2021 Tokyo Olympics

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Yuli Ban
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2021 Tokyo Olympics

Post by Yuli Ban »

This miserable, excuse of an Olympics is coming up.

Tokyo Olympics to go ahead without spectators as COVID cases surge
This summer's Tokyo Olympics will go ahead without spectators after a surge in coronavirus cases, organisers have announced.

The widely expected move was made following talks between the government, Tokyo organisers and Olympic and Paralympic representatives.

Japan has now declared a coronavirus state of emergency for the capital that will run throughout the event.

Overseas fans had already been barred from attending the Games.

Public viewings of the Games have been cancelled and restaurants will be asked to stop serving alcohol under the state of emergency.

Seiko Hashimoto, president of this year's Games, said the situation was "regrettable" and apologised to those who had bought tickets.
Remember how excited everyone was for the 2020 games? I, personally, was hyped for CES + Sports and the formal start of the Future™. And it seemed everyone was talking about what a techno-spectacle it'd be, with robot villages, artificial meteor showers, flying cars, superfast trains, and more. It was supposed to be the Neo-Tokyo Cyberlympics 2020.

And then it all fell apart and Japan's been embarrassingly trying to pretend that no, no, everything's fine, the show must go on.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
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Yuli Ban
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Re: 2021 Tokyo Olympics

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Totally Fine Games™

Tokyo Olympics may be held under state of emergency
The Olympic Games in Tokyo could be held under a state of emergency as Japan tackles a rise in COVID-19 infections.

Japan’s government is preparing to issue a state of emergency this month in Tokyo and will keep it in place until August 22, after the end of the Olympic Games, Nikkei newspaper has reported.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
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Yuli Ban
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Re: 2021 Tokyo Olympics

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Olympic village workers test positive to COVID-19
Olympic organisers say two staff working at the athletes' village have tested positive for COVID-19, with just 16 days until the opening ceremony.The pair tested positive last week and further investigations revealed they had been eating in a group with two other village workers — in violation of the organising committee's own COVID-19 countermeasures.

The other workers have tested negative for the virus.

So far, an athlete and a coach from the Ugandan team, as well as a Serbian athlete have tested positive.

All were picked up at the airport or in separate accommodation outside the village.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
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Re: 2021 Tokyo Olympics

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State of emergency begins in host city Tokyo as Games near

July 12, 2021
1:34 PM BST

TOKYO, July 12 (Reuters) - Olympic host city Tokyo entered a new state of emergency on Monday, less than two weeks before the Games begin amid worries about whether the measures can stem a rise in COVID-19 cases.

Organisers last week announced that spectators would be banned from nearly all venues. Spectators from abroad were already banned months ago, and officials are now asking residents to watch the Games on TV to keep the movement of people, which could spread contagion, to a minimum.

Opinion polls have consistently shown the Japanese public is concerned about going ahead with the Games during the pandemic.

Prime Mininster Yoshihide Suga's handling of the pandemic - including an initially slow vaccination rollout - has eroded his support. The issue is especially sensitive ahead of a national election and a ruling party leadership race due later this year.

"We would ask people to support athletes from home," Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said on a Sunday TV programme.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sport ... 021-07-12/
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caltrek
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Re: 2021 Tokyo Olympics

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I can almost hear the groans from some upon realizing the topic of this post Sorry folks, but if you think it is annoying to constantly have to read such news items, think how annoying it is to be the victim in articles.

Olympic Rules Often Leave Out Black Women
by Ina Fried
July 18, 2021

https://www.axios.com/olympics-rules-bl ... 31e38.html

Introduction:
(Axios) The Tokyo Olympics represent a gender milestone, with women representing almost half of athletes for the first time. However, that doesn't mean the playing field is level.

The big picture: Elite sports are all about setting rules and drawing boundaries. But there is growing concern, fueled by recent events, that too often it is women, especially Black women, who are left on the outside looking in.

Driving the news:
  • Namibian runners Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, two of the fastest 400-meter runners in the world, have been banned from competing after having “naturally high testosterone levels.” It's worth noting that the specific rule establishing such limits was created, in large part, as a response to another African woman, Caster Semenya.
  • WNBA Most Valuable Player Nneka Ogwumike has been left off Team USA and then blocked by international basketball authorities from joining her sisters on Nigeria's national team.
...
  • ... Soul Cap, a swim cap designed for natural African hair, was told by the water sports governing body that it wasn’t suitable because “they don’t follow the natural form of the head.” That decision is also under review, following a blowback.
Don't mourn, organize.

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Yuli Ban
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Re: 2021 Tokyo Olympics

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^ I don't think anyone's groaning, at least not on this forum. It's not like the article's saying "we need there to be representation quotas or else the Olympics is racist." It raises good points.

Toyota Cancels All Tokyo Olympics TV Ads, CEO Won’t Attend Opening Ceremony
Toyota Motor Corp., a top corporate sponsor for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, has decided to pull all of its Olympics-related TV commercials in Japan.

Japanese media speculated Monday that the decision was made because the car manufacturer fears association with the troubled Summer Games, which are deeply unpopular in Japan, may tarnish its brand rather than burnish it.

“The Olympics is becoming an event that has not gained the public’s understanding,” a Toyota public relations executive surnamed Nagata told Japan’s daily Yomiuri newspaper Monday. The executive added that Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda and other senior executives would not be attending the Tokyo Summer Olympics opening ceremony July 23.
Remember how optimistic the kickoff to this was? They even had Shinzo Abe coming out of a pipe like Mario and the whole thing had this air of "Rio 2016 was shambolic, but Tokyo 2020 will be the Future!"

And now it's just a mess.
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caltrek
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Re: 2021 Tokyo Olympics

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Ugandan Weightlifter Who Fled Pre-Olympics Training Found in Central Japan
July 20, 2021

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ugan ... n-n1274457

Introduction:
(AP via NBC) A Ugandan athlete who fled during pre-Olympics training in western Japan last week has been found and is being interviewed by police, officials said Tuesday.

Mie prefectural police in central Japan said 20-year-old weightlifter Julius Ssekitoleko was in Yokkaichi, a city 105 miles east of his host town in western Japan. Police are asking him what happened since he fled his hotel in Izumisano in the Osaka prefecture Friday, leaving behind a note saying he didn’t want to return to his country.

Ssekitoleko left behind his luggage and a note saying he wanted to stay in Japan and work, Izumisano officials said. He did not meet Olympic standards in the latest international rankings released after he arrived Japan and was to return home this week.

The pandemic-delayed Olympics open Friday despite mounting concern about an upsurge of infections in Tokyo, which on Tuesday reported 1,387 cases, up 557 from a week ago.

On their arrival on June 19 at Narita International Airport, a member of the team tested positive and was quarantined, while the remaining eight members were allowed to travel more than 300 miles on a chartered bus to Izumisano.
Don't mourn, organize.

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caltrek
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Re: 2021 Tokyo Olympics

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Olympic Softball Is Back, And It Starts Today. Will It Stick Around?
by Tom Goldman
July 20, 2021

https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olym ... ick-around

Introduction:
(NPR) The Tokyo Summer Olympics officially begin Friday with the Opening Ceremony.

But the sports actually start today (8 p.m. ET).

Host nation Japan kicks off competition with a softball game against Australia.

With three first-day games (the other two are top-ranked U.S. vs Italy and Mexico vs Canada), softball is in the Olympic spotlight after being out of it for the past 13 years.

After 2008, the International Olympic Committee dropped the popular women's sport, which wasn't popular enough with IOC voters who decide what's in and what's out on the Olympic program.
caltrek's comment: I think I actually find softball and/or baseball more exciting as an Olympic sport than is professional baseball. A couple of reasons:

1. The compressed schedule makes every game more important. More consequential games adds to the tension involved in watching the game(s).

2. Because the United States typically refrains from sending its most talented players (on account of they are too busy with their regular season games) the players that they do send tend to be closer to being amateurs. Originally, the Olympics were meant to be games where amateurs played each other. It was only later that professionals were allowed and encouraged to attend. So, a sport in which most players are still "amateurs" is closer to that original spirit.

In some cases, track and field for example, allowing professionals makes for a more interesting contest. I don't think that is necessarily the case for baseball. It is very much more a matter of our B team playing against the A team of other countries. In such circumstances, a country like Cuba or Japan very much has a chance of winning.
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Re: 2021 Tokyo Olympics

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Swimming-Six Polish swimmers sent home from Japan after admin blunder
july 20, 2021

July 20 (Reuters) - The president of Poland's swimming federation (PZP) has apologised after six athletes were sent home from the Tokyo Games due to an administrative error.

Poland had sent 23 swimmers to Japan but the PZP was forced to cut the squad down to 17 based on world governing body FINA's qualifying rules.

PZP President Pawel Slominski apologised and said he fully understood the anger of the swimmers who returned home over the weekend.

"I express great regret, sadness and bitterness about the situation related to the qualification of our swimmers for the Olympic Games in Tokyo," Slominski said in a statement.

"Such a situation should not take place, and the reaction of the swimmers, their emotions, the attack on the Polish Swimming Federation is understandable to me and justified."
https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sport ... 021-07-20/
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Xyls
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Re: 2021 Tokyo Olympics

Post by Xyls »

Lol the IOC should've just cancelled this and given it to Tokyo for 2024 and push Paris to 2028 and Lost Angeles to 2032... complete fucking mess. Now they have announced Brisbane for 2032 and completely screwed the pooch. Maybe they should push it to 2036?
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