TOKYO OLYMPIC 2020
- Written by Kumiko Nasu
Finally Tokyo Olympic 2020 opened its door last Friday on July 23rd and welcomed 11,100 athletes to Japan.
There are many things happened/happening to Tokyo Olympic. Of course the event was postponed a year due to worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and it became “fan-free” Olympic for the first time in the history. Tokyo is in the middle of their 4th State of Emergency and the athletes are getting tested daily. It is impossible to imagine how these athletes prepared themselves for the Olympic during the pandemic. Everything has been unsure and unknown. They are still facing the hardship even after traveled to Japan.
For more happier and future hopeful news. There are 4 new sports debut at Tokyo Olympic; Karate, Surfing, Skateboarding and Sports climbing. Japan got a few medals on surfing and skateboarding. More opportunities for the young boys and girls to dream dream of becoming Olympic medalists. Baseball and Softball are the returning sports.
Also this Olympic aimed to put sustainability “Be better, together – for the planet and for the people” All the medals were manufactured 100% with the recycled used cell phones and small electronic devices collected from the publiccreating gold, bronze and silver. The podiums are 3-D printed made with the recycled plastics also collected by the public. The Olympic Village is powered by renewable technology called hydrogen power providing athletes light, heat and hot water.
Tokyo hosted Olympic once before in 1964, 57 years ago. That Olympic seems to have a relationship to my life how I ended up living in New York.
My father was trying to make extra money during Tokyo Olympic in 1964 and he worked as a limousine driver for the tourists. His first clients were two couples from Kansas, Mr. and Mrs. Higgins and Mr. and Mrs. Conner. Somehow they became very fond of him and asked him to be their chauffeur for their entire stay in Tokyo. On the last day, they told him if he ever wanted to come to America, he could visit them. So he did. He went to Kansas and stay with them for 3 years while attended university. My father used to say they were his parents in America and kept close relationship. They were the reason my father felt comfortable to send two daughters to university in Iowa. If something happened, they were close by to ask for help. Mr. and Mrs Connel’s son is the reason I was able to come to New York to study at Martha Graham School. He knew Martha Graham Company was very prestigious and he convinced my father this was the school I should attend in New York. While pursuing a dance career, I became GYROTONIC® instructor. When my parents and my sister’s family visited me in 2014, I took them to our studio introducing GYROTONIC® method. My father had 1-hour private session with Maria while I taught my mother, sister and brother-in-law. Now my father takes GYROTONIC® session once a week at La Feuille Aoyama, Tokyo for more than 5 years. I feel the life is a circle - what goes around comes around.
I have a few Olympian clients in the studio too. I have 80 plus years old male clients and 70 plus years old female clients who want to feel better with their bodies and try to figure out what they can do to improve. They are my idols, hoping I will be enthusiastic and curious as they are to keep my body and mind in good shape when I reach their age.
The athletes have 1 more week to compete until the closing ceremony. There are many good surprises and sad surprises happened already. Hope at the end of the event, all athletes will be happy to have come to Japan and all Japanese are proud to host Tokyo Olympic 2020 when things are difficult. I am sure some encounters happened in this Olympic will lead a path for someone’s future, like it did to me.
The life is a circle - what goes around comes around
Kumiko Nasu