Tokyo Olympics New Start #16 - United States

Hello again!

So it was the penultimate day of the Olympics yesterday and the sporting action continued with more cycling, diving and a few other bits and pieces on my screen.

My new start hopped me from the United Kingdom to the United States:

United States from A Journey Around The World by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 18ct Around The World over-dyed aida

Stitch count 78 wide by 72 high

Started - 7th August 2021

Stitching time to date - 55 minutes

I was all prepared for a long night of stitching but, again, it was not to be so my new start was nowhere near as much as I had planned, if you can actually see the tiny bit of building and lights against the fabric!

Fun Olympic Fact

Lots of fuss has been made about young athletes at this Olympics - a 12 year old table tennis star, a 13 year old skateboard sensations and a 14 year old near-perfect diver, but what about the oldest Olympic competitors?

The oldest male competitor was 72 year old Oscar Swahn, who competed in shooting in 1920, and the oldest female competitor was 70 year old equestrian Laura Johnston in 1972. Considering the average age at Tokyo is 27, and most athletes retire in their 30s, I expect these records are unlikely to be broken!

Fun Olympic Fact update...

Back on day 11 I wrote that Oscar Swahn, along with his brother, were the most successful Summer Olympic family with 15 medals, including 6 golds, between them.

Following this Olympics, the Swahn's have now been joined by the husband and wife cycling duo of Jason and Laura Kenny, although with 12 golds out of 15 medals I would suggest they pip the Swhan's for top place on the leader board.

It's the final day of the Olympics today which means my final new start and Fun Olympic Fact post tomorrow :(

Take care,

Rachel x

Tokyo Olympics New Start #15 - United Kingdom

Hello all!

So, we're into the last three days of the Olympics, with athletics, diving and cycling on my radar. I did watch a bit of the climbing but that didn't really appeal to me, although the kayak racing provided an interesting adrenaline rush!

My accompanying start was home grown:

United Kingdom from A Journey Around The World by Soda Stitch

Stiched on 18ct Around The World over-dyed aida

Stitch count 79 wide by 73 high

Started - 6th August 2021

Stitching time to date - 1 hour 50 minutes

It felt good to make a start on one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, although I'm not sure the colour is exactly right!!

Fun Olympic Fact

We're always aware of the winning times in events, but what about the slowest?

The longest time taken to finish an Olympic marathon is 54 years, 8 months and 6 days! Kanakuri Shizo started the marathon in 1912 but stopped part way through and fell asleep, missing the remainder of the race. After going home to Japan, he was eventually tracked down and returned to Stockholm to finish the course in 1967. Nowadays events such as this have a cut-off point, so this time will remain a record.

Tomorrow I'm hopping across the Pond...

Take care,

Rachel x

Tokyo Olympics New Start #13 - Russia

Hi all!

More Olympic sporting action on in the background yesterday, some of which I just let play (eg boxing) and some of which I actually stopped to watch, including athletics and the skateboarding for some reason.

My new start continued my journey around the world, this time stopping off in Russia:

Russia from A Journey Around The World by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 18ct Around The World over-dyed aida

Stitch count 73 wide by 71 high

Started - 4th August 2021

Stitching time to date - 1 hour 30 minutes

I'm so grateful I managed more than 5 minutes on this one!

Fun Olympic Fact

Dimitrios Loundras holds the record as being the official youngest male competitor and official youngest male medallist in the summer Olympics. He was 10 years and 218 days old when he was part of Greece's bronze-winning gymnastics team in the 1896 Athens Olympics.

For women, the same two records are held by Luigina Giavotti who was 11 years and 301 days old when she helped the Italian gymnastic team win silver in the 1928 Los Angeles Olympics.

Take care,

Rachel x

Tokyo Olympics New Start #11 - Netherlands

Hello again!

I'm continuing to watch as much of the Olympics as possible, no matter what the sport. It's quite nice to have the athletics on, and even without a crowd the atmosphere seems to be doing its job of creating record after record. And is it me, or do the athletes seem to be congratulating each other more than usual? Guess they're all just pleased to be there.

I only managed a small amount on this new piece, which was a shame as I was really looking forward to making a good start on the windmill:

Netherlands from A Journey Around The World by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 18ct Around The World over-dyed aida

Stitch count 78 wide by 69 high

Started - 2nd August 2021

Stitching time to date - 20 minutes

Out of all my new starts so far, apart from the dragon, I think this is the one I'm most looking forward to returning to.

Fun Olympic Fact

The most successful family to compete at the Summer Olympics were father and son Oscar and Alfred Swahn. Between 1908 and 1924 they won 15 medals - 6 gold, 4 silver 5 bronze - mostly in shooting.

Two other families have each won 14 medals - Aladar Gerevich, his wife, Erna, his son, Pal, and his father-in-law, Albert, won 7 golds, 2 silvers and 5 bronzes in fencing between 1912 and 1980, and Takashi Ono and his wife, Kiyoko, won 5 golds, 4 silvers and 5 bronzes in gymnastics between 1952 and 1964 (although to be fair, Takashi won all but one bronze himself!)

Take care,

Rachel x

Tokyo Olympics New Start #8 - Korea

Hi again!

So today there was no gymnastics :( but there was a tiny bit of trampolining, so that sort of made up for it. And then I just caught snippets of whatever was on in the background; football, hockey and the start of the athletics.

I took a step backwards with my start today, starting the letter K project I skipped yesterday:

Korea from A Journey Around The World by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 18ct Around The World over-dyed aida

Stitch count 77 wide by 66 high

Started - 30th July 2021

Stitching time to date - 40 minutes

I love the little pagoda(?) and was really hoping to stitch more, but a tiny start is better than nothing.

The next two days will involve a little break from travelling around the world and consist of absolute cuties - what else!!!

Fun Olympic Fact

Detroit is the city with the most unsuccessful bids to host the Summer Olympics with 7 attempts between 1944 and 1972. Budapest have tried six times between 1916 and 2024, and Istanbul have tried 5 times between 2000-2020. Istanbul's continued determination to become host city must be admired, but since the Olympics for 2024, 2028 and 2032 have been agreed their next chance won't now be until at least 2036!

Take care,

Rachel x

Tokyo Olympics New Start #7 - Mexico

Helloooo!

My Olympic watching yesterday was gymnastics from start to finish and then bits and pieces that were on in the background such as hockey, canoeing and even a bit of BMX biking! Can't say I'm a fan of the last one, but I still admire the competitors' fitness and commitment to their sport. Anyway, sometimes it's fun just listening to the commentators and how excited they get - when they crescendo, you know it's time to look at the TV screen!

To accompany the sports, I went to Mexico, which was a bit of a mistake as I'm supposed to be starting the projects alphabetically and realised too late that I missed out the one beginning with K. So now M comes before K in my alphabet! I didn't stitch for as long as I would have liked, just long enough to make a bit of a start at the top:

Mexico from A Journey Around The World by Soda Stitch

Stitched on 18ct Around The World over-dyed aida

Stitch count 78 wide by 66 high

Started - 29th July 2021

Stitching time to date - 1 hour 15 minutes

I thought afterwards I should have started with the lovely sombrero but it always makes more sense to me to work from the top down.

Fun Olympic Fact

With identical twins Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova winning bronze for GB in the women's artistic gymnastics team event (and there being another set of identical twins in the Italian team which came 4th) I wondered if they were the first identical twins to win an Olympic medal. The answer is, no!

In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, identical twins won both the gold and silver medals in the coxless pairs for East Germany and the Soviet Union respectively; do you think the bronze medalists, from GB, felt a little out of place on the podium?

More travelling around the world tomorrow, going backwards to the K piece I should have started today.

Take care,

Rachel x