Roy Tomizawa

The 75th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima would have taken place on August 6 and 9, the final day of the 2020 Olympics, if it had taken place this year. Here is a story I wrote about an American Olympian who has an extraordinary connection to Japan, whose grandparents survived the Hiroshima bombings, and whose father rescued them and brought them all to America. 
https://theolympians.co/2020/08/05/the-palchikoffs-how-the-grandparents-of-an-american-olympian-survived-the-russian-revolution-and-the-atomic-bombing-of-hiroshima/

On 21/07/2020 at 08:50, Roy Tomizawa said:

Here are the first two parts of a series of articles I've written on the 1980 Moscow Olympics. 
https://theolympians.co/2020/07/19/the-1980-moscow-olympics-part-1-the-american-boycott/

https://theolympians.co/2020/07/21/the-1980-moscow-olympics-part-2-the-comparison-to-1936-berlin/

Here is Part 3.

https://theolympians.co/2020/07/25/the-1980-moscow-olympics-part-3-great-britain-and-the-european-resistance/

The prospects for an opening ceremony for Tokyo2020 on 7/23/21 are unclear. Do you view the stadium as half full or half empty? I see it as half full, and believe the Tokyo Olympics will take place. Here is why I believe - in three film clips.

https://theolympians.co/2020/07/23/one-year-to-go-redux-why-i-believe-tokyo2020-will-happen-in-three-scenes/

Here are the first two parts of a series of articles I've written on the 1980 Moscow Olympics. 
https://theolympians.co/2020/07/19/the-1980-moscow-olympics-part-1-the-american-boycott/

https://theolympians.co/2020/07/21/the-1980-moscow-olympics-part-2-the-comparison-to-1936-berlin/

As I have written in this article, the World Masters Games, a massive sporting event in Japan in May, 2021 will be the canary in the coal mine for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021.
https://theolympians.co/2020/06/05/the-world-masters-games-kansai-2021-the-canary-in-the-tokyo2020-coal-mine/

On 09/08/2019 at 20:44, heywoodu said:

It doesn't say how to get the book though  

That is very kind of you to note that. Here is a link to the book!

https://geni.us/1964_RoyTomizawa

On 09/08/2019 at 22:41, Joshi said:

If I remember right Sir Peter Snell did the 800/1500m double and won both events to establish himself as one of the greatest middle distance runners in history. Absolute legend.

He did indeed. Here are my blog posts on the great Peter Snell.

https://theolympians.co/2016/03/25/peter-snell-part-1-finding-the-energy-and-motivation-between-insecurity-and-confidence/

https://theolympians.co/2016/03/26/peter-snell-part-2-going-back-to-surge-forward-and-win-the-800-meter-championship-in-tokyo/

August 9 is the 74th anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing. The 75th anniversary next year will fall on the final day of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. As I wrote two years ago, this is not a coincidence.

https://theolympians.co/2017/08/14/hiroshima-and-nagasaki-in-2020-stay-tuned-for-tokyo-2020s-closing-ceremony-on-the-75th-anniversary-of-the-nagasaki-bombing/

I hope this isn't inappropriate. I wanted to you know that I just published my book - "1964: The Greatest Year in the History of Japan - How the 1964 Olympics Symbolized Japan's Miraculous Rise from the Ashes."

If you want to understand the context for the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics, you can learn about Japan's post-war history and why the 1964 Tokyo Games meant/means so much to the Japanese. 

https://theolympians.co/advanced-referrals-for-the-book-1964-the-greatest-year-in-the-history-of-japan/

Roy

For those interested in the 2020 Torch Relay, runners will be holding aloft a most exquisite torch.
https://theolympians.co/2019/03/23/the-sakura-torch-an-olympian-vision-of-hope-and-beauty-in-2020/

For those interested in the torch relay in 1964, an incredible journey that brought the Olympic flame through the silk road, through north Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia, here is my article:

https://theolympians.co/2015/10/03/sharing-the-pride-of-the-tokyo-games-with-asia-the-1964-torch-relay-through-eurasia/

17 minutes ago, hckosice said:

 

Very good one. Thanks for sharing

 

She definitely is one of the two best all-times Czech athletes (during the Czechoslovakian era) together with Emil Zátopek.

 

RIP legends

These links are the first two of five articles I wrote on the great Emil Zatopek.

https://theolympians.co/2017/01/23/the-greatest-distance-runner-of-all-time-emil-zatopek-part-1-the-boy-who-ran-and-ran/

https://theolympians.co/2017/01/24/the-greatest-distance-runner-of-all-time-emil-zatopek-part-2-the-lessons-of-pain-and-winning-the-5000-meter-finals-at-the-1952-olympics/

17 hours ago, hckosice said:

Ah Toyko 1964. one of the most successful Olympics in history of Czechoslovakia, the TCH team won 14 medals, 5 them Gold and 3 of them from Artistic Gymnastics thanks the incredible and awesome Věra Čáslavská one of the most successful athletes of the games with 4 medlas 3+1 (Gold medals in All Around, Vault and Beam) + silver in Team event.

 

Also memorable are nowadays rather "sci-fi" silver medals in Men s Football and Volleyball with teams including also Slovak athletes

 

 

Here is my article, one of three on Vera Caslavska.

https://theolympians.co/2016/09/16/the-great-czech-gymnast-vera-caslavska-passes-away-part-1-the-gymnast/

5 minutes ago, Vojthas said:

I hope you weren't late to have a talk with Irena Szewińska. I was the lucky man to take photo with her just three weeks before she died.

I never had the honor of talking with the great Irena Szewinska. I could only write about her accomplishments.
https://theolympians.co/2017/09/24/irena-kirszenstein-szewinska-one-of-the-worlds-greatest-womens-track-stars/

18 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

I don't know the story of Japan's women's volleyball team, I do know Geesink kicked some Japanese ass  

 

Too bad Geesink was much better at selling himself to the media than the arguably greater Wim Ruska, who is the only judoka ever to win two gold medals in one Olympics (1972), but at least in the Netherlands never got the recognition Geesink got  Ruska eventually died in 2015 and sadly was never awarded with something honouring him the way people like Geesink were honoured.

Geesink was an incredible athlete, who had the respect of the Japanese. The Japanese women's volleyball team were equally dominant, and a monumental symbol of pride to the Japanese.

I never had the honor of talking with the great Irena Szewinska. I could only write about her accomplishments.
https://theolympians.co/2017/09/24/irena-kirszenstein-szewinska-one-of-the-worlds-greatest-womens-track-stars/

One of the most significant days in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics was October 23, 1964, the day Japan went from disappointment to euphoria in a matter of hours. Do you know the story of Anton Geesink and the Japanese women's volleyball team?

https://theolympians.co/2017/10/23/october-23-1964-how-judo-and-volleyball-transfixed-and-transformed-japan-within-the-span-of-a-few-hours/

I have written a book on the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, which will come out in July, 2019. I have interviewed over 70 Olympians from those Games, and researched the topic for the past 5 years. I have come to the conclusion that the 1964 Tokyo Olympics had arguably one of the greatest impacts on a nation any Olympics have ever had, and may ever have again. The 2-weeks of the Games occurred during some incredible geo-political events. And of course the sports stories were incredible and memorable. Walk down this memory lane with me. Here is a link to a recent blog post I wrote on the day it was 500 Days to Go to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, looking back to when it was 500 Days to Go to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

https://theolympians.co/2019/03/12/tokyo-2020-500-days-to-go-what-was-happening-when-it-was-500-days-to-go-to-the-1964-tokyo-olympics-2/