Six days ago, tennis superstar Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron and kicked off just over two weeks of sporting excellence. Now, sports fans around the globe have been glued to their screens to support their national teams and athletes competing in the biggest event of high-level athleticism.
So amid the salty caramel popcorn, loud cheers and tears of disappointment, people are taking their emotions and laying them all out in these funny tweets that we collected below. So let’s get that Tokyo Olympics vibe up and rolling, and be sure to upvote your favorite ones!
After you’re done, I totally recommend you check out our previous post with crazy photos of Olympians and other athletes that will give you an entirely new perspective on the human body and its capabilities. No amount of respect is too much for these incredible people!
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With so many fans not being able to attend the Olympics this year, the post-pandemic sports event seems very different from what we were used to. Just like most professional sports, Olympic events feed off crowd energy that transfers onto the screens for viewers at home.
Commenting on the very different kind of Olympic experience this year, Rick Burton, a professor of sport management at Syracuse University and the former chief marketing officer of the US Olympic Committee for the 2008 Beijing games, called the experience “sterile.” “The sponsors are going to be thinking the ratings will be down. They’re worried they’re not going to get their money’s worth,” he added.
Moreover, sports psychologists are now observing an Olympics without fans as a real-life science experiment. It’s thought to help researchers and clinicians to measure the impact of a crowd of fans on its players—and on spectators at home. The unprecedented times offer an entirely new glimpse into what is the social and psychological makeup of the Olympic Games and how the competing athletes are affected by it.
Some athletes have already stressed the pressure that’s been building for not having an audience of spectators. On Tuesday, superstar gymnast Simone Biles dropped out of the women’s team event, blaming “not the right headspace” for competition. “It’s been really stressful this Olympic Games. Just as a whole, not having an audience. There are a lot of different variables going into it,’ she told the Washington Post.
The findings made on viewers’ engagement also show that sports without fans may be way less enjoyable. Kantar, a research firm that measures consumer enthusiasm, found that two-third of American sports spectators announced that watching sports during the pandemic was not as engaging and enjoyable. “[The Olympics] could be a little bit less engaging, a little bit less fulfilling for the viewer,” Ryan McConnell, Kantar’s senior vice president for consulting, told Quartz.
Damn, BP's censoring has gone to (present tence cat in french)
weightlifter hidilyn diaz won the first ever goldmedal for the philippines!! i literally screamed when she won :D i was so f*cking happy for her
I actually teared up! Seeing him so pumped up as he looked at the scoreboard, it was amazing! So happy for him!
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I love watching so many of the small countries' athletes putting it all on the line with no chance but to defend their pride. During the women's mountain bike competition I watched the Namibia's entry get lapped by the eventual gold medal winner. She was pedaling up that hill like she was defending a 10 minute lead. I had to look her up (Michelle Vorster) - she's a 42 year old who is truly the best at what she does in her country and is proud to represent them.
Belgium just won gold in gymnastics bridge uneven bars. Beat US, Russia and China... while this was not really unexpected, people in Belgium are still losing their sh*t over this and rightly so. What an accomplishment!
Damn right we are proud ! Nina Derwael is a fantastic athlete. Wout Van Aert is one of the in cycling.
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Fiji, I live there btw, won gold in mens rugby seven's! THE SECOND TIME IN A ROW!!!
Well America doesn’t have to win everything. It nice to see others win
Coolest thing I did at 13 was a trick on a bike that later caused me severe pain (when I landed) and would have made Tony Hawk laugh, b/c he could do it on a skateboard. So, yeah, no coolness whatsoever.
Note: this post originally had 60 images. It’s been shortened to the top 45 images based on user votes.
Here is another kind of Olympics from Remi Gaillard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBkyth_KT3E
Here is another kind of Olympics from Remi Gaillard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBkyth_KT3E
