Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles and Novak Djokovic were to be the stars of JO-2020, but these Games without an audience did not smile on them and did not allow new faces to emerge, although some like Caeleb Dressel, the boss. American basins, have accumulated titles and fame.
Even before having given her first stroke of the racket, Naomi Osaka already had the feeling of having succeeded in “her” Games: it was she who, the last torchbearer on the course of the flame, lit the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony and thus officially kick off the Tokyo Games on July 23.
“Without a doubt, this is the greatest accomplishment and the greatest sporting honor that will have been given to me in my life”, then explained the Japanese.
The world No. 2, awaited by a whole country, on the other hand quickly bit the dust in the women’s tennis tournament, sharply eliminated in the round of 16.
The Olympic tennis tournaments, deprived of big names like Rafael Nadal, by choice, and Roger Federer, at rest, saw their other attraction the world No.1 Novak Djokovic reach the last four, in singles and mixed doubles, before implode and walk away without a medal, but with a shoulder injury and physical and mental exhaustion.
The issue of mental health was at the heart of Simone Biles’ stay in Japan. The general opinion was that the gymnastics superstar could win all six Olympic titles at stake and beat the record of the Soviet Larissa Latynina, the most successful gymnast in history with her nine coronations.
“Not so much fun”
But Biles, 24, broke down after just one jump in the all-around team. She abandoned her partners from “Team USA” who still snatched the silver medal, then “Queen Simone” revealed her torments (“I no longer trust myself as much as before (…) I don’t take as much pleasure as before ”) which cause what gymnasts call“ twisties ”or“ figure losses ”which disrupt their movements and acrobatics.
Qualified for six finals, the American withdrew four of them, but took part in the beam where she won a bronze medal, the seventh of her Olympic career.
“My physical and mental health matters more than all the medals I can ever win”, she says, without wanting to say if her career was over.
Megan Rapinoe made her last Olympic challenge at 36 from Tokyo, but United States football team forward, Ballon d’Or 2019, is also famous worldwide for her commitments (LGBT + rights, movement “Black Lives Matter”) and his opposition to Donald Trump, had to settle for a bronze medal.
Even athletics has failed: since the retirement of Usain Bolt, the sport-king of the Olympic movement awaits his new star, but despite the unchallenged domination of the pole vault of the Swede Armand Duplantis, despite the treble 100/200 m / 4x100m relay by Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah, and despite the stunning world record in the 400m hurdles by Norwegian Karsten Warholm, none of them can claim this status.
Bronze Riner
The men’s basketball tournament which marked Olympic history in Barcelona in 1992 with the “Dream Team” of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, was indeed dominated by the United States with, as leader, Kevin Durant. , but the latter is far from having the charisma and international renown of LeBron James or even Stephen Curry who gave up on these Olympics.
In the land of judo, in the legendary Nippon Budokan, Teddy Riner dreamed of a third consecutive coronation in the top category of over 100 kg: the French colossus had to settle for a bronze medal, enhanced with a title Olympic in the new mixed team event inaugurated in Tokyo.
In the end, it was swimming that gave rise to new stars, such as the Australian Emma McKeon who collected seven medals, four of which were gold, or even Caeled Dressel. He does not have the record of ogre Michael Phelps, the most successful athlete and medalist in Olympic history, but he marked these Games with five gold medals in the pools of the Tokyo Aquatics Center.
At 24, this may be just the start of his dominance, but the Floridian reminded, like Biles or Osaka before him, that there was a flip side to all his medals: “There is so much pressure (…) It’s completely crazy. I didn’t tell myself during the competition, but looking back, it’s terrifying ”, he analyzed, before leaving Tokyo.
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