Facebook memories are always reminding you where you were in previous years. Most of my summer memories are from baseball fields and race courses around New Hampshire.
But, the one-year-ago memories this week have started coming from the other side of the world, as at this time last year I was in Tokyo, preparing for my first summer Olympics experience, a year later than planned and a few days later than planned thanks to a three-day required quarantine.
As I write this on Saturday, July 23, it was exactly one year since the Opening Ceremonies, which I watched from my hotel room, as my quarantine had yet to be completed. I had originally hoped to make the Tokyo Opening Ceremonies my first-ever Olympic ceremony, but that had to wait a few weeks until the Tokyo Closing Ceremony.
Over the past six or seven years, I have really enjoyed when Facebook provides me with memories from my Olympic experiences. Most of those have come in the middle of February when the Sochi and PyeongChang Olympics took place. However, Tokyo is the first time those memories are popping up in the summer and it's fun to see it in another time of the year.
Tokyo was a unique experience, particularly at the time. It was the first Olympics ever postponed and the first held during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lead-up to Tokyo was a lot of paperwork and a lot of meetings determining just what the process would be for us as we prepared to make a trip around the world in the middle of a pandemic. It was frustrating at times and not the easiest of situations, but what it did was prepare me better for what we had to go through to go to Beijing earlier this year for the Winter Olympics.
When I look back, Tokyo was quite the unique experience in so many ways, mainly because of the pandemic. The venues around the city were completely empty, save for media, staff and volunteers. It was an eerie situation in so many ways. It was incredibly hot (perfect timing as the heat wave hits the northeast this week) and there was a lot of sweating going on. But it was my first time seeing the Summer Olympics and I came away with a new appreciation for the Summer Games. The Winter Olympics have always been my favorite, but I really enjoyed the athletic accomplishments I saw in Tokyo and am seriously considering another trip to the Summer Games. I got to see the great Katie Ledecky compete in person and I got to see the final Olympic performances for Allyson Felix, one of the greatest track athletes of all time. I saw a UNH alum and a former competitor on the courses at Kennett, Kingswood and Plymouth run for Team USA. I missed out on Simone Biles, but got to see a gold medal performance from Jade Carey. I saw the US win gold medals in women's and men's basketball, women's beach volleyball and women's water polo in the final days of my time in Tokyo.
And of course, I got to be part of my first Olympic ceremony when I attended the Closing Ceremonies and got to see the pomp and circumstance for the first time. Since then, I have seen the Opening Ceremonies and Closing Ceremonies in Beijing, but that ceremony in Tokyo will always be the first one for me.
I know that I can look back at any time (thanks to the iPhone photo gallery), but it is still cool to see just what I was doing one year ago on the other side of the world.
The Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo was a great setting for what ended up being my first event at the Summer Olympics last year.
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