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Thank you, Tokyo Olympics, for bringing us the 'beast mode' we all needed

Many wanted the Tokyo Olympics cancelled, but in the end, they were incredible.

Mark Serrels Editorial Director
Mark Serrels is an award-winning Senior Editorial Director focused on all things culture. He covers TV, movies, anime, video games and whatever weird things are happening on the internet. He especially likes to write about the hardships of being a parent in the age of memes, Minecraft and Fortnite. Definitely don't follow him on Twitter.
Mark Serrels
3 min read
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The best.

Michael Kappeler/Picture Alliance/Getty Images

The Tokyo Olympics are over. And what a couple of weeks it's been. The games delivered their wildest moment (and most perfect metaphor) in their very first week. Bless you Dean Boxall.

Upon watching his swimmer Ariarne Titmus take gold ahead of US swimming legend Katie Ledecky, Australian coach Dean Boxall immediately became unhinged. Unleashing himself from the rigid confines of normal human behavior, he entered into what I will now be referring to as "Beast Mode."

Pushing past the flimsiest steel barrier ever constructed, into a restricted area he clearly shouldn't have had access to, Boxall ripped off his required mask and proceeded to… dry hump a fence like The Ultimate Warrior circa Wrestlemania 6?

Like I said. Beast Mode.

The best part: In the background, a Japanese Olympic official, doing her level best to provide resistance, raises her hands like a frightened gazelle and then succumbs. Slowly those raised hands are lowered, evolving into confused claps. OK, she seems to say. You're here now. There's nothing I can do about this. I'm just going to try and enjoy this front row seat to Beast Mode, starring Dean Boxall.

In this metaphor, Boxall is the Tokyo Olympics. Both as an event and an idea. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic both probably shouldn't be here. As the world reels from the effects of the delta strain and global vaccine hesitancy, this is the Olympics no one asked for. Dean, what are you doing here? Bugger off, Dean. Now is not the time.

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High jumpers Mutaz Essa Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi gave each other their gold medals. This is too much.

Michael Kappeler/Picture Alliance/Getty Images

Me? I'm the Japanese official. We're all the Japanese official. Nervous, unsure how to react, ultimately acquiescing to this moment completely out of our control. Even in Japan, the host country, people were protesting the Olympics. First we collectively raised our hands in passive resistance. Seconds later we were all clapping.
And we were clapping because Dean Boxall is awesome. Reckless, sure. But so awesome. The Olympics were reckless too -- but also awesome. 

This is what the Olympics delivers: Beast Mode direct to your screen and your heart. It's in the business of providing iconic moments like Boxall's. Moments that simultaneously inspire and subvert our sense of what's possible. Weird shit, displays of pure athleticism. 

Two men collapsing into one another's arms when they realize they can share a gold medal instead of duelling to the death for it. Skateboarding girls cheering each other on, making quick friends in the face of fierce competition. Runners stumbling, falling over in potentially race-ending collisions, miraculously recovering to win races. 

Incredible, awe-inspiring moments.

Maybe it's because we live in a universe where moments like these are worshipped, contorted and shaped into GIFs, tweets and memes in an infinite social media content spiral, but it somehow feels like we've had more of these moments compared to previous Olympics. That these Olympic Games have meant more than we ever could have expected when we cynically, reluctantly invited them into our homes.

Personally, as a man living in Sydney, a city wrestling with strict lockdowns that could potentially last for months, the Olympics was been a salve I didn't realize I needed. It was a welcome distraction as I juggled home-schooling, work and a near-permanent dread at the daily ritual of waiting for Sydney case numbers to drop so we can all go back outside and live relatively normal lives.

There were a million reasons why the Olympic Games shouldn't have happened in 2021. A million reasons why we shouldn't have watched and supported what is arguably an irresponsible event run for the wrong reasons. But it's also equally possible that -- this year -- the Olympics were more useful than ever. 

The Tokyo Olympics probably shouldn't have happened because of COVID-19. But I'm also happy it happened -- because of COVID-19. If that makes sense.  

None of it makes sense.

But right now, sport -- with its simple rules and digestible outcomes, with its warm blanket of normalcy and straightforward narratives of triumph over adversity -- is maybe the only thing that makes sense.

The Olympics, much like Dean Boxall, busted its way into our homes and televisions and refused to leave. An unwelcome guest. But, like the uncertain Olympics official dealing with the uncontainable Boxall as he dry humped a fence, I'm glad the Olympics forced their way into my life. I couldn't have done lockdown without it.