Video Games Finally Conquered The Olympic Games

Let's have a nice flashback to when Alison Bartosik and Anna Koslova from Team USA pulled off this beautiful routine in the Athens Olympics (from back in 04, not from the old ones).

You're watching history not because that number won a bronze medal, but because it's based on "Fithos Wecos Lusec Vinosec" and “Liberi Fatali,” the incredible pieces from 1999's Final Fantasy VIII playing over it. That's probably the first classy crossover -- not just between gaming and sports -- but between gaming and anything, really. 

That should have paved the way for more gaming-influenced routines in Beijing 2008.

But it just didn't go anywhere.. up until now.

In 2021 when older and wiser viewers watched the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, thinking the organizers chose to play some classical pieces from Japan that they understandably didn't recognize. And they were right, to a degree, because they'd just witnessed the glory of some classic video game tunes.

Though Nintendo seems to have rage-quitted the event, the organizers still played 19 classic songs from games that included Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Nier, Monster Hunter -- hell, there are so many songs from fantasy titles that when they play the Pro Evolution Soccer theme, it feels out of place.

Even neater is how Vitalina Batsarashkina won a gold medal in the monster-hunting 10m air pistol category while wearing her Witcher medallion.

Legend says she only took second place at the 2016 Rio Olympics because Witchers prefer silver.

Upon returning home, Batsarashkina was welcomed back with a translated version of "Toss a coin to your Witcher,"  the song popularized by The Witcher Netflix TV show.

Hopefully, they'll toss some endorsement coins her way.

Top Image: Square Enix