Paris/Oberhausen. Basketball player Leni Antwerpen reports on her experiences at the Olympic Games in Paris: Corona and the NRW camp closing ceremony.
The basketball player Leni Antwerpwhich with the New Baskets Oberhausen promoted to the 2nd league, reports for the sports editors from the capital in a diary about her impressions and experiences in Paris and at the Olympic Games. Antwerpen is in a way an expert, because she is responsible for the New Baskets the Instagram presence of the basketball players and writes diligently. Paris, Day 13:
We are writing the thirteenth day of my Olympia trip. The number 13 is associated with bad luck and superstition, isn’t it? At least, it is for me and Taylor Swift about my favorite number, just by the way. Well, the ships of AIDA and TUI Cruises were built without the 13th deck and even on airplanes this critically viewed number is skipped in the rows of seats. As far as I’m concerned, that’s fine, but what about the Olympic Games or sports in general? To what extent do traditions, rituals or superstitions determine the competition and the performance of the athletes?
If you look into this topic, you will find some facts that reveal the customs of athletes. It is very extreme among tennis players; the Spanish professional athlete, Rafael Nadal, take an ice-cold shower 45 minutes before each of his matches. He would also sort and arrange his water bottles so that the labels face the same direction. This is exactly what the Japanese world table tennis player, Naomi Osakado. The arrangement of her drinks bottles is also very important to her. But it is not only rituals that shape the everyday sporting life of athletes, mascots and material things in general also play an important role.
Customs and quirks are part of sport
This is what the Paralympic triathlete wears, Melissa Stockwellalways carries a dinosaur-shaped lucky charm with her that her son had given her. I also have certain customs – I think in every sport, actually. For example, before training or games, I always put on my left sock first and then my right. It’s the same with shoes, of course. If you think about it, is there something you’ve always done? Maybe for no particular reason. Simply because you’ve gotten into the habit of doing it and believe in it? Because it’s damn good to believe in something, and maybe it doesn’t even matter what.
But sometimes, no matter how strongly you believe in something or how much you follow your rituals, you still fail in the end. Maybe it happens for a very simple reason. That is, because there is no reason. Sudden illness or weather conditions play a role. Olympia writes these stories too. You train for years for this one moment and then get the flu the day before and can’t compete. Then you have to be able to deal with it. We write these stories too.
Graduation ceremony – and Corona test positive
Today we rested most of the day because the official closing ceremony of the Youth Olympic Camp took place in the evening, but by late afternoon we had four positive corona tests in our hands. Oops. So four out of five girls from my room tested positive, including me. We have to deal with it somehow now and that’s what we’re doing. During the closing ceremony we were allowed to stand outside the door with masks and umbrellas and listen intently. Also because I really wanted to perform the poetry slam I had written for it, to be able to close things out for myself and to give something back to the people in my voluntary social year group and from the camp.
I am very happy that I was able to do this. The emotional words of the participants moved us and we enjoyed the last evening together, although not as much as we had wanted, but still very much. One of our leaders closed the event with the words “I declare that Olympic Youth Camp of Sportjugend NRW in Paris officially over.” Applause, swaying and flashlights in the dark bobbing to the music followed. We then went back to our rooms. We are now in a kind of quarantine. We are not locked up, but we don’t yet know what will happen. We are not depressed. Rather, we are glad that this only happened to us on the second to last day. Now we have even more to tell. But I doubt that the number 13 has anything to do with it.
For Team Germany However, the day brought some medal successes. On the second day of the decathlon, Leo Neugebauer Silver and the DFB women spectacularly advance to the semi-finals of this year’s games after an exciting penalty shootout against Canada. Our 3×3 basketball players can also continue to bring their strong performances to the court, and from now on they have a chance of winning a medal in the semi-finals.
