WARMING TO IT...

It`s taken a while for the Tokyo Olympics to get going as far as I`m concerned but I`m beginning to warm to it.   It didn`t help that here in 2021 we`re having the 2020 Olympics.  It didn`t help either that the Games are being held in a rampant pandemic and it also didn`t help that this time there are some unusual competitions making their Olympic debuts to get my head round - things like BMX biking, surfing, stuff like that. 

I wonder how long it will be before we see the entry of barbed wire hurdling and good old fashioned things like three-legged racing and egg and spoon races.   I see golf is included along with football, rugby sevens, handball - all kinds of ball games, but not cricket, the exclusion of which is just not cricket, to be fair.

But the performances of Team GB have so far been encouraging, not to say inspiring especially in swimming and diving.   I hope those and other achievements like those of Max Whitlock in gymnastics,our triathletes and our equestrian teams might spur on our track and field athletes and our cyclists to greater things.  It has been a bit of a worrying start, however, with Dina Asher-Smith succumbing to a hamstring problem and Zharnel Hughes, who did well to make the final of the 100 metres, getting disqualified for a false start.  Seems a real pity that four years of hard graft, training and dedication leading up to a race that might last a bit less than ten seconds has come to nothing for jumping the gun.

But is seems that despite Brexit, climate change and an epidemic of mental health issues our  country is being admirably represented by our Olympians in the most difficult of circumstances;  they are clearly doing their very best and one can ask for no more than that.   

So, I`m off to sharpen up my three-legged technique - might come in handy in Paris in three years time?