Sunset Over Tokyo

by eatatjoesblog on August 12, 2021

Another Eat@Joes comes to a close. By my count, this was the ninth Games for me and the eighth that included some sort of regular correspondence with friends and family. In Turin, it was a series of emails that got passed around like a basket at church. It morphed into something of a blog for Beijing, but that iteration, which also included Vancouver, was lost forever when Apple shuttered its software for such things.

It’s been E@J since. I wished the Tokyo version had more hijinks, but being quarantined doesn’t lend itself to too much mayhem, although we squeezed some in at the end. Shirtless waiters always helps.

It was nice you got to meet Larry. Great guy. Great friend. Always good to see the Games through fresh eyes. He had a blog too, which you can find here. Somehow he found more time to write. Nice to be young. I opted for more sleep.

Speaking of which, I have been home for 48 hours and can assure you I have slept about 40 of those. Starting to feel human again.

The year delay for the Tokyo Games means that Beijing is only six months away. The graphics crew will have to dig into that before long, but I’m trying not to think about that.

Here are some of the things we published before the Games:

Adam Ondra, The Climber

Suni Lee, The Gymnast

Dalilah Muhammad, The Hurdler

Simone Manuel, The Swimmer

How Speed and Distance Dictate How Olympians Run

And some of our live coverage:

The Moves That Gave Sunisa Lee Olympic Gold

What Happened in Simone Biles’s Vault

How the World’s Fastest Men Battled for Gold in 10 Seconds

How Fast the Jamaican Sprinters Ran to Sweep the Women’s 100 Meters

How Sydney McLaughlin Beat Her Own World Record to Win Gold

For Katie Ledecky, the Longer the Race the Better

Australia Dominates Again in the Women’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay

I’ll leave you with some more photos from my nearly monthlong stay in Tokyo.

Arigato for joining me.

For those without their own office in the MPC, they work here.

There wasn’t much for me to eat at the venues, so chocolate and bananas was my lunch on many days.

Alex Garcia grabbing a nap under the table at the Track and Field workroom.

This sign was at the swimming venue. Your guess is as good as mine.

Jeremy seems to have the footwear advantage.

We all had to take a covid test when we landed at the Tokyo airport. You had to wait until your number lit up on the board before you could proceed. I clearly was the last.

When I wasn’t having bananas and chocolate, I was eating at the mall near my hotel. I had this a lot: Rice, pickled veggies, scallions and a raw egg cracked over the top. Thankfully, it was the closest I came to eating raw chicken.

Checking my reams of paperwork when I arrived at the Tokyo airport.

Doug Mills setting up his remote camera at the finish line at track.

Enjoy the rest of your summer everyone.

4 Comments Post a comment

Michigan sister #

Glad you’re home and getting some rest. I’m sure you’re happy to have access to a few more GF choices. I would NOT eat raw egg on anything. That’s just gross!!
Was Covid testing in alphabetical order?? How did you end up last?
Thanks for sharing your experiences and pictures. Take care and recuperate.

August 12, 2021
Bib # 2917 #

Well, the rice was hot so the egg cooked a bit when i stirred it in.

August 12, 2021
John R Filzen #

Thanks for sharing your Olympic experiences with me again. I think that you have an awesome job!

August 12, 2021
Bib # 2917 #

Thanks for tuning in John. I think you have an awesome retirement. 🙂

August 13, 2021