Si, Oui, Hai: Interpreting joy and heartbreak at Tokyo Games

Interpreters work at the main press center during the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Unlike previous Olympics, all the interpretation is being done remotely with most interpreters working in booths at the main center. About two dozens interpreters aren't even in the country, chiming in from the Americas or Europe to handle late night events in Japan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Interpreters work at the main press center during the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Unlike previous Olympics, all the interpretation is being done remotely with most interpreters working in booths at the main center. Their simultaneous translation can be accessed at all Olympic venues on an app. This eliminates interpreters getting tied up in traffic heading to an venue. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Interpreters work at the main press center during the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Unlike previous Olympics, all the interpretation is being done remotely with most interpreters working in booths at the main center. Their simultaneous translation can be accessed at all Olympic venues on an app. This eliminates interpreters getting tied up in traffic heading to an venue. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Interpreters work at the main press center during the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Unlike previous Olympics, all the interpretation is being done remotely with most interpreters working in booths at the main center. Their simultaneous translation can be accessed at all Olympic venues on an app. This eliminates interpreters getting tied up in traffic heading to an venue. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Interpreters work at the main press center during the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Unlike previous Olympics, all the interpretation is being done remotely with most interpreters working in booths at the main center. Their simultaneous translation can be accessed at all Olympic venues on an app. This eliminates interpreters getting tied up in traffic heading to an venue. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A console of interpreters at the main press center, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Unlike previous Olympics, all the interpretation is being done remotely with most interpreters working in booths at the main center. Their simultaneous translation can be accessed at all Olympic venues on an app. This eliminates interpreters getting tied up in traffic heading to an venue. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Alexandre Ponomarev, the chief interpreter for the Tokyo Games, gestures during an interview with The Associated Press at the main press center during the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Ponomarev worked his first Olympics in 2008 in Beijing, and took over as the chief in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. He said his mother got him started with language-learning, smuggling DVDs of American films into the old Soviet Union. One by one, the languages piled up.(AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Interpreters work at the main press center at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Unlike previous Olympics, all the interpretation is being done remotely with most interpreters working in booths at the main center. About two dozens interpreters aren't even in the country, chiming in from the Americas or Europe to handle late night events in Japan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Interpreters work at the main press center during the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Unlike previous Olympics, all the interpretation is being done remotely with most interpreters working in booths at the main center. About two dozens interpreters aren't even in the country, chiming in from the Americas or Europe to handle late night events in Japan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Interpreters work at the main press center during the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Unlike previous Olympics, all the interpretation is being done remotely with most interpreters working in booths at the main center. About two dozens interpreters aren't even in the country, chiming in from the Americas or Europe to handle late night events in Japan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)