More Olympic adventures

Accessing the online footage and watching it on the
 bigger screen in our lounge room.

We've been getting into the Olympic wrestling in the last couple of days, it's only just begun. The first few days are men's Greco-Roman style wrestling (similar to what our son does except wrestlers can't work on the legs of their opponent) and then women's wrestling, followed by mens freestyle which goes all the way through to just hours before the closing ceremony next Monday morning (Japan time).


We've finally figured out how to see the hours of video footage that NHK (Japan's national public broadcaster) has on their website. Given that most of the action is happening between 10pm and 8am, our time, that's a blessing, though now that school is starting next week David's working part-time to get up to speed and I continue trying to stay on top of things. So we don't have a lot of spare time to devote to Olympic watching. The boys, however, are still on holidays and have lots of time.

Yesterday I'm afraid I ended up with shredded concentration, mostly because I felt torn between the Olympics playing in the next room, our lounge room (though I was told this week that lots of people in the world won't understand what that means—it is where we "lounge", watch TV, play board games and generally relax, we never call it the living room). The boys have played their part in me struggling to concentrate, often calling me in to see this or that.

We weren't always this way
Having kids really changes you, and not always in the ways you expect. I saw this today while glancing at "On the day" on Facebook:

(I have) to admit . . . (I am) a little tired of judo, ping pong and wrestling with Japanese commentary. Craving for a little Aussie action... (written on this day in 2008).

I have to admit I'm quite bored of badminton and a little of ping pong this time. But the above was written well before our eldest got into wrestling late in 2011. Now we understand a lot more about the sport. Much more than we ever expected. It all looks terribly familiar. Even watching it without commentary is no problem, because that's how we watch most wrestling. If we're lucky, we might have an unoccupied coach nearby at meets who we can pester with questions or observations, but more often than not we don't. 

Upset in the wrestling
There was an upset by a Japanese wrester on the first day that you probably didn't hear about. The 22 year old Greco-Roman wrestler from Japan beat the London gold medalist (and favourite) in the first round, then he pinned the two-time silver medalist  and world champion in the semi final (pinning at this level is very rare). He was running hot, but alas was defeated in the gold medal match by a former world champion from Cuba.

Norway also won their first wrestling medal in 24 years, a bronze. The wrestler was so excited, which, I have to say, was very refreshing!

Now we just have to strike a workable balance for the next week: life, work, and Olympics! I guess we're not the only ones with such a challenge.

For locals who want to know, the NHK link is nhk.jp/rio and I've just discovered another one gorin.jp