for me. Going to make viewing a little challenging!

I always would like to watch more of the Olympics than I manage to. Working during the day and summer activities like lawn work and gardening seem to limit how much I can actually see. Which is why I often do rely on the network evening broadcasting as crummy as it can be.