[imagesource: Twitter /  Thomas Pesquet]

The Olympics has officially ended, and Tokyo sure did provide some truly exceptional moments, like the race many are calling the greatest in Olympic history, and our own Tatjana Schoenmaker breaking the world record en route to gold in the women’s 200m breaststroke.

But while those Olympic moments played out in front of the cameras for the world to see, there was another, completely different Olympics happening all the way up in space.

Thankfully, this space race has nothing to do with Bezos, Branson, and Musk, but rather seven athletes among the astronauts living in the International Space Station.

Nerdist set up a series of videos depicting the Space Olympics, originally shared by Thomas Pesquet, a French astronaut from the European Space Agency:

Les 1ers Jeux spatiaux ! 1 samedi après-midi sur l’ISS. 4 disciplines. 7 athlètes. 2 équipes. Et la cohésion au sein de l’équipage boostée comme jamais ! #Olympics
The first Space Olympics. 4 disciplines. 7 athletes. 2 teams, and a boost for crew cohesion. pic.twitter.com/IFsnobXsTT

— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021

Upside down is right, as the competitors not only had to contend with each other, but they were also working against zero-gravity.

The first “discipline” was called the “Lack-of-floor routine” and entailed an astronaut completing a difficult manoeuvre without ever touching the floor.

Which side of the spacecraft is considered the floor?

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 ça, 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 was a game of “No-handball” in which competitors had to use their breath to move a ball into the goals:

Space #Olympics 2/4:
No-handball – we had to adapt the rules a bit during the match, much investment on both sides for the win.
🏐
Handball sans les mains – les règles ont dû être adaptées au cours d’un match que nous décrirons sobrement comme intense. pic.twitter.com/dVOv3GRThD

— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021

Far better than Bezos’ ping pong space antics.

Then the teams moved on to the third game, “Synchronised space swimming”.

This is a truly heartwarming “show [of] teamwork and crew cohesion”:

Space #Olympics 3/4:
Synchronised space swimming – an opportunity to show teamwork and crew cohesion.
🤝
Flottation synchronisée – l’occasion de démontrer une des plus importantes compétences un astronaute : l’esprit d’équipe #MissionAlpha pic.twitter.com/Ljo65AkzNQ

— Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) August 6, 2021

The Space Olympics ended off with a game of “weightless sharpshooting” which included hitting a target in zero-gravity:

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

It is worth noting how touching it is to see astronauts from different countries come together in zero-gravity to celebrate each other and the world.

To mark the end of the Space Olympics, Akihiko Hoshide from Japan passed the Olympic flag to France’s Thomas Pesquet:

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

Next up, Paris 2024, and perhaps, another Space Olympics.

[source:nerdist]