Episode 146: The Tokyo Summer Olympics Are Here!

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Paige: You are listening to “Coffee with Gringos.” I’m Paige Sutherland.  

Ian: And I’m Ian Kennedy.

Paige: And today we're going to be talking about a very special sporting event that we're all excited about—the Olympics. It’s actually happening despite everything going on. The games started on Friday so we're going to talk a little bit about how different these games will be given that we're in the midst of a global pandemic and sports that we're excited to watch now that that's officially going on. So, tune in if you are also excited about the Olympics and, again listeners, if you get lost, check out that audio guide and transcript online. So, Ian—the Tokyo Olympics despite not knowing it was happening it was postponed a year but they have started and they've had a few hiccups, some COVID positive tests, and a lot of anxiety around isolating given Tokyo's actually in a state of emergency because of their high COVID levels and low rates of vaccination. But the games are happening. What are your thoughts on hosting an Olympics during a global pandemic?

Ian: Well, nothing can be easy, right? Especially we've learned that these last almost two years now. So, I think it's not a surprise to anyone that we're having troubles again with having a seemingly normal event go on during this time of COVID but yeah, we've seen thousands of athletes, journalists, officials, pour into the country—pour into Tokyo—to try to have a semblance of normalcy despite all the high COVID cases that we're seeing. I know that critics are saying they're not very happy with the games still going on in Japan, but nonetheless, it's been postponed a year, like you mentioned, and so now it's time to try to get things underway.  So, they're following safety protocols and tracing the different cases that pop up but what's interesting about this year is, there are no spectators. That's a first or at least that I know of, the first in the Olympic Games. So, this will be really odd. I know that they wanted to, of course, allow people to do that but the way things are, it's not quite possible. So, there's going to be a lot of interesting things going on and it's going to be a different Olympic Games this year. That’s for sure.

Paige: Definitely. I mean, I think it's sad for the athletes, especially athletes who spend their entire athletic career in life devoted to making it to this one competition. For many, it's probably their first and to not have fans watching—more importantly, their loved ones—you know, their parents who probably supported them, their partners, maybe some of their old coaches. To not have them in the stands will probably be pretty tough for these athletes and honestly not as memorable. It's probably the biggest stage of their entire lives, biggest moments, and they kind of have to celebrate it alone, which is a little sad. But I think we've all kind of got used to adjusting during this pandemic. Things aren't normal so, them going there and competing is probably enough but it will be weird to run a race or playing a soccer match with no cheering. There are definitely studies that show that cheering helps with adrenaline and motivation and sometimes can change the course of a game, right? I think also it will be weird to watch from home. Is the TV going to be silent? Are they going to put in that fake crowd noise? Who knows?

Ian: Yeah, we'll have to see. It's a good point that you mentioned. I wonder if we'll see any negative effects on performance due to no spectators being there. Like you said, a lot of times, psychologically, can give that boost or that extra little bit of confidence or whatever an athlete needs to win or to push it to the limit. So, I think it'll be interesting to see how they are able to motivate themselves and stay disciplined without that crowd reaction or that crowd help.

Paige: True. The other thing too will be weird as I think being an Olympic athlete, you're in this Olympic Village that seems almost like a dream for people who like sports that you're just around the most like gods and goddesses of athleticism. They’re the best of the best in the entire world and all different disciplines so it's probably cool being in that village that you get to meet all these greats that are in other sports than you are from all over the world. But with COVID, you can't. Everyone's going to have to be six feet apart, wearing a mask. There's probably no mingling allowed. I even read a pretty funny article that in order to really enforce no social interactions that they made the beds out of cardboard, so that it would only fit the weight of one person so people couldn't share beds and physically mingle, which we've heard happens a lot in the games in previous years.

Ian: I've heard rumors that the Olympic village gets pretty wild and pretty crazy. So, again with that kind of part of the experience, I'm sure officials were taking measures like you said, the small cardboard beds and whatnot to ensure people try to behave themselves and not party too hard. Although I think that's probably a big part of the fun for the athletes as well. Once you get done, you have that camaraderie, that fun, and blow off some steam from all the pressure and all the training they do. They deserve it.

Paige: And celebrate.

Ian: Yeah, so hopefully it won't be too boring for them to finish training and then have to socially distance or whatever they're going to have to do with their downtime.

Paige: Hey, Ian. Did you know besides the podcast, Dynamic English offers one-on-one classes with native teachers from all over the world? 

Ian: Really? But isn't it just a bunch of grammar lessons?

Paige: No, it's completely discussion-based and focuses on topics the student is interested in.

Ian: That's amazing. But what if I'm not living in Chile?

Paige: No problem. Dynamic does online classes. You can be living anywhere.

Ian: Great, but I'm a little intimidated to take the class alone. Can I join with a friend?

Paige: Of course. Dynamic offers group classes of up to four. Plus, for the next month, Coffee with Gringos listeners get 10% off individual or group classes. So go online to www.dynamicenglish.cl and mention that you are a listener and get your discount.

Ian: Well, I'm sold. Sign me up.

Paige: It's also been such a weird year where for some athletes, they probably aren't going to Tokyo because training an extra year isn't easy. I mean, most of these athletes probably have other jobs where could they take off more time from work? Or they are at an age where they're aging out where training another year someone might beat them. Or that's another year that maybe they could get injured while training or they might have got COVID and then that kind of set their training off where they’re not going to the Olympics. So, I think this year has definitely been crazy. I think everyone that made it should just be super happy that they're there. I'm excited to watch. I love watching the Olympics. What about you, Ian?

Ian: Yeah, they're fun, they're really interesting. They only come around every two years between the summer and winter.

Paige: Unless COVID and it’s three.

Ian: Right, in normal circumstances. Yeah, I mean, I think people are itching to see these events. It’s so entertaining. Another thing that's great is a lot of amateur athletes get the opportunity to showcase their skills. I mean, we've seen stars be made out of the Olympics and so I think every time when it comes around, people are looking for those big names. If they can repeat their medal wins if they can win the event, if there's some newcomer who is going to come and take the gold medal. It's just very entertaining and exciting and a huge variety, right? There are so many different events. You can kind of pick and choose what you find to be worth watching and forget about the rest. For example, what kinds of events are you excited about watching this year?

Paige: Yeah, I would say my favorite for the Summer Olympics is, I ran track in college, so I always love watching all the track races, especially the distance ones. I love watching the mile, the 5k, the 10k, but the shorter ones are fun too. So, I love the track events. I love gymnastics because I think they're just absolutely amazing and the things that they can do, they're really exciting to watch. Also, like watching the swimming. Those events are really cool and the US usually does pretty well. Oh, and then I have to say soccer. I definitely watch the US soccer team.  I mean, they're just so fun to watch and they're so talented. What about you, Ian?

Ian: Well, I completely agree with all the events you mentioned. I think those are the main ones that are always very high anxiety, high tension, high energy. I mean, fantastic showcasing of skills but I also enjoy some of the more obscure events that people don't really talk about like skeet shooting, what else? Things like speed walking.  I don't know if that's still an event but speed walking used to be one. It's for the comedy of watching it. It’s funny to watch but also just one of those obscure events. So those ones we have and then this year I'm pretty excited because there's actually a few sports that are being added to this year for the first time in the Summer Olympics, including surfing, sport rock climbing, and skateboarding. Again, I really love all three of those sports, and so for me, it's really interesting to take these sports that are kind of known as more counterculture or more like less corporate and see them become more of a world stage event. I don't really think it's a bad thing, I think it's just going to make it more popular. Some people are against it—the ones that are very want to keep things in the counterculture—but for me, I think it's great to showcase those skills and it’s super entertaining. So, I’m really going to try to tune in for those three events when they come on.

Paige: Yeah, I think definitely the rock climbing is awesome. I would be excited to watch that. The thing that will be tough is in past Olympics, there have been similar time zones where I think Tokyo, where I am in Boston, I think it's like a thirteen-hour difference and so I was looking up the US women's soccer matches and they're playing games at four in the morning or just these obscure times that it's going to be impossible to watch. So, I think my trick will be like staying off the internet and watching it at a normal hour after work, but hopefully not having any spoilers.

Ian: That's always tough with that big time difference. It's like, oh I don't want to look and see what happened, who won the medal. You have got to shield yourself from some of that, so it's definitely a part of the Olympic watching strategy. That’s for sure.

Paige: Yeah, I think, definitely, if the US women's soccer team makes the final, I'm getting my ass up at four in the morning but for the group stages, early games, I'll just try to not read any spoilers and watch it at a reasonable hour. What about you? Do you think you'll get up at some of these crazy hours?

Ian: Definitely not. No, my sleep is more important to me than that. The joy about nowadays is you can just look this stuff up on YouTube—the highlights—so, I'll probably be lazy and just probably pick out the things I want to see and check out the highlights on YouTube. I'm not devoted enough to the Olympics to quite do that, to sacrifice my sleeping hours.

Paige: I do miss the experience in our city of Boston. Luckily, a lot of people are vaccinated, things are really opening up where, if it was at a similar time zone, I love watching the US women’s soccer match at a bar and on a projector and being able to experience it the way you should which is with people in a crowd. But at four-thirty in the morning, I don't think that’s possible.  

Ian: Yeah, that’s not the most convenient time. So, something that's cool for a lot of our Chilean listeners to the podcast is there are quite a number of Olympians representing Chile in the Olympics this year from a lot of different events from swimming, I mentioned skeet shooting earlier, mountain biking, canoeing, gymnastics, wrestling. I mean, the list goes on and on and so it's great to see that not just the biggest countries in the world represented on the world stage. It’s great to see some of these smaller nations represented and, of course, those from our audience. So really excited to see these athletes compete and hopefully they can bring home some medals to Chile. That would be awesome.

Paige: That would be great. No, it's awesome that there are just so many athletes from Chile that are representing so many disciplines because normally you think of Chile, you think of soccer or tennis. So, it's cool. I'm excited the women's Chilean soccer team made it because they made history making the World Cup for the first time in the last Women's World Cup so it seems like they're still moving upward, which is great. So, hopefully, they have a good performance in Tokyo.

Ian: Yes, I agree. They've got a great squad so hopefully, maybe the US women and Chilean women will meet in the final. We’ll see you take some we take switch medal.  

Paige: We’ll see. But yeah, so me and Ian are excited to watch. I hope all our listeners out there, tune in, support your athletes. They went through a lot to get there. So, definitely tune in and watch. It only comes around every two or sometimes three years so don't want to miss out. So again, listeners, as always if you get lost, check out that audio guide and transcript online at www.dynamicenglish.cl. Thanks for listening.

Ian: We'll see you next time.

Ian: “Coffee with Gringos” officially has over one hundred episodes and we are among the “Top Podcasts in Chile”. And that’s thanks to you. But we are always working to grow our audience so make sure to rate sure to rate, review and share us.  

Key Vocabulary, Phrases & Slang:

 1.     midst (noun): the middle.

a.     We are in the midst of a global pandemic.

2.     to tune in (phrasal verb): to listen to or pay attention to something.

a.      Make sure to tune in to next week’s episode to find out more.

3.     hiccup (noun): a temporary or minor problem or difficulty.

a.      The Olympic committee has already experienced some hiccups with the games.

4.     to isolate (verb): to be alone or distanced from other people.

a.      The athletes will most likely be required to isolate after they are done competing.

5.     to pour into (phrasal verb): to arrive at or enter a place in large numbers.

a.      The athletes are pouring into the stadium.

6.     semblance (noun): the appearance or impression of something different from reality.       

a.      Everyone just wants the world to return to a semblance of normalcy by having the Olympic games after the long delay.

7.     underway (adverb): already started and in progress.

a.      The running events are underway today and we will see the winners soon.

8.     spectator (noun): a person who attends and watches a live event.

a.      This year is strange since no spectators are allowed to enter the stadiums.

9.     devoted (adjective): committed and loyal.

a.     She is a devoted Olympics fan and will try her best to watch all of the events.

10.  to mingle (verb): to move and mix freely with other people in a place or at an event.  

a.      The athletes usually mingle with each other whenever there is no COVID.

11.  camaraderie (noun): mutual trust and friendship among people who spend time together.

a.      The swimming team has a real camaraderie with each other.

12.  to blow off some steam (idiom): to get rid of anxiety or stress.

a.     Want to blow off some steam and get a beer at the bar?

13.  downtime (noun): free time; time without plans or obligations.

a.     What do the athletes like to do during their downtime?

14.  amateur (adjective): performing or doing something without payment; not professional.

a.      The best amateur athletes in the world are represented at the Olympics.

15.  to showcase (verb): to display or show something.

a.      The athletes are excited to showcase their skills to the world.

16.  obscure (adjective): not well-known or important.

a.     The obscure events are my favorites to watch during the Olympics.

17.  spoiler (noun): a description or information about important details or outcomes about something that has happened either in real life or in entertainment.

a.     I am going to avoid the internet today so I don’t see any spoilers about what happened in the track events!