On May 1, 2015, I kicked off my blog, The Olympians, with the intent of providing at least one blog post every day. Here we are, 365 days, over 10,000 visitors, nearly 20,000 views later, and I have kept my promise. Many thanks to all those who have helped me along the way!

Below are 20 of my favorite posts in 2016:

1. The 1962 Asian Games: How Cold War Politics Sparked Heated Debate, Leading to the Indonesian Boycott of the 1964 Games
2. “Do it Again. Again. Again.”: The Uncompromising Mindset of an Olympic Champion
3. The Dutch Boycott of the 1956 Olympic Games Part 2: Rehabilitation
4. The Hijab and The Turban: Why American Fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad is Important  
5. Dr Jega: The Fastest Man in Asia Learns that Life Works in Mysterious Ways
6. Duke Kahanamoku Part 1: Surfing’s Johnny Appleseed Inspires Australia’s Pioneering Surfers and an Entire Sports Culture
7. Japanese Face Off in Australia on the 15th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor
8. Ken Sitzberger and Jeanne Collier: Diving’s Power Couple in 1964
9. The Pain and Joy of Pain: Dick Roth and the Gold that Almost Wasn’t
10. The Perfectionist’s Dilemma: The All-or-Nothing Life of Hurdler Ikuko Yoda
11. Rare Canadian Gold in Tokyo: George Hungerford and Roger Jackson Win the Coxless Pairs
12. The Record-Setting Row2Rio Team: Following in the Footsteps (Sea legs?) of Christopher Columbus
13. Remembering the 3.11 Earthquake and Tsunami, My Ancestors, and the Tokyo Olympic Cauldron
14. Sazae-san Part 3: Suicides and The Pressure Cooker of Japanese Education
15. Simple is Best: Finally, The New Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Logos
16. Singaporean Cyclist Hamid Supaat and the Big Chill: Competing on the World Stage
17. The “Six-Million-Dollar-Man” and “Real Steel” Scenarios: Science and Technology Blurring the Lines and Creating New Ones  
18. Tommy Kono: Out of an Internment Camp Rises Arguably the Greatest Weightlifter of All Time    
19. Unbroken: The Truly Epic Story of Louis Zamperini Finally Shown in Japan
20. Worrying Willy and Paradise Pete: How the US Army Prepped Recruits for Japan in the 1950s

Click here for my favorite posts from 2015! Again, many thanks for all your support!