The tears of joy, the exultation, the pain.
Punctual with history, although shifted by a year
, the Tokyo Olympics offered the world its kaleidoscope of stories, not just victories and defeats
.
From the empty stadium of the opening ceremony to the blue relay that poses wrapped in the Italian flag, ten souvenir postcards emerge from the endless series of protagonists.
Moments for a memory album that tells the story of the Games, in the era of the pandemic and in the name of Italy.
THE WORLD IN A DRONE ABOVE THE EMPTY STADIUM
The opening ceremony of the Games is an unusual show: an empty stadium due to Covid limitations, only the emperor and Bach plus a thousand personalities and executives to applaud a fascinating but vacuum-packed show. Until Japan amazes everyone: the world is a ball of light made up of thousands of drones, flying over the stadium. But the upturned audience is the missing actor (July 23, first day).
DELL'AQUILA FLIES ON GOLD
The Italy team's Olympics
starts
strong. On the first day of competitions, the day after the opening ceremony, he is immediately gold with Vito Dell'Aquila, in taekwondo. Twenty-one years old and a natural gab, the boy from Mesagne doubles his victory as soon as he got off the podium: "I got vaccinated to come here to get the Olympics: everybody do it" (July 24, second day).
THE SCREAM OF THE WILD
COACH Ariarne Titmus, new swimming phenomenon, beats the Ledecky on the 400 style but the cameras are all for her coach, Den Boxall, a "wild" celebration as the Australians call him. Screams, fists to the sky, the balustrade of the grandstand shaken almost to the point of collapse. Excessive, but significant of what the tension behind a victory is (July 26, fourth day).
BILES STOPPED BY 'DEMONS IN HEAD'
The US gymnast is the most anticipated phenomenon.
To stop him are not the opponents, but problems of "mental health".
He misses the first exercise, he retires from the team test, gives up all the others except the final beam, where he is bronze.
"I have to face the demons in my head," he says, opening a hole in the balance of fragile champions (July 27, fifth day).
CIAO CIAO PELLEGRINI
The 'Divina' of Italian swimming greets.
He closes seventh in his fifth final of the 200 freestyle, and comes out of the pool with a smile never seen before, greeting with his hand.
"I don't know what the aftermath has in store for me, but I can't wait" (July 28th, sixth day).
USA, PINK MASKS AGAINST
COMPANION Three swordsmen on the platform with pink masks, the fourth at the bottom with a black one and not because it is the US team's reserve. Jacob Hoyle, Curtis McDonald and Yesser Ramirez thus stage, in the Olympics of gender equality, a sensational protest against teammate Alen Hadzic, accused of sexual harassment, excluded and reinstated by a judge. Olympic athletes no longer tolerate (July 30, seventh day).
TAMBERI AND BARSHIM, THE SHARED GOLD
"What do we do, we take this
gold
? And let's take it ..". The gaze of Gianmarco Tamberi and Essa Barshim when deciding for the shared victory above, at the request of the judge after the tie, is the image of the Games: friendship, complicity, joy. Two golds is better than one, as the Qatari says (1 August, tenth day).
LAUREL HUBBARD REMOVES A WEIGHT
He can't lift the barbell off the ground, he drives away prejudices. The New Zealander is the first transgender woman declared to participate in the Olympics, weight lifting 87 kg category: she started this sport as a man, as a woman she convinced the IOC to participate. It does not pass the first round or beat the controversy of those who claim it benefits from its testosterone, but now Olympics know they have to rewrite the rules of inclusion (2 August, eleventh day).
RECORD WARHOLM, IS A SCREAM OF MUNCH
In what has been renamed, with a pinch of emphasis, the most beautiful race in the history of the Olympics, the Norwegian Karsten Warholm demolishes the world record in 400, going under the wall of 46 ' 'and dragging his pursuers to times unthinkable for them. The jumpsuit torn after the finish line and above all that cry of wonder remain in the memory, immediately compared to another illustrious Norwegian: Edvard Munch (3 August, twelfth day).
FOUR BLUES IN THE TRICOLOR,
IT
'S LEGEND
Patta-Jacobs-Desalu-Tortu: Italian sport will applaud them forever with an unforgettable nursery rhyme. The Italian 4x100 relay runners are Olympic gold, after Jacobs' one in the 100. Not one, but all. Italy is the fastest country in the world. And that of the four champions dressed in the tricolor is definitely the image of the Tokyo Olympics, to their greetings (August 7, sixteenth day).
