About Olympics Games: Olympics are leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competitions.
- The Olympic Games are considered the world’s foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating.
- The Olympic Games are normally held every four years, alternating between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years in the four-year period.
- The modern Olympic Games was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games held in Olympia, Greece from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD.
- Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority.
- As the decision-making body, the IOC is responsible for choosing the host city for each Games, and organises and funds the Games according to the Olympic Charter.
- There are several Olympic rituals and symbols, such as the Olympic flag and torch, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.
- The first, second, and third-place finishers in each event receive Olympic medals: gold, silver, and bronze,
Olympics Symbols:
- The Olympic symbol, better known as the Olympic rings, consists of five intertwined rings and represents the unity of the five inhabited continents (Africa, The Americas (is considered one continent), Asia, Europe, and Oceania).
- The coloured version of the rings –“blue, yellow, black, green, and red” over a white field forms the Olympic flag. These colours were chosen because every nation had at least one of them on its national flag.
2020 Summer Olympics (Tokyo Olympics 2020)
- The 2020 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, and branded as Tokyo 2020, is an ongoing international multi-sport event being held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
- Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 7 September 2013.
- Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the event was postponed to 2021 in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the first such instance in the history of the Olympic Games (previous games had been cancelled but not rescheduled).
- The Summer Paralympics will be held between 24 August and 5 September 2021, 16 days after the completion of the Olympics.
- The 2020 Games are the fourth Olympic Games to be held in Japan, following the Tokyo 1964 (Summer), Sapporo 1972 (Winter), and Nagano 1998 (Winter) games.
- Tokyo is the first city in Asia to hold the Summer Games twice.
- The 2020 Games are the second of three consecutive Olympics to be held in East Asia, following the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and preceding the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.
- The 2020 Games introduced new competitions and re-introduced competitions that once were held but were subsequently removed.
- New ones include 3×3 basketball, freestyle BMX and mixed gender team events in a number of existing sports, as well as the return of madison cycling for men and an introduction of the same event for women.
- New IOC policies also allow the host organizing committee to add new sports to the Olympic program for just one Games. The disciplines added by the Japanese Olympic Committee are baseball, softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding, the last four of which make their Olympic debuts.
- The opening ceremony was held on 23 July 2021 in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. It included the traditional Parade of Nations. Emperor Naruhito formally opened the Games, and at the end of the torch relay the Olympic cauldron was lit by Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka.
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020-2021 : SLOGAN (MOTTO):
- The slogan of the 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay is “Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together”.
EMBLEM:
- The official emblems for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics were designed by Asao Tokolo, who won a nationwide design contest, it takes the form of a ring in an indigo-colored checkerboard pattern. The design is meant to “express a refined elegance and sophistication that exemplifies Japan”.
- The design is meant to “express a refined elegance and sophistication that exemplifies Japan”.
- The checkered design resembles a pattern called ichimatsumoyo.
MASCOT:
- The official mascot of the 2020 Summer Olympics is Miraitowa, a figure with blue-checkered ichimatsumoyo patterns inspired by the Games’ official emblem.
- Created by Japanese artist Ryo Taniguchi.
- Miraitowa is named after the Japanese words for “future” and “eternity”.
- Someitythe official mascot of the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
- Someity is named after someiyoshino, a type of cherry blossom. Someity’s name also refers to the English phrase “so mighty”.
FIRST EVER in Olympic Games Tokyo 2020-2021:
- Bermuda, the Philippines, and Qatar won their first-ever Olympic gold medals.
- Burkina Faso, San Marino, and Turkmenistan won their first-ever Olympic medals.
- San Marino became the smallest country to ever medal
- Kokona Hiraki at 12 years and 343 days, Kokona won the silver medal in the women’s park skateboarding with the best score of 59.04. She also became the youngest Japanese Olympic medallist ever.
- Momiji Nishiya at 13 years and 330 days, Nishiya won the inaugural women’s skateboarding street competition. She was the youngest to win a gold medal in Tokyo and for Japan with a score of 15.26 points on her fifth and final run for the gold
INDIA
- India has appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympics since 1920, although it made its official debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris.
- The nation sent its largest-ever contingent of 124 competitors in 18 sports to the 2020 Games.
- To date, the 2020 Summer Olympics are the most successful Games for India since its first regular Olympics appearance in 1920, with Indian Olympians winning 7 medals (1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze).
- India’s flag bearers for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 are Mary Kom and Manpreet Singh.
- India’s flag bearers for the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 is BajrangPunia.
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020-2021: Indian Medalists :
| Indian Players | Games | Medals |
| Neeraj Chopra | Athletics (Javelin Throw) | Gold |
| Bajrang Punia | Wrestling 65 kg | Bronze |
| Ravi Kumar Dahiya | Wrestling 57 kg | Silver |
| Men’s Hockey Team | Hockey | Bronze |
| Lovlina Borgohain | Boxing 69 kg | Bronze |
| PUSARLA V. Sindhu (PV Sindhu) | Badminton | Bronze |
| MIRABAI Chanu Saikhom | WeightLifting | Silver |
Neeraj Chopra
- Neeraj Chopra won the men’s javelin with a best throw of 87.58 metres, claiming a historic first Olympic gold in athletics for India, the nation’s second ever individual gold.
- This was also India’s first athletics medal since its first Olympics appearance as an independent nation in 1948.
- Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch won silver and fellow Czech VitezslavVesely won bronze to complete the podium.
Bajrang Punia
- Wrestler Bajrang Punia fetched a Bronze Medal in 65 kilogram category. He floored Niyazbekov Daulet 0f Kazakhstan, 8-0
Ravi Kumar Dahiya
- India’s ace grappler Ravi kumar Dahiya creates history, clinches Silver Medal
- Ravi Dahiya has secured silver medal. He was defeated by the reigning world champion Zavur Uguev of Russian Olympic Committee in the freestyle 57 kilogram final by 4-7.
Men’s Hockey Team
- Indian men’s Hockey team scripted history with their sticks as they defeated Germany 5-4 to win a bronze in Tokyo Olympics.
- The quest for medal for India ended after the wait of 41 years as men in blue outplayed Germany in every quarter in a high scoring match.
- For India, Simranjit Singh scored two goals and Harmanpreet, Hardik, Rupinder Pal Singh scoring one goal each.
Lovlina Borgohain
- The 23-year-old, Indian Boxer from Assam Lovlina clinched Bronze Medal for India in the 69 kg weight category.
PUSARLA V. Sindhu (PV Sindhu).
- Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu created history today by becoming the first Indian woman to win two consecutive individual Olympic medals.
- Sindhu defeated He Bingjiao of China in Straight-games in Women’s Singles category to clinch the bronze medal at Tokyo Olympics.
- She had won silver at Rio Olympics in 2016 after losing to Spain’s Carolina Marin in the final.
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu
- Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Women’s 49 kg category by lifting a total of 202 kg(87kg+115kg).
- China’s ZhihuiHou won the gold medal in the women’s 49-kg category by lifting a total of 210 kg.
- HouZhihui set a new Olympic record in the snatch at 94kgs.
First Ever in India
- Bhavani Devi is the first Indian fencer to ever qualify for the Olympics after qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
- The Indian women’s hockey team made history by qualifying for their first Olympic semi-final. But they lost to Great Britain in Bronze medal match.
- PV Sindhu became the first Indian woman and only the second Indian athlete — after Sushil Kumar — to win two individual Olympic medals.She won silver in both olympics.
- Aditi Ashok misses India’s first-ever Olympic medal in golf by a whisker, finishes 4th in Tokyo Games
Podium Sweep :
Podium sweep is where a team or nation comes in first, second and third, such as at the Olympics, and wins all available medals, which are recognized by a podium ceremony.
| Sport | Event | Team | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Athletics | Women’s 100 metres | Jamaica | Elaine Thompson-herah | Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce | Shericka Jackson |
| Cycling | Women’s cross-country mountain biking | Switzerland | Jolanda Neff | Sina Frei | Linda Indergand |
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020-2021: MEDAL SUMMARY:
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | United States | 39 | 41 | 33 | 113 |
| 2 | China | 38 | 32 | 18 | 88 |
| 3 | Japan | 27 | 14 | 17 | 58 |
| 4 | Great Britain | 22 | 21 | 22 | 65 |
| 5 | Russia | 20 | 28 | 23 | 71 |
| 48 | India | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
