Fowles' Diary: Practice, games and lots of time at the hotel

TOKYO (AP) - It's definitely been a different Olympics than I'm used to and that hasn't been all bad for me.

With the COVID protocols and restrictions we can't do too much outside of going to practice and the arena for games, so I spend a lot of time in my room relaxing.

Though I enjoy the solitude, not being able to do much of anything is unfortunate because I really was looking forward to coming to Tokyo. I love plants and I love how green the city is and it's so clean.

I had been really hoping that I could go see the Botanical Gardens, unfortunately, I don't think that's going to be happening.

Even though we're stuck in the hotel, we do have a little path on the seventh floor where we can get some fresh air.

Hopefully things get relaxed a little bit more so we can get outside before closing ceremonies.

We are allowed to go watch the men's team play and when that was first offered, I jumped at the chance to get out and support them.

It's also really cool that they came to watch us play, too.

That's one of the great things about the bond we have with them that really shows itself during the Olympics. We're always cheering each other on, it's not a new thing. But it seems like it's been supporting each other more in this Olympics because we really just have each other since none of our families could come.

I'm not sure if they'll be able to come out to our next game. We play one more pool game on Monday and then it's on to the quarterfinals.

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Minnesota Lynx star Sylvia Fowles is checking in periodically from the Olympics. The four-time Olympian is trying to help the U.S. win a seventh straight gold medal.

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