The Beginning of an Avalanche
Part of Four Days in London: A memoir about trying to find a way to the Olympics, and finding something else instead. This story takes place in February 2010.
It was late. I had a half done paper in front of me about the Irish Potato famine and was cursing the cigarette smell that was invading my nostrils. I was in a 24 hour internet cafe in Tsukuba called “Cybex Net Cafe”. It was more than just an internet cafe. It was sort of this fusion of internet cafe, pool hall, manga library, and arcade. The language barrier, and general prioritization of internet access, prevented me from ever taking advantage of its other attractions.
The nice thing I had discovered about internet cafes in Japan was that you were secluded. You got some comfortable mats to sit or lay down on. In Tokyo from time to time I’d find a 24 hour cafe where I would sleep on the floor for less than the cost of a hostel bed. The best part was no one would notice if you started to mess with the wires of the computer. For example an ethernet cable that originally ran to the cafes computer was now going to my macbook.
The paper was due the next day and I was trying to get it done as quickly as possible. What wasn’t helping was the two windows on the right side of my screen. One had ippon.org and the other was a livefeed. Kayla was competing in Europe. Bobby Lee and I were chatting on facebook messenger about how she was doing.
The US Womens’ team hadn’t taken home any A level medals in Europe for a while. The last person to do so was Ronda Rousey in Budapest two years before. Kayla just a match away from changing that in Dusseldorf. Kayla by that point had already brought home an A level medal from Brazil in 2009 and was a 2x finalist at the junior world championships. If anyone was going to medal in Europe that season it was going to be her.
She had opened the tournament by beating Lucie Louette from France. Louette being a multi-time medalist at the European championships meant that win was impressive in and of itself. That alone would have warranted a press release from USA Judo. Her next match was against Yahima Ramirez from Portugal.
Writing now I only have two memories of Kayla’s match against Ramirez. The first memory is one of the commentators, who I don’t recall ever getting a commentator spot again, remarking that he thought the match was boring. This caught Bobby and I both off guard but resulted in an awkward laugh. The second memory was more of a thought: this match, as the commentators snarky remark suggested, wasn’t flashy. Yet when the match ended, something flashy had happened. Kayla was in the semi finals of Dusseldorf. She lost her next match to Japan but due to the tournament being single elimination, she made the medal stand. I just about jumped out of my internet cafe booth with joy. I was promptly asked by a passing cafe worker to please keep the noise down.
After a few more messages with Bobby I put my laptop down. I quietly put the ethernet cord back into the internet cafes computer and stepped out of the cubicle. I walked through the area filled with manga that perpetually smelled like cigarette smoke. As I walked up to the refreshment counter and I blurted out to the attendant what my friend had done. The attendant smiled and nodded in that way people do when they have no idea what you are saying. I practically skipped back to my cubicle.
When I opened my laptop and clicked on Microsoft Word I returned to my own situation. My paper “Was the Irish Potato Famine Genocide?” wasn’t going to write itself. Thankfully I still had several hours to do so.
Correction: Travis Stevens on the male side had been taking home medals in Europe by this point. Post has been adjusted.
