The 2020 Tokyo Olympics were held in 2021, i.e. a year after it was supposed to, so this year it was highly anticipated. The Olympics were postponed due to the pandemic as last year, it was only the beginning of it, so Japan as well as the world wasn’t prepared to hold such an event safely.

Japan had an extra year to get ready for the Games and to ensure all safety measures. The athletes had to do COVID-19 tests regularly, wear masks everywhere and sanitize their hands. The Olympic events didn’t have spectators and the athletes had to put medals on their necks by themselves in order to minimize contact.

However, it doesn’t matter how strictly the organizers try to make the athletes follow the safety measures, the risk of the disease is always there. So they had to think not only about prevention but also what should be done when a case of COVID-19 would be confirmed.

According to Kyodo News, the total number of people who tested positive since July and had any relation to the Olympics was 430. They reported, “Of the 430 confirmed cases since July 1, only 32 were those of people who stayed in the village. A total of 286 are residents of Japan and 144 from overseas. The largest portion of the total, 236, were contract workers, followed by 109 games participants and 29 athletes.”

There were people who believed that continuing with the Olympics when the pandemic is not yet over was a mistake and the safest choice would have been to postpone it again. But evidently that decision wasn’t made and the Games carried on.

It was an extraordinary event with impressive opening and closing ceremonies and, of course, the performances of the athletes. Their results were amazing, world and national records were broken and even though Bored Panda didn’t report on everything, we covered some stories that maybe you would be interested in in, like the one of this BMX racer who had to crowdfund her trip to Tokyo, this one of an Australian working at Woolworths to be able to save some money, and this one of a gymnast who had to withdraw from the competition because of her mental state.

During these Olympics, it was the first time when countries like San Marino and Burkina Faso earned their first medals, and it was the year when a new Olympic sport, skateboarding, debuted. It was the first time a transgender person won a medal, and that was Canadian soccer player Quinn. Many more wonderful things happened that no pandemic could have overshadowed.

At the Olympics, the most important thing is the participation, being a part of something big and feeling the Olympic spirit. But it is surely a great achievement to win a medal and know that all the hard work is rewarded. 

To quickly summarize, the US was the country that won the most medals (113); other countries in the top 5 are China (88), the Russian Olympic Committee (81), Britain (65) and the host of the Olympics, Japan (58).

Did you watch the Olympics? What events were you most interested in? Was your country represented and did the athletes win any medals? Tell us your thoughts about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the comments and upvote the photos that speak to you the most!