Don't miss the bus.

Not this one, the only one after Izu.

The taxi driver was heartbroken.

And innocent of the traffic jam.

It's good that seppuku has been banned since 1868.

The chauffeur did not throw himself at his sword on Monday.

He drove on.

From the Olympic bus station to Izu, 140 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, a good two hours: 44,900 yen.

That corresponds to around 360 euros.

Anno Hecker

Responsible editor for sports.

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Before the accounting officer starts to gasp: There were still enough vouchers from the organizing committee.

It would have been worth it even without subsidies.

Was a trip into nature and silver.

Get out of the gray of the metropolis, at some point along the beaches of the Pacific coast and then right up into the Bergisch, into the lush green, to the cycling track.

Idyllic location.

Lush trees, lush meadows and a vaulted velodrome with a shimmering silver roof.

Nothing but silence.

Dragonflies dance in the air.

Moved to 1964

Olympia in the country. That's the problem. The track cyclists feel transported back to 1964. They live in accommodations for the first Olympic Games in Asia and report that they are in a natural state. Not even a flag reminds of the summer games, while mood reports are circulating from the Olympic village in Tokyo. Basketball professional Johannes Voigtmann explains how “awesome” it is to see top athletes in other sports. Despite everything, swimmer Sarah Köhler thinks the atmosphere is “very nice”. The canoeist Sideris Tasiadis only missed the audience: "Otherwise it would have been the most beautiful games ever."

Who wouldn't understand the sadness of the track cyclists? Belong to it and yet not part of it: lost in Izu. It is similar to some of the top athletes who are stuck in Tokyo. The substitutes. “Like the fifth wheel on the car,” wrote Helen Langehanenberg. Dressage rider. She watched and was publicly happy when her team was digging for gold. Chapeau.

How do you cover up this biting, deeply gnawing feeling of absolutely wanting, probably being able to, but not being allowed to participate in the big moment? Time to empty the cell phone, for example, they said. Watch a little Netflix. Deepen the foreign language. Competitive athletes say they always look to see what's going and where something can still be found. And so Helen Langehanenberg came across the art of paper folding in the Olympic waiting room. A Japanese specialty: origami. Older than most sports, 1400 years. And no less competitive.

The legend goes: if you fold a thousand cranes, you will land on Mount Olympus, if you want to. In any case, the gods should want to grant such masters a wish. The inclusion of origami in the Olympic program? Then Helen Langehanenberg would no longer be a "sporting sport" to skillfully fold her horses. See picture evidence! It is no coincidence that top athletes do not go up the walls in difficult moments, but discover something: a hidden talent.