The 2016 Olympic Games are over. No more world records, controversial decisions, victory dances and singing along to our National Anthem as our athletes collect their gold medals. No more DeBolt bromance. No more ham-fisted commentary and awkward interviews from the ESPN Caribbean crew of Grace Jackson, Felix Sanchez, et al. No more contextual analysis and statistics from Bruce James and the TVJ panel (no, they’re not paying me, but I will never defile my eyes by watching anything on CVM.) I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to come down from the high just yet.
The Olympic channel on Youtube uploaded a bunch of videos between last night and this morning, so in between writing assignments, I’ve been rewatching some of Team Jamaica’s epic moments on the track. I just need them to hurry up and get Elaine Thompson’s 200m video up, and I’ll be in hog heaven.
The Olympics withdrawal symptoms are real outchea. If you need help coping, here are my suggestions to get you back to normalcy:
- Get some sleep. If you’re like me, you’ve been spending your days vegging out in front of the TV watching all the events and staying up late at night to follow conversations on social media. Your heart rate has probably also just returned to normal, because you were so tense and nervous for Team Jamaica. Last night was the first time I went to bed before 1AM, and I am still feeling the effects.
- Catch up on your chores. Tell me which is more important: ensuring that you had clean clothes to wear and that you wouldn’t have been disgraced if your mother dropped by for a surprise visit, or watching athletes realise their wildest dreams? No contest!
- Actually get something done at work. I’m a freelancer, so I didn’t have this issue, but I remember the days of missing out on the fun on screen or having to curtail boisterous discussions because of the 9-5. Now you can actually be productive as you don’t have to keep one eye on your livestreaming site and the other on your boss (and your hand on the mouse to quickly switch back to that boring spreadsheet or whatever.)
- Appreciate American athletes again. There is no love lost between Jamaica and the US at international meets such as the Olympics. We simply do not like them and root against them in every sport, even those we don’t contest. Well, except Venus and Serena in tennis and possibly the basketballers. I don’t know what it is, because we typically watch and appreciate a lot of American sports. Many of us better hope the folks at the US Embassy don’t check our Twitter timelines – or understand patwa, if that’s something they do. And no, we will never, under any circumstances, like Justin Gatlin.
- Start counting down until the next international meet. Only 346 days until the 2017 World Championships gets underway in London on August 4!! Eleven months and 12 days until rivalries are renewed, and Usain Bolt runs in what may very well be his last major championships. I don’t even wanna think about the fact that he’s on his way out, tbh.
While we look ahead to better days, what were some of your favourite moments from Rio 2016? I’ve recapped my top seven Team Jamaica highlights here. Check it out!
Written by Tracey 