Maybe I caught the ‘Olympic Moth,’ er, bug?

Watching the closing ceremonies of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, I found myself unexpectedly tearing up. Perhaps it was the dramatic music, the marching of the Japanese Olympians carrying their flag together with some frontliners—a clear representation of these trying times where the 2020 Olympics, pushed to 2021 and the first not to have any physical audience, was held.

Perhaps it was the now famous “Olympic Moth” that captured everyone’s attention? In any case, there was just something about that solemn moment, more than the opening ceremonies, that I found rather moving. Maybe because it was the culmination of weeks where the whole world saw just how much the human spirit can do, thanks to all those Olympians who represented their countries and displayed true determination and passion for their sport, as well as authentic sportsmanship that stirred even the hardest of hearts, made even harder perhaps by the ongoing pandemic.

Although not without opposition, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics had to happen, and not just because Japan had already spent so much for it. Admittedly, I was among those who were not in favor of having the games during a pandemic. But after seeing just how much good it did for Filipinos and for the rest of the world—after it revealed stories of resilience (the kind that should be honored), like that story of the young Indian athlete who used to hitchhike just to get to her training sessions or that 14-year-old Chinese diver who pursued her sport to help with her mom’s medical expenses or the stories of our very own Hidilyn Diaz who worked practically on her own just to make it to the Games and Carlo Paalam who did all of it for his mom—I am convinced the Olympics had to happen.

Maybe it was that beautiful moment when the flashlights from the smartphones of the athletes assembled in the Olympic Stadium all seemingly floated up to a swirl of lights like fireflies dancing in the night, forming into the five iconic rings of the Olympics as dramatic music swelled. It was, according to the organizers, a symbol of the hopes and aspirations of the athletes who all did their best in this strangest and yet one of the most memorable Olympic games ever held in history. And these efforts were well rewarded, with many countries getting their first Olympic medals or first gold, like in the case of the Philippines.

That moment when the French national anthem played, started by a lone flutist on a rooftop in Paris and culminating in a French astronaut playing the saxophone from the International Space Station, with a beautiful view of the earth spinning slowly in the background, was one that also brought tears to my eyes. It was a literal out-of-this-world reminder that, yes, humanity has to be in this together, in continually facing the pandemic and all the other struggles the world continues to face.

In this sense, the International Olympic Committee made a very apt revision to the motto of the 2024 games, which French President Emmanuel Macron spoke at the top of the Eiffel Tower: “Plus vite, Plus haut, Plus fort. Ensemble.”

Faster, Higher, Stronger. Together.