Viewing experience of The Games in Tokyo this year was more of a series of delayed snippets rather than a 'live broadcast' like what I'd watched in Rio five years earlier.
I might have watched the 'live broadcast' over the free app provided by our free-to-air local television station, but then after watching a bit of table tennis and a bit of badminton, the resolution (or lack of it) got to me and... I deleted it.
There's no use holding on to an app on the phone once you realize you don't have time to watch The Games 'live', and if the resolution's so odd that you feel like your viewing experience is weighed down.
Fickle me crossed over to Youtube instead.
Never mind that there was no Tokyo 2020 Channel.
Never mind that none of the snippets were 'live' or even close to real-time.
The videos were notable features, the resolution was sharp, and the edits made me eager to watch whatever was available at whatever time I went on Youtube.
It didn't even matter what Game it was.
Some days I caught the Swimming events.
Other days I caught part of the Gymnastics.
There were days where I managed to catch a bit of Archery.
And I was so glad when videos of Artistic Swimming surfaced too.
I caught snippets of Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee and their fellow teammates of the American team on the gymnastics floor.
I caught edits of Israeli gymnast Linoy Ashram and her Russian (ROC) competitor for the Rhythmic Gymnastics where the Israeli won gold.
And I watched the full segment of the Russians (ROC) artistic swimmers perform their Spider (Black Widow) routine in the pool.
There was a day where I managed to watch a bit of the Women's Archery event where India's Deepika Kumari competed with Ksenia Perova from the ROC.
And there was a day where I watched South Korea's An San make the cutest heart shape above her head at the camera as she received her gold.
It wasn't all Women's events I watched.
Somewhere along the way the video of Men's Volleyball between Poland and Iran popped up, so I watched that too. After all, it isn't every day I get to see the Polish and the Iranians play.
What propelled the edits and videos on Youtube was probably the fact that Social Media and Entertainment took a place in the Games this year.
Entertainment, in particular, where at the airport, athletes were greeted by stickers of Super Mario and other characters from Nintendo on the walls along the travellators, and where, at the opening ceremony, athlete contingents marched out to music from popular video games that was performed by an orchestra (with a female conductor!) within the grounds of the stadium.
Athletes were encouraged to wear their favorite game/anime merchandise.
Thus saw Russian (ROC) sharpshooter Vitalina Batsarashkina flaunt her Witcher medallion at the Women's air pistol event.
By the way, she won the event.
And set a new Olympic record.
One of the things that particularly kept me interested during the entire Games were the collection of videos done by the athletes, whom the IOC- for the first time- allowed to post content on their own social media accounts.
The rest of the world doesn't get to really see how the Olympics Village looks like.
Now we do.
Most of the footage featured the resilience of the much-talked about cardboard beds, but we got to see the dining hall, the meals, the vending machines, the driverless vehicles, the hair salons with the barbers and the hairdressers, and the Covid-19 precautions all athletes had to adhere to.
A member from the American team showed her fans on Tik Tok the items in her sponsorship kit. They were quite fab, I have to say. If I recall rightly, there were lots of stuff from Nike, skins from Kim Kardashian, sunglasses from Oakley, and an entire sports bag of outfits from Polo Ralph Lauren that included hoodies, sweat shirts, sweat pants, polo shirts, skirts and dresses.
Every athlete got a phone from Samsung too.
That was a nice touch, I have to say.
Because this meant that every athlete- never mind from which country or contingent you were- had the opportunity of documenting your life at the Games, and the opening/closing ceremonies.
Which most of them did.
At the opening ceremony, at least one member of each contingent was taking videos and/or doing video calls with family members using their phones.
That look of exuberance and pride on their faces was such a joy to see.
It was a fantastic opening ceremony, by the way, a juxtaposition of entertainment, sport, and culture.
If you didn't come out in athletic gear or in blazers over your sweat pants/ sport skirts/pencil skirts/formal pants, you came out in the cultural costume of your country.
The Africans maxed it to the hilt.
So did the Islands.
And it didn't matter whether you had two athletes, six athletes or a couple hundred- as long as you had a flag, as long as you qualified for the Games, you had a place there. If you qualified but had been displaced from your home country, there was a Refugee Olympic Team too.
That's the charm of sport.
Doesn't matter where you are, doesn't matter where you come from, it's a sport- with rules- and as long as you're qualified, so there.
The other charm of the athletic spirit that I fell in love with at Tokyo 2020 was seeing the athletes have fun at the right time.
I don't know if they'd been allowed to be this relaxed at other closing ceremonies. (I haven't had the chance to watch many)
But it was obvious- it was way more relaxed, very much like a party- as one commentator said- where athletes were no longer required to march out as they'd had a couple of weeks ago but could just walk out, wave, blow kisses, cheer, dance even, at the cameras for their friends and family back home.
Shall I say that I paid a bit more attention to the ROC team, the Ukrainian team, the Italian team, the Chinese-Taipei team, the Malaysian team, the Indian team and the Bhutanese team?
Shall I also say that I paid just as much attention to the IOC guy at the podium who made a heart shape with his hands as he thanked the city of Tokyo and the people of Japan?
It's been a great Tokyo 2020.
No less because the Show went on.
It will be another four (no, three) years before we get to watch the Olympics again.
May Paris 2024 be as thrilling, fashionable, and fun as this one.