Astronauts From The ISS Enliven The Closing Of The Tokyo Olympics, The Bolt Of The Race Without Gravity

Two astronauts from Japan and France, close the space Olympics event. (photo: NASA by twitter)

JAKARTA – The Tokyo Olympics have come to an end, with the closing ceremonies ending on Sunday. But before bidding farewell to one of these more unusual Olympics in our memory, the astronauts on the International Space Station have a few last-minute entries for jury consideration.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency posted a series of four videos to Twitter showing several ISS astronauts performing in zero gravity mimicking the race in the event, which would be a great addition to future Olympics. They even fly small flags of all the countries represented over their performance area. The videos are quite adorable with the accompanying sound.

Space #Olympics 1/4:Lack-of-floor routine – much to Pyotr for completing his routine without touching anything, a difficult feat! Gym hors-sol – on ne dirait pas comme a, mais les immobilisations en plein vol de Piotr requièrent une grande expérience#MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/gXAHSHHmcu

— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021

They started with "lack of floor routine" gymnastics. although it looks unclear what it means, it is quite interesting, especially since everyone gets points for the style shown.

Space #Olympics 1/4:Lack-of-floor routine – much to Pyotr for completing his routine without touching anything, a difficult feat! Gym hors-sol – on ne dirait pas comme a, mais les immobilisations en plein vol de Piotr requièrent une grande expérience#MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/gXAHSHHmcu

— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021

Next up is "no-handball" aka space field hockey, which seems much, much more difficult in zero gravity, and they adjust and modify the rules as they go along.

Space #Olympics 3/4:Synchronised space swimming – an opportunity to show teamwork and crew cohesion. /Ljo65AkzNQ

— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021

It's a favorite race of "synchronized swimming in space" they clearly work hard at this routine despite the lack of water that the terrestrial version of the sport requires.

Space #Olympics 4/4:Weightless sharpshooting – concentration and skill (or luck) proved necessary to reach the target. Tir sans gravité – concentration et persévérance ont dicté cette épreuve pour bien négocier la trajectoire des élastiques#MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/eV2cSxEWQ5

— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021

Finally they have shooting or archery where they fire what looks like a rubber band at a target.

They even do a "closing ceremony" on Sundays. Aki Hoshide from JAXA (Japan's space agency) presented the Olympic flag to Pesquet France, very fitting because the 2024 Olympics will be held in Paris.

Avec Aki on a pris un peu d'avance sur la #ClosingCeremony en attendant le vrai passage de relais #Tokyo2020 -> #Paris2024 sur dans quelques heures With 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, 2021

The actual Olympics were fine and smooth, and congratulations to everyone who won the medals, but watching the astronauts spin in sync with each other and hit small balls in space will draw huge crowds into the upcoming games.