It's really been a long time since the Olympic Games were in the same time zone as me or almost. Gotta say, I'm loving the one hour difference with Brazil right now! My days have all been about Olympic Games since Saturday :) When I wake up, it's already started with rowing and when I go to bed after swimming and/or beach volleyball, it's usually past midnight LOL. I predict I'll be crashing soon though ^_^; I could feel it tonight...
And the coverage has been awesome :) Because both English and French are Canada's official languages, we've always "double" coverage of the Olympics - English and French :) So I'm able to watch both... and they don't always feature the same events at the same time. Plus, there's all the live streams online. I've really been in heaven :)
Anyway, long story short, here are some highlights of the Olympics so far for me :)
1. Penny Oleksiak:
This young lady is going to be the queen of Rio Olympics for Canada :) She's a 16-years-old swimmer and have won 3 medals so far (1 silver 100m butterfly and 2 bronzes in relays), with potential for a few more! In the last couple of Olympic games, Canada has gone through a drought in swimming, earning 3 medals. They have had to rebuild the program and guess what? We're seeing the results this year!! What makes it so sweet too is that her results are unexpected. Oh, people knew that Penny Oleksiak was talented and a strong swimmer... but being only 16, this is her first big international meet! They didn't know how she'd fare with the competition... and now, all of Canada knows :)
2. Djokovic vs Del Potro:
I didn't see the match, but the number 1 seed being eliminated in the first round was big news!! My first reaction upon seeing that it was Del Potro who won over Djokovic was joy :) I love Del Potro and has been wondering what he's been up to. I know he's had a few wrist injuries and it seems it's taken him time to recover and build back his ranking. To see him win over Djokovic is such a big accomplishment! Very happy. And then, I saw Djokovic leaving the court in tears and I felt so sad for him. I've never been a huge fan of Djokovic, but seeing how important the Olympics were for him made me like him more. There are so many "professional" athletes, especially in golf and tennis, who backed out of the Olympics and I found it so disrespectful. For so many athletes, the Olympics is the ultimate accomplishment for them. To be able to make it to the Olympics mean everything... and then, you have those who makes millions of dollars turning their noses at the Olympics! Yes, they were all concerned about the zika virus and so on... but do you see all the other athletes there?! So to see how important the Olympics were for Djokovic, it made me respect and like him better.
3. Antoine Valois-Fortier:
Antoine Valois-Fortier is Canadian judoka who won bronze at the London Olympics. That medal was somewhat a surprise and his breakthrough moment. In the past 4 years, he trained really hard and did everything so he could be on the podium again at the Rio Olympics. Unfortunately, Antoine's draw was very difficult and he ranked 7th. His matches were hard fought and his losses were heart-breaking... but what I'll always remember is his disappointment. Right after he lost his last match, he was interviewed... and he was bawling his eyes out. Could not lift his face to face the reporter, he was crying and kept swiping at his tears. I felt the reporter was very insensitive and Antoine should have been given time to settle down before these interviews. We all want to know how our athletes feel and what are their thoughts; however, this level of voyeurism is unnecessary.
I hope to see him again in the Tokyo Olympics.
4. Kohei Uchimura:
The Japanese gymnast has been nicknamed King Kohei because of his dominance in men's gymnastics. The man has won the last Olympics' all-around gold medal as well as 6 world championships in a row!! That is unheard of! I've been a fan of Kohei for, hmmmm, 5 years I think, and was rooting for him to win today... and he did!! However, today, King Kohei had big competition. Oleg Verniaiev, a 22 year-old Ukrainian, gave the performance of his life. The two were competing in the same rotation, one after another, and it came down to the last apparatus, the horizontal bar, with Oleg in the lead. In the end, Kohei nailed his routine while Oleg's was not as difficult and not as clean and as a result, Kohei won by a margin of 0.1. Talk about a thrilling finish!!
Kohei has already announced that he intends to go to the next Olympics which will be held in Tokyo, Japan. I wonder if he'll be able to maintain his position and face all these youngsters who have him as a role model :)
***
So those are some of my highlights so far :) Overall though, Canada is doing really well at Rio, especially in team sports! Shout out to the women's soccer team for beating Germany for the first time ever, the women's rugby 7 by making history by finishing 3rd in the sport's debut at the Olympics and to the men's volleyball team for upsetting the US in their first game :)
What about you? What has been your moments so far?
