The Tokyo Olympics are over. Sunday's closing ceremonies will wrap up the event. NBC will broadcast the ceremony in the USA Sunday night. The International Space Station astronauts have some last-minute submissions for judges before we say goodbye to one of the most unusual Olympics in recent history.Thomas Pesquet, a French astronaut from the European Space Agency, posted four videos to Twitter that showed some of the ISS astronauts performing routines in zero gravity. These would be great additions to the future Olympics. They also hung flags from all the countries that were represented in their performance area. These videos are quite charming (and if you have the sound on, it's worth it for the music).Let's start with the lackluster floor routine gymnastics. I have trouble understanding the rules (is it touch nothing, touch everything?) But everyone gets points for their style:Space #Olympics 1/4Pyotr is very proud of his lack-of-floor routine. It was a hard feat to complete his routine without touching anything.Gym hors-sol on ne dirait pas comme a, mais les immobilisations en plein vol de Piotr requirent une grande exprience#MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/gXAHSHHmcu Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021Next is no-handball, also known as space field hockey. This seems to be much more difficult in zero gravity and the players adapt and modify rules as they go.#OlympicsSpace 2/4We had to adjust the rules slightly during the match. This required a lot of investment from both sides in order to win.Handball sans les mains les rgles ont d tre adaptes au cours dun match que nous dcrirons sobrement comme intense. pic.twitter.com/dVOv3GRThD Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021My personal favorite is synchronized swimming. They clearly put in a lot of effort despite not having the water required for terrestrial versions of the sport.Space #Olympics 3/4Swimming in synchronized space is a great way to demonstrate teamwork and crew cohesion.Flottation synchronise loccasion de dmontrer une des plus importantes comptences un astronaute : lesprit dquipe #MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/Ljo65AkzNQ Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021Finally, we have weightless sharpshooting. They shoot rubber bands at a makeshift targets.#4: Space #OlympicsTo reach the target, it was necessary to have a weightless sharpshooting concentration as well as skill (or luck).Tir sans gravit concentration et persvrance ont dict cette preuve pour bien ngocier la trajectoire des lastiques#MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/eV2cSxEWQ5 Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021They even had a closing ceremony. Aki Hoshide, Japan's space agency, presented an Olympic flag to Pesquet. This was fitting, as the 2024 Olympics will take place in Paris.Avec Aki on a pris un peu davance sur la #ClosingCeremony en attendant le vrai passage de relais #Tokyo2020 -> #Paris2024 sur dans quelques heuresWith the @Tokyo2020 @Olympics ending today and the next #Olympics to be @Paris2024, @Aki_Hoshide and I held a ceremony pic.twitter.com/7dpYBr4Xwu Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 8, 2021While the real Olympics are great and all, congratulations to those who have won a medal. But I believe that watching astronauts dance in synch and toss around in space would attract huge audiences to future games. International Olympic Committee, get on board.
