In the sweltering heat of a Tokyo afternoon, a group of schoolchildren got off the Yurika-mome Line train at the Ariake-tennis-no-mori stop on Friday and ran straight over to the glass screens at the edge of the platform.
They stood there for a while gazing down at the deserted BMX track with its steep start ramp and its undulating straights and its Olympic rings logo and its empty grandstands. They held up their phones to take pictures.
A few stops down the line, a similar scene had played out the night before near the Aomi Urban Sports Park, the venue for the sport climbing event. Groups of would-be spectators lingered self-consciously on a section of a wide walkway that afforded a view of the action through the open sides of the arena. Officials patrolled the area, holding up signs, in Japanese and English, which instructed people: ‘Do not stop here.’
Tom Daley helped to save the Olympics as he thrilled television viewers and inspired others
As the Tokyo Olympics, the event that some people called the Cursed Games, draw to a close, it is still difficult to escape a feeling of sadness, wherever events take place, that the Japanese public has been denied the opportunity to witness them at first hand and that the greatest spectacle in sport has been drained of some of the energy that makes it such an uplifting festival of human endeavour.
These Olympics will always be remembered as the Pandemic Games: the first time in peacetime that they have been postponed; the first time they have taken place behind closed doors. But they will be remembered for more than that, too. They will be remembered as the Games that somehow overcame all those obstacles and all that sadness. They will be remembered as the Games that would not die.
Daley bookended these Games for Team GB and stated all athletes should be proud to be there
They were not quite the harbinger of recovery for the world that so many had hoped they would be. They came too soon for that. Too many nations are still suffering too grievously with the coronavirus for these Olympics to have been the herald of rebirth. Instead, they operated in a state of siege, with athletes presenting themselves with their own medals, but they found the power to inspire even in those circumstances. They are still the Greatest Show on Earth.
How Tokyo saved the Games is a simple equation really. The athletes saved the Games. Their perseverance saved the Games. Their resilience saved the Games. Their grace and their strength and their breathtaking skill and their scarcely believable endurance and their speed and their agility saved the Games and turned it, despite everything, into a triumph over adversity.
And because these were the pared-down Games; because there were just the athletes in the arena; because they had the stage to themselves, the beauty and the courage of what they do were even more obvious.
On Saturday, in the silence of the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, the bravery it takes for Tom Daley to perform a perfect armstand on a board high above the pool and then plunge, twisting and somersaulting into the water, had never felt more clear.
The Olympic Games have proven they are still the greatest show on earth in sport
With no supporters in attendance the courage of the athletes became even more obvious
Daley bookended these Games for Team GB. His gold medal alongside Matty Lee in the synchronised 10m platform event on the first Monday galvanised his team-mates and thrilled television viewers at home. It was one of the first hints that these Olympics would still captivate us with their feats and their life stories and the journeys they had taken to get here.
Daley finished third in the individual men’s 10m platform on Saturday, pushing his relentless Chinese rivals, Cao Yuan and Yang Jian, deep into the fight. It means he is taking home a gold, a bronze and a series of ornately crafted knitted items to his husband, Lance, and his son, Robbie, and when he spoke after his event, he captured the feeling of achievement every competitor here should cradle.
‘There was a moment just before my first dive,’ said Daley, ‘when I looked around and I was like, “You know what, I’m at the Olympic Games and this is bloody cool”. I made it to an Olympic Games after 18 months of uncertainty and every single Olympian that is here should be extremely proud of the fact that they made it here and of the hard work that they put in to get here.’
Some months ago, the British Olympic Association adopted the mantra
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