Winning Isn't Everything

Wednesday July 31, 2024

Update on Azja Czajkowski - Remember Azja? We told you about how we went to watch her in the Women's Pairs rowing event and they qualified for the semi-finals. Well, we have an exciting update - today, Azja and her partner qualified for the finals!! Go Azja and Team USA!

Our tickets for today are for Men's Gymnastics All-Around competition. The event doesn't start until 5:30 p.m., so we had time this morning to relax and do some shopping. We wandered around the neighborhood near where we are staying and found chocolate shops, clothing shops, restaurants, and a produce market. (We may have purchased some chocolate!) Fun morning!

Olympic Trivia

• The first Summer Modern Olympics had 14 countries compete, now over 200 compete.

• From 1921-1948 artists participated and competed for Olympic medals. The artists included painters, sculptors, writers and musicians.

• Olympic athletes Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky were born within three days of each other.

Olympic Culture and Sportsmanship

One of the reasons we enjoy going to the Olympic Games (we also went to London in 2012) is because of the positive and collegial atmosphere that surrounds the games. Some people are devoted fans of their country's teams, and some people are intense fans of the sport. But no matter what, they all celebrate great plays, appreciate strong effort, and cheer for everyone. For example, at gymnastics today there was loud applause for excellent routines, and loud applause for a gymnast on the horizontal bar who fell to the ground twice during his routine - once because of an equipment malfunction and once he just missed his grip. But the crowd cheered loudly for his tenacity and effort. The Ukranian athletes were fan favorites and received lots of applause. The fans even applauded as the athletes moved to the next rotation. When a French athlete or team is involved in the event, the French fans sometimes burst into song, singing the national anthem or other french songs, and chants. One of the more common chants is Allez, which means "Let's Go".

And, most importantly there was no booing. These reactions were not just at gymnastics, they have been true at every event we have attended at both Olympics. And for the most part, the positive interactions extend to the traveling to, and entering the venues.

Today's Event

Artistic Gymnastics Men's All Around- Medal Round

Location: Percy Arena (bottom right quadrant of the events map in the July 28th blog)

Artistic Gymnastics Rules: Gymnasts strive to balance the execution of basic and complex elements with a quality of performance that will impress judges and the audience, as well as earn them the highest possible score. All routines receive a score for difficulty (D) and execution (E).

Principles of the game: The principles of artistic gymnastics encompass various aspects such as technique, creativity, strength, flexibility, and precision.

Fun facts:

• The 10.0 scoring system was eliminated in 2006.

• There is no maximum score in gymnastics, it all depends on how much Difficulty a gymnast is capable of.

• USA has won the last 5 Women's Olympic All-Around titles.

• Japanese men have won the last 3 Olympic All-Around titles.

In the Men's All-Around Artistic Gymnastics, the apparatus are: Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse, Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar.

The Japanese and Chinese men are so evenly matched in terms of talent and consistency that it is impossible to predict which team will be victorious. Tonight's competition outcome had no surprises; however, one athlete from Ukraine was in the running for a medal until the very last person of the very last event. Such excitement and suspense as the crowd was waiting for the final horizontal bar score!

Gold was won by Japan and Silver and Bronze went to China. Congratulations to all the competitors!

Medal ceremony

Special shout-out to our two USA Men's athletes Paul Juda and Frederick Richard. Here are a few shots of their performances.

USA Gymnast Paul Juda

USA Gymnast Frederick Richard

And just to cheer on the Ukranian athletes, here is the 4th place gymnast.

Next up - Volleyball.