The Unofficial Guide to Tokyo Olympics 2020

Recently ahead of the Olympic games, many sports are becoming popular like baseball/softball,  karate, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing. Baseball is associated with being a “men's game” where there are two teams with nine players each and they each get a turn to bat which is known as offense and also blocks the team from scoring a point which is known as a defense. The aim of the game is to hit the ball with the bat and make the ball land far so that the players can go and get the ball and during this short moment the player on the opposing team will run around the circle field trying to go around the four bases, depending on whether they are out or do not make it to one of the bases, the other team wins a point. 

Similarly to baseball, softball is for women. The main differences are that women are supposed to throw underhand, the field is much smaller compared to baseball and they use a bigger ball to play. Karate is a sport where you play with another person and you are allowed to use kicking, punching, elbow strikes, and knee strikes. Karate has been mentioned as one of the new sports that is going to be a fun and heated up competition. Many people are happy that Karate has been approved as a sport for Tokyo 2020 but are saddened that Karate is not classified as a sport for Paris Olympics 2024 but at least we can see the karate competition in Tokyo!

Skateboarding is popular amongst the younger generation and in most countries, you can see people skateboarding on a wooden platform near the playground or a school. For those of us that do not know what skateboarding is, it's basically an action sport where you ride a rectangular wooden fabric with two wheels on the sides. You can learn to do many tricks and even go up and down handrails but you can also cause injury to yourself but it is about the adrenaline rush and it makes people feel relieved. At the Olympics, contestants will be tested on their speed, tricks, and heights of jumps and whether they can successfully cross over ramps and quarter pipes. This sport has been added to bring attention to the younger generation by persuading them to watch the Olympics because there will be fun games. 

Sport climbing is similar to rock climbing. At the Olympics, there will be 3 different types of sport climbing: bouldering, speed climbing, and lead climbing. Bouldering is when you do not use harnesses or ropes to climb the ropes, all you have is your trainers and you will have to try and get to the top of the wall and whoever climbs to the top the fastest wins. Speed climbing is where two people climb the 15 meter wall at the same time and whoever makes it to the top in the shortest time wins the game. Lead climbing involves climbing a wall which is more than 15 meters and you have to use safety ropes and try to get to the top if you fall then the height you went up to gets measured and whoever reaches the height closest to the top wins the game. 

Surfing is a new sport that relies on the weather and involves a person standing on a surfboard and trying to stand up whenever a wave forms. This sport is difficult because you need to have good balance on the surfboard and if you are new you are bound to fall over many times and will need more practice to be in a stable position. One of the fun things about surfing is that you get a sense of achievement when you are able to do it and many people around the world like surfing or watching people surf so this is a good addition to the Tokyo Olympics 2020. One thing for sure is that we can look forward to many athletes that will have a perfect position, good speed and power, and the judges will be able to give us their input on the best surfer, I can not wait to see the fierce competition. 

To find out more about the different sports visit Tokyo Olympics Sports 2020