Halfway Through: Estonia and Canada at the Olympics

VINCENT TEETSOV

It was a sparse in-person turnout on the night of July 23rd, for the opening ceremony of the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Most seats were empty inside the stadium. 30 of 370 Canadian athletes were part of the parade of nations, with the others sitting on beanbags, watching from screens in the Olympic Village. Outside, there were protests against the continuation of the games. However, everyone who was able to be there gave a level of cheer and enthusiasm that endeavoured to bring viewers back to the essence of the Olympics.

The Canadian athletes strolled through looking sharp in white trousers and red jackets, with white maple leaf logos on their backs. From Estonia, there was a contingent in the stadium of 13 Estonians out of 33 athletes sent to Tokyo. Women were wearing blue dresses and men wore blue suit jackets with a t-shirt and shorts. Each outfit included a printed design of a foggy Estonian landscape.

Leading up to the lighting of the Olympic torch by tennis superstar Naomi Osaka, the ceremony itself had a melange of national symbols featured. There were fly-over shots of tightly choreographed dancers at Shibuya Crossing. Kabuki theatre was fused together with a shower of rapid fire grand piano played by Hiromi Uehara. A funny skit of a lighting engineer playing around with the city lights of Tokyo was nestled between motifs of international cooperation, like a globe (formed by drones) hovering above the National Stadium or the Olympic Hymn sung by a young choir.

Looking up to the flames fluttering in the metallic nest of the torch, the athletes of 206 countries, including Estonia and Canada, were left to prepare themselves for one of the most public tests of their physical strength; certainly a major return for international sports in the minds of spectators.

On this international stage, Estonia is competing in 14 different sports: archery, athletics, badminton, cycling, equestrian, fencing, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, tennis, triathlon, and wrestling.

The first Estonian to compete in this year’s Olympic Games was Reena Pärnat, an archer, who achieved 53rd place with a score of 626 in the first round. The men’s quadruple scull rowing crew (made up of Jüri-Mikk Udam, Allar Raja, Tõnu Endrekson, and Kaspar Taimsoo) pushed their way into third place on Saturday July 24th, to earn their chance to compete in the finals.

Amidst both of these events, weather conditions have been tough and haven’t done any favours for athletes. The scorching over-30 degree heat and 80 percent humidity of summer in Tokyo meant that Jüri-Mikk Udam needed medical attention right after racing. During an archery qualification round on Friday July 23rd, an archer from the Russian Olympic Committee, Svetlana Gomboeva, fainted as a result of heatstroke and was taken away on a stretcher.

Furthermore, athletes have rigorous COVID-19 protocols to follow. To begin with, athletes aren’t allowed inside the Olympic Village until five days before they compete. Social distancing, masks, and hand sanitizer use are upheld as they go about their daily preparations for events, when they go to eat, and when they rest between events. When eating in the dining hall, they sit in plexiglass cubicles, which must be disinfected thoroughly with wipes between uses. Additional stressors like these in the leadup to competition can be a burden.

At the time of writing this article, Estonia has won two medals. Estonia’s first medal this year (a bronze) was won on July 24th, when Katrina Lehis was victorious over Aizanat Murtazaeva from the Russian Olympic Committee, in women’s individual épée fencing. It was a close match in the first period, but by the end of the second period, Lehis had taken a lead that would grow until she won 15:8 at the end.

This victory was then magnified when, on the 27th, Lehis – along with Julia Beljajeva, Irina Embrich, and Erika Kirpu – won the gold medal in women’s team épée. The four fencers were facing off against South Korea over the nine matches of the finals, culminating in a tense ending between Lehis and Injeong Choi.

In other sports, coming up on the 4th of August, the men’s decathlon events will begin (9:00 AM Tokyo time, 8:00 PM Toronto time the day before).

Team Estonia has a trio of decathletes at the Olympic games: Johannes Erm, Karel Tilga, and Maicel Uibo. The three of them have all competed for the University of Georgia Bulldogs in the US, recruited by track and field head coach Petros Kyprianou. Erm is an NCAA champion. Uibo achieved 24th place at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. Tilga, who, in March 2021 achieved the second highest indoor heptathlon score in NCAA history, has been dubbed by various commentators as “the silent assassin” and “the Estonian polar bear.” Tilga has voiced the dedication that goes into these competitions, from training to recovery, nutrition, and taking care of one’s body. The world is watching closely to see how the final ingredient, strength of mind, will pull them through to victory.

For Canada, Maude Charron won a gold medal in weightlifting. Maggie MacNeil won a gold medal in the 100m butterfly swimming event. A silver medal was won in the pool for the women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay, in the women’s 100m backstroke event, and in the 3m synchronized springboard diving event. Two bronze medals were won in judo, by Jessica Klimkait and Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard. Canada also won a bronze medal in softball against Mexico.

Despite all of the hurdles (some more literal than others) faced by athletes this time around, they are keeping their eyes on the physical excellence and sportsmanship that make the Olympics a treat to observe every two years.

Keep tabs on the many events by going to cbc.ca/ sports/olympics/summer or by downloading the CBC Gem app, which allows casting of video content to another screen.

Estonian athletes entering at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 opening ceremony.

Photo: reporter.ee