Hope this doesn't get me banned.

I was with you - and the majority of Japan - and watching initially i thought it's a pity they couldn't postpone one more year - these amazing athletes deserve a real audience. The Japanese deserve to be able to attend - they're paying for it.

But i've found myself enjoying it. Yes, the IOC is a diabolical den of corruption, but somehow the spirit does transcend even those dickheads. For sure whoever does well will be tough, as well as talented - it's not an olympics for prima donnas.

Taiwanese indigenous Tsou lifter Fang Wan-ling "could be awarded the bronze medal if the gold medal winner from China is found to have been doping." Got some ingredients i like.

Meanwhile the Goddess of Weightlifting, Kuo Hsing-chun, still rules the world with gold again.

Philippines won the first Olympic gold - Hidilyn Diaz, also in weightlifting - how symbolic is that? Wanted to post a youtube video of the moment but the IOC has banned that.

Aussies are smashing it in the pool. Dan - you were a champion swimmer as i recall - at college level? state? You've gotta be digging this... (not the Aussies kicking US butt part but as a swimmer)

The other thing i noticed was how there's so much crying. The winners are crying, the losers are crying - it's the crying games. I'm building a back porch - at the digging-post-holes-through-concrete stage - catching races on frequent breaks - now i'm almost tearing up - whilst operating a jackhammer. (Ian Thorpe comments that emotion sheds energy - hold it till it's over - so i man-up, carry on.)

We're living in tough times - the striving, the emotion of sport captures that - even in Covid - especially maybe (despite the IOC's best efforts).

Is this the cathartic outlet the world needed?

Disclaimer: If the olympics turns out to be a super-spreader of a super-variant - imported back into every country in the world, then i'm backflipping to the original posts.