Olympics fast five | Pad Patter 23 July

1. Did you know... that the Olympic rings represent the continents that the athletes come from?
Nope. I didn't know that..... now, I'll hum "The More You Know" lol!

2. Did you see any (or all) of the Opening Ceremony for the Tokyo Games? If so, what did you think?
I missed the ceremony, but just watched the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron. I do usually like to watch, but with the time difference and the broadcasting times, I wasn't able to see.

3. Do you have a fave sport/event you look forward to watching in the Olympics?
I love gymnastics, diving, archery, and I wanted to see the skateboarding and surfing! I will watch most events happily.

4. What country or countries do you generally cheer for in international events? Is there any rivalry in your household if you have family members from different backgrounds?
USA, Canada, England.... I just love watching them all. No rivalry.

5. Have you ever had the opportunity and been to an Olympic sporting event/s in person?
Nope, but would love it!

 

1. Did you know... that the Olympic rings represent the continents that the athletes come from?
I don't know if I knew that or not, but that's cool!

2. Did you see any (or all) of the Opening Ceremony for the Tokyo Games? If so, what did you think?
I did not see the opening ceremony and only saw a story on Yahoo about the wacky outfits the Italians wore with Pac-man shapes, once I read why they were that shape (circle shape was a nod to Japan's flag, with Italy's colors inside), it made more sense, but they did look weird.

3. Do you have a fave sport/event you look forward to watching in the Olympics?
My favorite is the gymnastics, but I'm also fascinated by diving. And now that my boys are both swimmers, I probably should be more interested in that, but I haven't watched any. Lol.

4. What country or countries do you generally cheer for in international events? Is there any rivalry in your household if you have family members from different backgrounds?
Team USA of course!

5. Have you ever had the opportunity and been to an Olympic sporting event/s in person?
Nope, but I do think it would be super cool! If I could, I most like to see ice skating!

 

This has what turned me off of watching the Olympics. The reason for the Olympics is athletic competition in many different sports. So show me the competition. Lose the "fluff pieces" and talking heads. I know the broadcasts want to celebrate their country but I'd rather see the athletes. And, a lot of the athletes from other countries actually train right here in the USA so in my mind why not let us see them as well.

 

1. Did you know... that the Olympic rings represent the continents that the athletes come from?
No, but I did know that the colours were chosen as representative of the colours in national flags.

2. Did you see any (or all) of the Opening Ceremony for the Tokyo Games? If so, what did you think?
No

3. Do you have a fave sport/event you look forward to watching in the Olympics?
cycling, and many of the paralympic events.

4. What country or countries do you generally cheer for in international events? Is there any rivalry in your household if you have family members from different backgrounds?
I don't do any cheering normally. However, once when I went with my Welsh university friends, and a Welsh girl was running we all cheered for her. We alternated between England, Scotland and Wales that day.

5. Have you ever had the opportunity and been to an Olympic sporting event/s in person?
Yes, when I was at university a team of us went over to the Olympics towns in Spain with a missionary organisation to do street work. I was gifted with a ticket to attend the preliminaries for the hurdles and throwing events on my birthday.

 

1. Did you know... that the Olympic rings represent the continents that the athletes come from?
I seem to remember learning that. You reminded me about it though.

2. Did you see any (or all) of the Opening Ceremony for the Tokyo Games? If so, what did you think?
No.

3. Do you have a fave sport/event you look forward to watching in the Olympics?
Probably gymnastics and diving.

4. What country or countries do you generally cheer for in international events? Is there any rivalry in your household if you have family members from different backgrounds?
USA, although with a few of our kids being born in China we like to see how they fare, especially if the athlete is from one of their provinces.

5. Have you ever had the opportunity and been to an Olympic sporting event/s in person?
No, but the whitewater rafting area where the 1996 Olympics were held is only about an hour from us. We've visited it and played there. Maybe one day we'll raft on it. When the Olympics were in Atlanta I had several friends who went to different events.

 

1. Did you know... that the Olympic rings represent the continents that the athletes come from?
I did NOT know that until just this year, and I just realized it when a friend of mine posted the same graphic on her newsfeed. Soooo cool!!

2. Did you see any (or all) of the Opening Ceremony for the Tokyo Games? If so, what did you think?
I watched the whole thing ... and of course I cried off and on, as I typically do, throughout the parade of nations. It just gets me - maybe more so because I grew up and have visited so many different countries and cultures.... more on that in question #4. I LOVED watching the 3 baseball players carrying the torch, the youngest helping the oldest make his way down the track - such respect. And that globe made from those drones - WOAH.

3. Do you have a fave sport/event you look forward to watching in the Olympics?
My 2 favorites are Gymnastics and Diving, but mostly because I participated in both of those sports growing up - my gymnastics coach was actually a former Thai ASEAN games contestant (maybe even Olympian, but I'm not sure). I'm also fascinated by almost all of the other sports, but there just aren't enough hours in the day to watch it all.... plus, work.

4. What country or countries do you generally cheer for in international events? Is there any rivalry in your household if you have family members from different backgrounds?
Continuing on from question #1... As we visit and spend time in more and more countries, my list of the countries that I cheer for continues to grow. I cheer loudly - yes, to the embarrassment of my entire family - for Thailand (where I was born), Laos, Malaysia, and Mongolia - all places that I have lived, and I figure that since I'm watching the Olympics here in the States, the US team has a large enough cheering squad around me, that I can cheer for the "underdogs" I also route for: Russia (family heritage), Jordan (spent a few weeks there), Qatar (my sister lives there), Mali (spent a few weeks there), France (where my husband was born)... and all the countries that have under 5 participants because that is quite an accomplishment to be part of the Olympics. Oh, and the last couple of years, I've cheered on the IOC Refugee group.

5. Have you ever had the opportunity and been to an Olympic sporting event/s in person?
Unfortunately, no I'm wondering if I can try to persuade my husband that we should be somewhere in the vicinity of Paris in 2024.... Or maybe Beijing next year...

@bestcee I 100% agree with you on the frustration about the US-centric broadcasting. And YES!!!!! to having to miss different nations entering the stadium or focusing on interviewing people on the bus while other nations are marching in. It almost feels disrespectful to me, but then again, I wasn't born and raised here...

 

1. Did you know... that the Olympic rings represent the continents that the athletes come from? Nope but I do now!

2. Did you see any (or all) of the Opening Ceremony for the Tokyo Games? If so, what did you think? Nope none of it

3. Do you have a fave sport/event you look forward to watching in the Olympics? I grew up watching gymnastics but I love watching diving

4. What country or countries do you generally cheer for in international events? Is there any rivalry in your household if you have family members from different backgrounds? I usually cheer for the USA

5. Have you ever had the opportunity and been to an Olympic sporting event/s in person? Nope

 

1. Did you know... that the Olympic rings represent the continents that the athletes come from?
YUP I did.
2. Did you see any (or all) of the Opening Ceremony for the Tokyo Games? If so, what did you think?
Nope.
3. Do you have a fave sport/event you look forward to watching in the Olympics?
Not really. Usually get bored with it. I prefer live sports over televised.
4. What country or countries do you generally cheer for in international events? Is there any rivalry in your household if you have family members from different backgrounds?
Team USA here - at least the athletes who are grateful for the opportunity to represent our nation and not use it for a political stunt. The others? They can jump in the pond and swim home.
5. Have you ever had the opportunity and been to an Olympic sporting event/s in person?
No.

Y'all might enjoy this though...

Obviously not the actual injuries. The rest is humorous though.

 

1. Did you know... that the Olympic rings represent the continents that the athletes come from? I did not! Well, maybe I did and forgot. I do remember learning about this Olympic design from the 60s in college:


I just found this quick video about the design process:


2. Did you see any (or all) of the Opening Ceremony for the Tokyo Games? If so, what did you think? Nope, n/a.

3. Do you have a fave sport/event you look forward to watching in the Olympics? Gymnastics and figure skating

4. What country or countries do you generally cheer for in international events? Is there any rivalry in your household if you have family members from different backgrounds? USA, no rivalries.

5. Have you ever had the opportunity and been to an Olympic sporting event/s in person? No, I have not.

 

A lot are college athletes in the US too! So, yeah. Show the competition!
To their credit, I did get to watch the Women's gymnastics All Around final on NBC Sports. I watched the split screen, so it was all 4 apparatus at once. There was no commentary, so it was hard to know who was winning/losing, but it was fun to watch the different athletes.

 

It does to me too, but it might be the Canadian in me. I never know.

 

I finally watched an Olympic event! My husband came in and turned my channel so I could watch the Equestrian Event. I love horses and I was completely enthralled. I didn't get into the scoring, not did I care. I just loved watching those gorgeous horses and seeing them go through the intricate steps and "routines" Just amazing!

 

1. Did you know... that the Olympic rings represent the continents that the athletes represent? Yes, somewhere way back I heard that.

2. Did you see any (or all) of the Opening Ceremony for the Tokyo Games? If so, what did you think of it? The little that I saw was amazing. I loved how they portrayed the pandemic stopping the Olympics last year.

3. Do you have a fave sport/event you look forward to watching in the Olympics?
Swimming, diving, gymnastics, water polo. This year I watched some slolum kayaking - it was interesting.

4. What country or countries do you generally cheer for in international events? Is there any rivalry in your household if you have family members from different backgrounds?
Usually the USA, but sometimes for the underdog.


5. Have you ever had the opportunity and been to an Olympic sporting event/s in person?
Yes, in Salt Lake City. We took the kids out of school and went to a hockey event. One of the best trips EVER!