The Olympic Hype

(photo via tokyo2020.jp)

Have you heard? The election of the 2020 Olympics host city is just around the corner!

It’s down to Istanbul, Madrid, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand….(what!?)….Tokyo!!!!! How crazy exciting is this? Could Tokyo really win the honor of hosting the 2020 Olympics?

Personally, I’ll be just as excited whether it’s here or the other side of the world. I love the Olympics. I grew up in a VERY Olympic enthusiastic family and have tons of memories of our family watching the Olympics on TV together.

All this Olympic talk made me nostalgic. So I went down memory lane and picked a few memorable Olympic moments that I remember sharing with my family…and I’m not gonna lie, I cried all over again ;P

(photo via olympic.org)

Albertville 1992, Women’s figure skating

Living in the U.S. at the time, I think this was the first time I’d seen that many (okay…two) Asians on TV at the same time. I wanted to be just like Kristi Yamaguchi when I was little and we all loved Midori Ito, too. I remember in her interviews she would try to answer in English with phrases like, “I fee-lu goo-ddo!” Too cute. They were both amazing and we were all on pins and needles during the long program competition! (read story here)

Barcelona 1992, Men’s 400m

This wasn’t even the finals. It was the semi-finals but I will never forget what I saw on the tv that day. I was only 10 but I remember what happened to Derek Redmond very vividly. He didn’t win the race but he finished it and became someone unforgettable. (read his story here)

Atlanta 1996, Men’s gymnastics

Alexei Nemov What more is there to say? This man was hottttttttttttttt!!! (And that is really all I cared about in 7th grade.) The competition between China and Russia was tight and had us holding our breath the whole time. But who are we kidding, all us girls were glued to the tv just so we can get a glimpse of Russia’s hottie. (enjoy all his hotness on the floor exercise here)

(photo via kndoty)

Atlanta 1996, Women’s team gymnastics

I was so into gymnastics during this Olympics. I think all of America was. We were up against all the dominating gymnastics countries like Russia and Romania but we had a really great team plus the hometown advantage. The competition was exciting and it ended up being the most dramatic ending. It was insane and the U.S. women’s team won their first ever team gold medal! (read story here or watch the whole thing here)

(photo via this blog)

Nagano 1998, Men’s ski jump

Watching my first Olympics back in Japan…and it was actually held in Japan! And although at that time, I had no idea where Nagano was, it was still exciting watching it all from Sapporo. And I remember my dad let me come home from school early so we could all watch the team ski jump competition together. I think most of Japan was laughing and crying just like our team was after winning the gold. A-ma-zing. (read story here and here)

Do you have a favorite Olympic moment? Gathering information on this post has me surrounded with crumbled tissues (I get emotional when it comes to the Olympics! haha) and once again in awe of all the athletes. The Olympic games are amazing and I’m always excited for it.

Wishing all three cities the best of luck at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires this weekend! 😀

15 thoughts on “The Olympic Hype”

  1. I was at first against bidding for the Olympics. Tokyo was a very long shot in the beginning, and they were wasting money again when it could have gone to better things. Now that they are spending the money, I hope we win it so that the money didn't go to waste. 🙂 I also enjoy the party.

    As for my own personal Olympic moments, they are almost all Canadian-centric. For example:

    Daniel Igali winning the gold medal in wrestling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yrBlAzTJwE

    The Men's Hockey Gold medal game in the 2010 Winter Olympics, in Canada. You can't imagine how crazy the town was when Canada won, against America too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7DeQbTzPE8

    Oh, I found out that the Vancouver Olympics still has their YouTube channel and all of the videos are there. The Opening Ceremonies are there, in full. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxZpUueDAvc&list=TLv38L283Ht_8

    Oh, and that team USA gymnastics win is also quite memorable.

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  3. Well, there's always pros and cons to bidding for the Olympics. Since this is Tokyo's third bid, we can only hope we'll get some pity votes to push us through. But Istanbul and Madrid are also really great cultural cities so there's really no telling! Exciting! ;D

    I just remembered the Men's Hockey gold medal at Vancouver! THAT was amazing! I love all the opening ceremonies, too. Also remembered that I was really into the Canadian figure skater, Elvis something or another, too! (Very cute)

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  4. Oh dear, he really did surprise the world on numerous occasions, didn't he? Was he officially charged with murder?

    I remember the swimming team from South Africa was really strong at the summer Olympics! There was a girl named Penelope something that won two medals at Atlanta and the media in the US really loved her 😀

    Do you think beer-can-target-shooting will be an Olympic sport by 2020?

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  5. It is Madrid's 3rd bid in a row. If we count pity votes, Tokyo loses. 😦 Oh, and Turkey is on bid number 5 from the latest news report I read.

    Elvis Stojko. I remember him. I was a Scott Hamilton fan at that time. Now, I don't really follow figure skating, but there is always Patrick Chan. I follow the women's figure skating more, being in Japan of course. Too bad they get too much mud slung on them from the media.

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  7. Woohoooooooo!!! Miracle of miracles, we are hosting the 2020 Olympics!!! YAY!!! *doing cartwheels*

    Now I'm going to have to move to a bigger apartment by then so I can handle all of my friends planning to come stay with me during the Olympics ;D

    Oh Scott Hamilton was the best. What a character! I liked Bryan Boitano (spell?) and Katarina Witt from that era, too. They were all amazing.

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  9. Yay!! Although I think we are the only ones celebrating on this blog. Ru is going back to SA for the games.

    I know what you mean about needing a bigger apartment. I'm sure my brother will bring at least 5 friends with him. My house will have guests when I don't need/want them. 🙂

    Bryan Boitano was cool. For the girls, I was more of a Michelle Kwan fan at that time.

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  10. I'd use Asahi because I don't like it. 🙂

    If it is the Olympics though, it would probably be Heineken as they were the official sponsor for the London games.

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  12. I was excited until I realized how OLD I'd be when the Olympics actually will be here…oh boy. Haha! Just kidding, I'll always be excited for an Olympic, especially when it's local! Whoop whoop!

    I guess we may have to swap apartment hunting stories before then, huh? ;D

    PS: Oh yeahhhh Michelle Kwan! She was so stable in her performances most of the time, no need to hold your breath when she jumps! 🙂

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  14. You won't be THAT old. Besides, you are only as old as you think. If that is true, I'm pretty old.

    We might have to, but I could easily just stay in my place. It's not too expensive, close to a park for my dog, and I can probably bicycle to the Olympic venues. Already planning to do that soon. 🙂

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  15. That's great that you're close by! I'm not too worried about location, more how tiny my apartment is. You can only fit in oh so many people in a 1K apartment ;D

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