For some, the Olympics need to go away. Enough weird stuff on TV. Why are people climbing fake rock walls in under 10 seconds? Why are people jumping on trampolines?
For others, watching the Olympics has been a fun escape, even with the COVID, no-crowd weirdness. Things end on Sunday, so prepare to detox from it all. THAT IS, until the Paralympics start Aug. 24 in Tokyo. Imma going to drop some knowledge in a few weeks on why you need to get into the Paralympics, if you haven’t already. Just do me a save the date on the calendar and we will chat about it all soon.
Let’s jump into the important stuff that's gone down today, Friday, at the Tokyo Games – because Earth-shaking stuff has happened. Pinkie-swear promise.
HUGE SPOILER ALERT: If you maintain a blissful state of news blackout, preferring to pretend things happen when NBC chooses to show it at night…stop now. I live in the world where Japan is 12 hours ahead, and many things happened during their Friday. And I saw them live on the telly.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
The Disney Soccer Movie Ending We All Wanted
I can see it so clearly. Soccer superstar Christine Sinclair, resplendent in her cardinal red Team Canada uniform, has tears in her tired eyes. Glitter and confetti rain down, as she stands on the pitch, exhausted but proud, with an Olympic gold medal around her neck. She’s got a stunned smile and that’s the last shot of the movie. Roll credits. Fire up some inspirational music by Barenaked Ladies or Drake. No Celine Dion or Anne Murray – yes, they’re Canadian, but, nah for soccer.
If you didn’t yet catch today’s gold medal game between Canada and Sweden, go find it. It was an instant classic. The match moved to the Japanese evening, trying to spare the players the agony of playing in 90-plus degrees with 70 percent humidity during the day. Playing your sixth high-level soccer game in 16 days, in a different time zone, in a sauna for a gold medal is enough to drop the best-conditioned players.
The move to Yokohama, and 9 p.m., still left the swamp at a sticky 83 degrees with 78 percent humidity. Which is fantastic for growing orchids in a rainforest. Not for championship soccer.
I was cheering for Team Canada, with a spicy side dish of love for Sweden and their longtime star Caroline Seger. No matter who won, it would be good for soccer. Heading into today, Sweden had taken a silver, and Canada at two bronzes, since women’s soccer started in the Games in 1996.
Sinclair, who is 38, left the game in the 86th minute, with the tilt tied at one, and looked gassed. I’ve noticed this exhausted limp from her the last two games, only kicking in when she has two feet on the sideline. Like she lets it go, shift over.
The game went to PK’s, or as my mom likes to say, ‘That’s so terrible for the goalie”, territory. I think the most other aggrieved parties witnessing penalty kicks in major finals are the sports writers on deadline.
RAISES HAND.
I’ve been there twice, first at the 1999 World Cup (U.S. v. China PKs) and the 2011 World Cup (U.S. v. Japan), with an honorable mention to the 2008 Beijing Games OT final (U.S. v. Brazil). I clearly have had my life shortened in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Frankfurt’s Commerzbank Arena, and Worker’s Stadium in Beijing, watching with my heart pounding and eyes tearing at the tension – and still needing to work! (Super honorable mentions for lifespan shortenings to the Detroit Pistons in the 2005 NBA finals, and the Detroit Red Wings for their various OT messes in the playoffs. But those are stories for another day.)
For those scoring at home, of course, the U.S. won in 1999 (Brandi Chastain and her abs for the ages!), won in 2008 (Carli Lloyd boom) and Japan took 2011 (Nadeshiko were ice; U.S. PK horror show).
Each time I went into a headspace of restrained insanity, cranking out the definitive version for newspaper and home page front pages…in like two minutes. Ripping out hundreds of words to totally change a narrative on the fly is not for everybody. The players had their high wire act on the field, and now it was my turn to fly high with no net as the journalist.
Hours after the game, I needed time to come down from the adrenaline and panic rushes, processing how I was blessed enough to witness World Cup or Olympic history.
This time, I could kick back and enjoy this PK drama while sitting at home in my kitchen with some coffee and a cool summer breeze wafting through the house. I was still quietly freaking out for both teams, knowing the losing team will never get over the PK mistakes. I was dreaming of my Sinclair ending. I wanted one of the greatest players of all time, the one with the most goals international history, to get her gold crown and create Canadian sports history.
Canada’s Julia Grosso nailed the winning PK, ripping her shot through the hand of Swedish keeper Hedvig Lindahl…and it was over. 3-2 PKs. Done. The Canadians rushed the field. I was looking for Sinclair, I wanted to see her reaction. She wasn’t on the pitch, as she wasn’t eligible to take a shot. Then I saw No. 12, streaking out from the sidelines, no longer limping or exhausted. Her smile said it all. It was done.
Then I saw Seger, and most of the Swedes, collapsed on the field from the weight of everything. It sucked. Seger could have won the gold if she had made her PK, but she jacked it over the top cross bar. She knew, as soon as she connected, that it was bad. The pain on her face was searing. She felt the depth of this lost opportunity. And she was right. A few minutes later, she had silver. Again.
Sinclair and Canada have gold. At last. If that doesn’t make you smile, you’re not into sports or being happy for good people getting their wonderful endings.
Or maybe you just cheer for the Disney villains.
But there are no villains or enemies here.
Canada gold – good, Sweden silver – good, U.S. – bronze good.
Roll the credits.
