Tag: tokyo 2020

when the world comes together

When the world comes together

In a flurry of flags that flap in the wind

And a torch that will burn brightly

For days while the heroes

Show us mere mortals what the body can do.

Marvel at their talent and cry

When they win, when they lose,

When they trail off the plane with medals in hand,

Hugging their families who have missed them so much;

It was worth all that effort

And we thank them with love for what they have done.

I saw this video a moment ago and I was in bits by the end of it. I love the Olympics and I tend to get quite emotional over it at the best of times. But having had it postponed and then having no spectators, with all of the struggles that the athletes must have gone through to get there; well that just added to the feels.

I’m really thankful to the athletes for giving us two weeks worth of highs and lows. You were all awesome and I can’t wait to see what they all do in Paris in three years time. It’s amazing what can be achieved when the world comes together.

Much Love

Rachel xx

called up to the olympics

gray olympics concrete block
Photo by Anthony on Pexels.com

I saw on Facebook, somebody had written that it would be far more entertaining if the Olympics were not for elite athletes but for ordinary people who randomly get called up for any sport. So you would get a letter through the post two weeks before telling you that you had been picked for the freestyle BMX event and you would just have to try your best.

Surely this would be great for stopping all of those armchair critics who seem to think that their nasty opinions are worth anything. The people slating Simone Biles might be less scathing in their attacks when they are called up for pole vault.

I also secretly would like to have a go at the dancing horse event; I reckon I’d do quite well at that. Any thoughts?

Much Love

Rachel xx

Simone

She flies through bright lit air, searching for the bar,

A blur of leotard and sequins flash across the sky,

And crowds will wait with bated breath, to see

What she can do with flesh and muscle human mass.

But what’s the cost? She’s not a freak show queen

That we all pay to watch and point and make assumptions

That she is so strong she’s indestructible, immense

And yet there are those fragile tears that roll

Like oceans in the darkest night, it hardly seems

Fair to call that ocean weak when droplets fall

Alone, in slowest motion, picked apart by mortal men,

Like we could do a better job? Don’t kid yourself,

Don’t play with waves that flip and turn with force of God,

That legend may just ebb away but it will never die.

the 100m butterfly call room

Purgatory, is what I’d call it,

Somewhere beautiful yet desolate, a blue

That could require a pair of shades to take

Away the edge, the brutal feeling that

We’re on the edge, tilting dangerously

Towards the great unknown, and swimmer’s arms

Swinging manically, their quiet singing

As they listen through their Beats, wanting

To be sick, to run, to enter through the jaws of Hell,

But they will have no choice, but to walk the other way,

Out into the light, where spirits weight,

Lenses of their eyes zoom in and we must strip away

Our tracksuits like those butterflies emerging

From cocoons, fluttering our wings or flags.

But butterflies don’t race, they dance,

And we will swim until our lungs are burning with

That enduring need to win, to know we’re loved

And in that call room we are shaken to our core

With an awful uncertainty, stay or go

That’s the dilemma that the swimmer meets.

they watch over us

angelic statue and sunset scenery
Photo by Ellie Burgin on Pexels.com

They watch over us when we grapple

With the hardest questions posed in life,

The toughest moments, bringing to our knees,

We looks up towards the leaden sky and ask

Are you there? Do you know how this will end?

Of course they don’t, but they are there,

Placing hands that love and heal on our heavy shoulders

As we stride into those battles that seemed insurmountable.

They cry a tear or two with us, wishing they could touch

In much the same way that they could when living.

But never let it be forgot, that they are there,

Watching over when it hurts and when there’s joy,

They’re always there and if you wish it hard enough

You’ll still feel those arms, giving you a loving squeeze.

Sorry, another Olympic themed post. I am a sports fan so you might get bored over these next few weeks if you don’t care for swimming or athletics or any other new sport that I have taken a fancy to!

My most recent tears came in the diving when Tom Daley won gold in the synchronised event. In the UK, we have been watching him since he was 14 and just hoping that he will one day win.

This was made all the more important when his biggest fan, his dad, got a brain tumour and passed away. Since then, it feels as though it became more important to Tom, to make his dad proud.

He got that illusive gold this morning and it just made me think that his dad must have been smiling down. I really do think that the people we love, who have passed on, do watch over us and share in our successes. We may not be able to feel them and have a hug from them but they are definitely have them close all of the time.

Much Love

Rachel xx

on failure

gold and blue trophy on red surface
Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

I’m not sure if it’s pain, or hot and sticky shame

That makes failure so bitter to the tongue,

So uncomfortable, it stings the eyes when cameras

Are watching with their thick rimmed lenses,

Judging and assessing you, and knowing

It’s not good enough, you fell so bloody short.

No-one hates you but that’s not the way it feels,

As you slink out of the light, into the shadows

Where we lick our ugly gaping wounds.

I’m a self-confessed Olympics fan and although swimming is my favourite, I find myself getting drawn into everything else that is going on. And today’s action reminded me of the pain that comes with failure when you wanted something so bad.

Jade Jones is a double Olympic Taekwondo champion and an all round legend. Today she was going for her third title, but she crashed out in her first fight. It was a bit of a shock to watch but what was most important was to watch the interview with her afterwards.

She was just so emotional and it was heartbreaking to see how five years of work, gone in a few minutes, affects a person.

Now, Jade is an Olympian so just getting there makes her anything but a failure, but she didn’t achieve what she wanted and it was crushing. And what makes it worse is that it has to be watched on such a global stage. When you just want to curl up and cry, it takes an immense amount of strength and dignity to go out there and give an interview about what ‘went wrong’.

I don’t know about you, but I struggle with failure and I’ve had plenty of them throughout my life. It’s amazing how lonely you feel in these moments, like nobody else has ever suffered that devastation before.

I remember being about fourteen and missing a medal in the county championships by less that a second. I went straight to the changing rooms and I buried my face in my towel so that nobody could hear my sobs. It was very lonely in that changing cubicle and I wish that I’d had somebody to give me a hug and tell me that it happens to EVERYONE.

Today, I wanted to give Jade a hug. I’m sure she’ll recover but I’m sure she is hurting tonight.

Much Love

Rachel xx

to have the chills

That tightly pulled silence that stretches over crowds

And then a simple beep to set the wheels in motion,

The world just holding one collective breath

As swimmers pull and runners push for just a moment,

Four years of sacrifice all rolled into minutes.

We just see that moment in time when everything

Comes together and a gleaming medal is hung

Around their necks, photos taken and anthems sung,

Was it worth it? Of course it was.

I’m absolutely buzzing for the start of the Olympics; to have the chills that only come with sport. I think it’s because I was an athlete as a kid, so I know the sacrifices that are made. I never made it to the Olympics but I can certainly understand what they have put themselves through.

I was lucky enough to go to the London Olympics and see the first day of swimming. It was only the heats but the atmosphere felt electric. I remember the British swimmer, Hannah Miley, won her heat in the 400m IM and I burst into tears. All the hairs on my arms stood on end and it just felt like one of the most amazing moments in my life.

These Olympics will obviously be very different, with no crowds, but I’m sure the athletes will realise that we are all in our living rooms, cheering them on. It will still be possible to have the chills, we just need to become 100% invested in their race and their story, because they have all fought through difficulties to get there.

The video above is enough to have the chills no matter who you are. There will be magical moments and heartbreaking moments and we need to enjoy them and live them with the athletes.

Much Love,

Rachel xx