From tantrums to embarrassing gaffes – the highs and lows of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
THEY may be sport’s best of the best – but Olympic athletes are still human.
The Tokyo games ended yesterday after 17 action-packed days, with plenty of moments to make us both laugh and cry.
Yes, it was strange without crowds because of Covid but in the end the Games offered no less drama.
From painful injuries to sweet celebrations and tantrums to tears of joy, we remember the agony and the ecstasy of the 32nd Olympiad.
Oopslympics
EVEN those with superhuman prowess are prone to some very relatable gaffes.
- US swimmer Lydia Jacoby’s goggles slipped down and ended up in the 17-year-old’s mouth during the 4x100m medley relay. It left her team mate Caeleb Dressel furious at the team’s placing. He said: “Fifth place is unacceptable for USA Swimming, and we’re very aware of that. Our standard is gold.”
- Australia’s Nicholas Hough failed to make the final after hitting every hurdle in the 110m semi-final. The 27-year-old Olympic first-timer’s performance was down to a calf injury and Nicholas says it hasn’t put him off Paris 2024. He said: “I am happy I got out on the track.”
- Canadian diver Pamela Ware put a foot wrong on the diving board and dropped feet first into the water. The 28-year-old newcomer was given a devastating 0.0 score for her mis-step. Pamela said: “I think that if I’d have done the dive, I could have possibly hurt myself.”
- Norwegian double sculls pair Kristoffer Brun and Are Weierholt Strandli capsized in the lightweight semi final. The pair, who won bronze at Rio 2016, were towed to safety.
- Tokyo’s rainy weather at times proved challenging for both organisers and athletes. While downpours deluged the women’s 400m hurdles, Danish athlete Sara Slott Petersen slipped and fell at a hurdle before the home straight.
Games for a laugh
THROUGHOUT the competition, athletes have still managed to keep us laughing – though usually not deliberately.
- Swimmers Tom Dean and Matthew Richards stifled laughs after helping the GB team to gold in the 4x200m men’s freestyle when the BBC’s Clare Balding said: “You’re 18 years old, it’s your first Olympics, and you swam – honestly, your third leg was just phenomenal.”
- Gold winner Tom Daley watched the rest of the diving while doing his knitting. And the diver posed in his hand-knitted Team GB cardigan for a good cause – to raise money for the Brain Tumour Charity after his father Robert died from the disease.
- The beds in the athlete’s village were made from cardboard, allegedly designed to discourage sex between athletes due to their fragile construction. But Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan showed athletes could still score, posting a video of himself jumping up and down on his bed.
- Aussie Jess Fox showed fans on TikTok how she repaired her kayak with a condom. After fixing damage with carbon fibre, the condom then held the repair in place – and Jess went on to win bronze at the canoe slalom K1 event.
Upsets
IT wasn’t all plain sailing for competitors – there were a few bumps in the road too.
- On day two, 21-year-old Peruvian skateboarder Angelo Caro Narvaez suffered an eye-watering fall from his board, skidding into a bollard – crotch first.
- Before losing in the tennis semi-finals, Novak Djokovic smashed his racquet on the court and threw another into the stands. Djokovic, who finished without a medal, said: “It was an emotional outburst and it happens.”
- In a heated bout, Moroccan boxer Youness Baalla tried to bite Kiwi David Nyika’s ear. Nyika said afterwards: “He didn’t get a full mouthful. Luckily he had his mouthguard in and I was a bit sweaty.”
- US gymnast Simone Biles momentarily quit the Games “to protect her mental health” after a dangerous landing on the vault. But the 24-year-old returned and went on to win bronze on the balance beam.
BM-Excellent
IT was the first time Freestyle BMX featured at the Games – and Brit Charlotte Worthington took a breathtaking gold by performing the never-before-seen 360 backflip.
She had only taken up the sport seriously when she was 20. She had been working full-time as a restaurant chef for three years before the event was added to the Games in 2017 and she could apply for funding.
In BMX racing – an Olympic event since 2008 – Kye Whyte won silver, the first Team GB medal in the event. Moments later, Bethany Shriever took gold in the women’s.
Good sports...and bad sports
USUALLY there is fierce competition among athletes but after the Games’ year-long delay, most were just happy to be there – and happy for their rivals too.
- High jumpers Mutaz-Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi tied at 2.37m. But instead of having a jump-off, the Qatari and the Italian agreed to share gold.
- Skateboard bronze-winning Brit Sky Brown, just 13, hugged her rivals after each run. Japanese gold and silver medallists Sakura Yosozumi, 19, and Kokona Hiraki, 12, returned the favour.
- South African swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker broke a world record to win gold in the women’s 200m breaststroke. Her Team USA competitors Lilly King and Annie Lazor then hugged her as she cried in shock.
The bad...
- GERMANY’S modern pentathlon coach Kim Raisner was kicked out of the Games for punching German competitor Annika Schleu’s horse, Saint Boy, after it refused to trot around the course in the showjumping round.
- French runner Morhad Amdouni caused a stir during the men’s marathon when he knocked over a row of water bottles at a hydration station before grabbing the last one for himself. Fortunately for the others who missed out, there was another water station just ahead.
Olympic scolds
AFTER a year of waiting to go to the Games, athletes haven’t been holding back with their post-win comments.
- British swimmer Adam Peaty had a few choice words after taking gold in the 100m. He said: “It’s about who f***ing wants it more. I’m just so f***ing relieved!”
- Runner Keely Hodgkinson, 19, mouthed: “What the f***?” after winning silver in the 800m, Team GB’s first medal on the track.
- Canadian swimmer Sydney Pickrem didn’t hold back after taking bronze in her first ever race. She told Canadian TV: “I was absolutely s**tting myself. I’m not going to try and sugarcoat it.”
- Aussie swimmer Ariarne Titmus left spectators laughing after winning gold in the 200m freestyle. The Tasmanian-born 20-year-old athlete said simply: “S**t. I’m bloody exhausted.”
Cheer we go!
IT’S not just the competitors who caught our attention– some of the coaches also had us talking.
- German judo contender Martyna Trajdos was forced to defend her coach Claudiu Pusa’s unusual pre-match ritual – which consisted of shaking her, then slapping her cheeks before her bout. She said: “This is what I asked my coach to do, so please don’t blame him. I need this before my fights to be awake.”
- Aussie swimmer Ariarne Titmus’s coach Dean Boxall had viewers laughing at his ecstatic hip-thrusting celebration after her 400m freestyle win. She said: “That’s just the way Dean is. He’s very passionate about what he does – he really becomes quite animated.”
- US gymnast Suni Lee celebrated winning gold at the all-round gymnastics event by placing her medal around her paralysed father John’s neck.
GOLDEN WONDERS
TEAM GB brought home an amazing haul of 22 gold, 21 silver and 22 bronze medals, putting us fourth in the final medal table at Tokyo. Here is the full list of our Olympic champions.
CYCLING
Jason Kenny: Jason landed his seventh Olympic gold in the men’s Keirin event, meaning he has now overtaken Sir Chris Hoy as Britain’s most successful Olympian. He also won the silver in the Sprint, taking his total haul to nine medals.
Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald: The Kenny household now has 12 gold medals between them after Laura and Katie won the women’s Madison event.
Matt Walls, 23, from Oldham, won gold in the men’s Omnium event.
Charlotte Worthington, 25, took gold with the first ever 360 backflip performed in the women’s BMX freestyle.
Beth Shriever, 22, took the gold in BMX racing. Tom Pidcock, 21, became the men’s cross country mountain bike champ.
Gymnastics
Max Whitlock: He gave an astonishing winning performance on the pommel horse, earning his sixth medal over three Olympics. The 28-year-old also won gold in the same event at Rio in 2016.
Boxing
Lauren Price: The Welsh wonder added to her World, European and Commonwealth titles with gold in the women’s middleweight after beating China’s Li Qian. Lauren, 27, previously played international football for Wales under-19s.
Galal Yafai: The Birmingham boxer, 28, won gold on points in the flyweight final against Filippino Carlo Paalam.
Modern pentathlon
Kate French The sports performance graduate, 30, was fifth in the competition in Rio and took gold in Tokyo.
Joe Choong Joe, who has a degree in maths, became the first British man to win gold in the modern pentathlon. He said afterwards: “I couldn’t let Kate have all the limelight!”
Swimming
Adam Peaty made history by becoming the first British swimmer to defend an Olympic title when he took gold for the 100m breaststroke.
Adam Peaty, Kathleen Dawson, James Guy and Anna Hopkin The quartet absolutely smashed the first ever mixed 4x100m medley, powering to victory in a world record 3min, 37.58sec.
Tom Dean, Duncan Scott, James Guy and Matthew Richards The four took gold in the men’s 200m relay, finishing 0.03 seconds off a world record.
Tom Dean, 21, from Maidenhead, Berks, who suffered two bouts of Covid-19, also took gold in the 200m freestyle. Teammate Duncan Scott took silver, making it a historic one-two for the first time in 110 years for TeamGB.
Triathlon
Jonny Brownlee, Jess Learmonth, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Alex Yee
Jonny won bronze in the Olympic triathlon at London 2012, then silver at Rio in 2016 – and has now topped it off with gold in the first ever mixed triathlon relay in Tokyo, with his Team GB team mates.
Equestrian
Ben Maher Ben, 38, took the title for individual showjumping, becoming TeamGB’s second showjumping champion after Nick Skelton at Rio 2016.
Laura Collett, Tom McEwen and Oliver Townend: It was the trio’s first Olympic Games – and they smashed it, winning the team eventing for TeamGB for the first time since 1972.
Diving
Tom Daley and Matty Lee: It was emotional for Tom as he finally got gold with Matty in the synchronised 10m platform at the age of 27 – and his fourth Games. Then he followed it up with a bronze in the 10m platform.
Sailing
Hannah Mills and Eilidh McIntyre: The golden duo took victory in the women’s 470 class, making Hannah – who carried the flag at the opening ceremony – Britain’s most successful sailor.
Read More on The US Sun
Most read in Sport
Giles Scott: He came out on top in the men’s Finn class, defending his title from Rio and making it the sixth successive gold for Team GB in the competition.
Dylan Fletcher and Stuart Bithell: Ranked No1 in the world, they won gold in the men’s 49er class, in a tight race against New Zealand.
Skateboarding
SKY Brown, 13, who took bronze in skateboarding, became Britain’s youngest ever medallist, eclipsing swimmer Sarah Hardcastle, who won silver and bronze in LA aged 15.