The 2020 Summer Olympics concluded Sunday in Tokyo. Even after being postponed for a year and while being held during a pandemic, the event provided two weeks of emotional athletic competition at the very highest level.
From the pool to the track and all points in between, the Olympics offered rare views of the world’s best athletes on one stage. Most true fans of sport who take advantage of the opportunity to watch the competition, can’t help but take away both memories and lessons.
“I have a lot of favorite sports to watch during the Olympics,” said El Dorado golfer Aubrey Marx. “Some of my favorites are swimming, track and field, golf and gymnastics. The most memorable moment during this year’s Olympics is when Simone Biles didn’t compete in the individual all-around competition because of her mental health. I thought it took a lot of courage to be able to withdraw from such a big competition and I ultimately gained a lot of respect for her in the end. Even though she didn’t compete, she still supported her team which I thought was cool.”
Jackson Dison, Parkers Chapel’s sophomore tennis player, gravitated toward his favorite sport.
“I watched Alexander Zverev take gold in men’s singles tennis and how Novak Djokovic lost to him in the semis,” Dison said. “That was very memorable after Novak’s recent dominance.”
Smackover senior Mackenzie Preston, who plays golf, tennis and softball, interestingly, found her Olympic moment in a different area.
“In track when Italy won the gold in men’s 4-by-100 when no one thought they would win, and it was their first time to win a medal in that race,” she said.
Most area high school athletes are busy competing or preparing for their own sports. That included Parkers Chapel sophomore Makenzie Morgan, who just finished up at SAU’s Elite Basketball Camp and is also playing golf and tennis at the same time. She managed to catch some of the Games as well.
“I have been very busy with my own sports so I wasn’t able to watch as much as I’d like but I came across a very important highlight - Sydney Mclaughlin’s 400-meter hurdle win,” she said. “The reason why I loved this race so much is because she competed at the highest level, breaking the world record but didn’t take any credit. She stayed humble and gave all the glory to God.”
Kallie Martin, another PC sophomore, competes in basketball, softball, track and tennis. She watched bits and pieces of most of those sports, including legendary softball pitchers Monica Abbott and Cat Osterman.
She took notes on the other events, too.
“After watching some of the playbacks from the women’s long jump where the US took silver, I realized I’m going to need to work on my form in order to defend my state title next spring,” Martin said. “Last year I didn’t really have a plan as a freshman. I just ran as fast as I could and as hard as I could and just jumped and hoped for the best. I plan on working more on my technique and see if I can add some to my distance.”
The reigning 2A champion in the long jump and triple jump also had her gripes.
“I didn’t get to watch a lot of the Olympics because of all of my different sports and practices, however, I did get to watch some basketball,” she began. “I did get to see USA and France play in the gold medal game and the referees tried to keep France in the game at the end by calling cheap fouls. Despite being played oversees, it reminded me of basketball in South Arkansas. Because of being a tall inside player, I’m frequently the target among the refs.”
O.K. So there were quite a few imperfect things about the Olympics, too.