Tokyo Olympics (OL) 2020 slated from 23 July to 8 August 2021 has a lot of firsts and inspiring stories. Here are some of those that moved my heart recently.
On 3 August 2021, Norway´s Karsten Warholm finished the 400-meter hurdles in 45.94 seconds and his rival, USA´s Rai Benjamin´s clocked in 46,10 seconds in the same race. Both athletes broke the previous world record of 46.70 seconds. After withdrawing from a number of previous events because of feeling too much stress, USA´s Simone Biles found again courage to compete and complete the balance beam competition on 4 August 2021, and got a score of 14.700 to win the bronze medal. On 26 July, the Philippines´Hidilyn Diaz won the first Olympic gold medal for her country after 100 years. She competed in the women’s 55 kg category for weightlifting.
The story that moved me close to tears was that of Biles. She was brave to admit and tell the world she had problems with mental stress, and tried hard to overcome such and compete again. Seeing her more relaxed and enjoying her time on the balance beam will go a long way in inspiring a lot of people to try to be more relaxed as they work on dreams and their chores. For athletes, qualifying and then competing in the OL is both a dream and a chore.
The stories behind the successes of Karsten and Diaz gave me some doses of fresh inspiration. Both attest to the importance of believing in oneself, working hard on one´s dreams and goals, and being smart and practical in the day-to-day routines geared to achieving what one has set for oneself. Karsten reportedly trained eight to nine hours daily. Diaz is said to have trained daily for the OL with makeshift equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when professional gyms were closed.
These two OL champions also prove to the world that contenders from smaller places who have big dreams, the right attitudes, and decent work ethics can be as good as those that come from the bigger cities. Karsten lives in Ulsteinvik, a small town in Norway´s west coast, while Diaz hails from Zamboanga City in southern Philippines.
