For someone horribly out of the know… Spill the tea?
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I have been to both, but only Tokyo in the winter. Comparable to an Eastern PA winter in fact, except the sun hardly ever seemed to shine in the winter in Tokyo.
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Dying! “Hype” & whipping things up, without any real knowledge, seems to be your middle name, @Jealoushe…
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this surprises me.
I thought the ban on family members would included the horse’s “family members”
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That is part of the reason Piggy withdrew. Owners couldn’t go and watch.
“This is really difficult for me. It’s just as difficult for my owners and I know they feel that for me they would love me to go out there and they’ve said it plenty of times, but they’ve also been very strong on their views of not going out there. They can’t all come and watch. Their involvement with event horses is the entire journey, to be where their horses go, to go and watch, support."
There is some seriously silly shit going on there.
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As much as I love Ros, my heart goes out to Piggy. The heartbreak of always being so close, yet never quite close enough, and the frustration of the lack of control over a horse that isn’t your own really shines through.
I’ve lived in the UK, and in a way, seeing someone from a country where people don’t often show their raw emotions openly moved me even more.
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I think Doug Payne said they could take 2 owners. His wife and kids aren’t going, I see Sylva is going to help Boyd, wonder if Thomas’s owners are there. I think they might be allowed so many people, but the UK has a big support team so maybe they don’t have room for owners?
It’s my understanding that the nighttime lows are a key factor for horse comfort, but with climate control in the barn it may be less of a factor.
As far as I know, temps that don’t drop below 70 or so at night are harder on the horses’ thermoregulation.
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Silva went to Germany but then came home I think.
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I think they took the kids to meet grandma and grandpa. Hope Boyd didn’t pick up anything.
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She’s going back…she better sleep on that plane!
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raises hand
I have lived in both places and visited frequently from one to the other during school hols so have a direct comparison. Tokyo is a whole different level of hot feeling despite what numbers say.
It’s literally the biggest city in the world, not the rolling hills of Unionville. While PA can be sucktastic in the summer, it’s just not the same. Tokyo is brutal.
In the last couple years even Japanese people have started to complain about how hot the summers are and rich Japanese people eff off to Hawai’i during the summer b/c at least there’s a breeze and water to jump into. Tokyo is oppressive and humid. The kids used to dread June/July in school. Kids have died of the heat at school there and they’ve recently had to make a bunch of changes to things they do, like undokai (sports day), to try to avoid the heat so the kids don’t suffer.
It’s bad.
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Not even close. There is almost zero snow whereas in Eastern PA you can be digging out quite a bit, losing power, roads not passable.
Tokyo winters are so mild by comparison.
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Why did the US traveling alternates have to go home rather than compete at Aachen? At this point they’ve quarantined and presumedly tested negative
There is some pretty bad flooding there currently so I guess it worked out better they went home.
Event horses have all arrived and look ready to go. I saw MJ was riding Chipmunk this morning 
Thank you for this whole post - always appreciate a first-hand perspective!
I am thrilled for Tokyo to get the Olympics - I love the city and have been many times (though never in August). That said, I’m baffled as to why the summer Olympics (London aside) seem to repeatedly be placed in incredibly hot locations and then run at the height of the heat for that city. When Tryon was awarded the WEG, they ran late in the year to attempt to avoid severe weather (which was successful for heat, but unsuccessful overall I suppose you’d say).
Listening to the Equiratings Hold Box podcasts with a vet onsite, it sounds like Tokyo was fairly pleasant until about a week ago, when it suddenly switches from rainy season to oven season. Why couldn’t the Olympics have run a month ago? Or in late September? It’s not just the horses I’m thinking of - athletes of all kinds struggle to perform at their best in heat. If spectators had been allowed, it would have been hard on them too. It just seems logistically silly to me.
Something that came up on the latest Hold Box episode is that the cross-country venue, Sea Forest, is consistently returning Wet Bulb Globe Temperature readings that are several degrees above that of the main equestrian venue. While the venue is spectacular and will make for fabulous television coverage, this seems like something that could have been considered when placing the Olympics within the calendar of the year, or when placing the cross-country at a venue. I suspect by the time this is over we will consider ourselves very fortunate that the test event proved that the Olympic track should be shortened. This won’t ride like a 4S, IMO, whatever it says on paper.
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Agreed on all fronts. Yes, the rainy season finishes and then it is, as you say, oven season.
I think it would be better to run summer is the spring. April/May would be great. In Tokyo it stays oppressively hot well into October. As I mentioned above, where we used to live the outdoor pool closed mid-October b/c the heat was still such that we swam outdoors through September and into October. I also remember some Halloweens when the kids were too hot in their costumes!
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A) I’m guessing that the dates selected had less to do with athletic performance and more with television/promotion schedules
B) It’s not quite accurate to say that “athletes of all kinds struggle to perform at their best in the heat.” Sprinters, for example, benefit greatly from warmth - it keeps their muscles loose and fluid, and they’re not competing long enough to overheat. There’s a reason that the top sprinters almost always train in Florida, Texas, and/or Southern California - the hot climate is perfect for them.
C) Arguably the highest profile sports at the Olympics are: 1) Gymnastics; 2) Swimming; 3) Sprinting. The first two will be indoors, and so the weather will not be a factor; the last will benefit from the warmth.
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That’s interesting. You mention “warmth”. I imagine there is a temp/humidity beyond which beneficial warmth becomes harmful heat. But it sounds like you’re saying really oppressive heat like one can experience in FL is still beneficial to T&F athletes, is that right?
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