Where to start with these already year -delayed Olympics?
Well, I think these stories speak for themselves.
An Olympics for our times.
*Tennis player Coco Gauff has tested positive for Covid-19 and will not compete in the Tokyo Olympics, where she had been expected to lead Team USA.
*With less than a week before the opening ceremonies begin at this year's Tokyo games, at least two players on the South African soccer team have tested positive for COVID-19 inside the Olympic Village.
*Germany's Olympic soccer team walked off the pitch during a friendly match against Honduras after one of the German players, Jordan Torunarigha was racially abused, according to the German Football association
The composer, Keigo Oyamada, also known as "Cornelius," boasted to Japanese magazines in the 1990s about how he had tormented fellow students. The boasts came back to haunt him less than a week before the games are to kick off Friday.
*South Korea’s Olympic committee said Saturday it removed banners at the Olympic athletes’ village in Tokyo that referred to a 16th-century war between Korea and Japan after the International Olympic Committee ruled they were provocative.
In agreeing to take down the banners, the South Koreans said they received a promise from the IOC that the displaying of the Japanese “rising sun” flag will be banned at stadiums and other Olympic venues. The flag, portraying a red sun with 16 rays extending outward, is resented by many people in South Korea and other parts of Asia who see it as a symbol of Japan’s wartime past.
These our now being called the No FUN Olympics! Even For Journalists.
This is actually pretty upsetting for participants and journalists.
This will be an Olympics stripped bare of the things that make the Games wonderful. All the reasons that, despite the corruption and greed and cheating and bias that permeates the International Olympic Committee and its events, we still find the Games irresistible. The sense of a global brotherhood. The sight of a proud host showing off its city. The interactions between athletes from different sports, different countries, different cultures. The international friendships made over breakfast, on the bus, in line.
Journalists have been told that security guards will be stationed outside their hotels to track their movement and that they are not allowed to go for a walk, except to a convenience store, “and be sure to return within 15 minutes.” Any violations of the “Playbook” protocol will be reported, and this draconian language was included:
“The people of Japan will be paying close attention to your every move. … In the unlikely event that you are suspected or found to be in infringement of the Playbook, such activity may be photographed and shared on social media by bystanders.”
Welcome to Tokyo!
A U.S. women's alternate gymnast, Kara Eaker, who has been training with the team in Japan and is vaccinated has tested positive for the virus and is quarantined.
I have been saying for 17 months now that the state of the Olympics will tell us the state of the Covid virus. I also heard that "the Olympic would be less, a lot less" on a recent RTFN. One thing that is coming to me now is that we are going to learn a lot about this new Delta variant because of the Olympics. We will find out that many vaccinated people will have the virus but have little to no symptoms and we would not have known the extent of how many except for the mandatory testing taking place at the games since all athletes are regularly tested. There will likely be other discoveries made too.
I believe this will be a rough games for many athletes. Lots of disappointment.
I predicted (wrongly) that the Olympics wouldn’t happen this year due to COVID. Perhaps what I saw instead was that they SHOULDN’T happen this year due to COVID. Honestly, I know there’s a lot that goes into these things but considering how most cities that host are still building facilities in the days leading up to their event, we should have just called this one into 2022 and re-numbered from there. What we’re getting is a stark reminder that we’re not out of the woods on this crap yet, and probably won’t be for awhile.
This story makes me angry. It should upset everyone.
Imagine posting the best S12 400-meter freestyle swimming time in the world this year at the Paralympic trials last month and then needing to withdraw from the Para- Olympic games.
A deaf-blind swimmer had to withdraw from the Paralympics because she was not allowed to have a personal care assisted travel with her to the Olympics to help her with basic things like navigating around the village to get to the dining hall or the pool. Or simply to travel to Japan. Of course she needs a PCA. PCA's are not deemed essential service personnel however for the Paralympics. A golf caddie is considered essential however for the Olympics. This apparently is more of a U.S. Paralympic decision as there were work arounds they did not wish to explore. Yes, there are different restrictions for these Covid games but this is a safety issue, not a want. I mean, imagine if there was a fire...And this is the Paralympics...unbelievable.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/19/becca-meyers-tokyo-paralympics/
WOW! I can't imagine how disappointed the Polish Swimming Team is right now.
Confusion over rules during the Covid Olympics continue.
Six Polish swimmers are fuming after the country’s swimming federation put 23 athletes on the plane to Japan when they were only meant to send 17. They had taken the Olympic oath and departed Poland to great fanfare, but they didn’t even make it as far as Friday’s Opening Ceremonies.
All six were originally named to the Polish lineup as relay-only swimmers, Olympic qualification standards specify that each nation may enter relay-only athletes provided they have at least achieved the "B" standard for the corresponding stroke and distance of the relay in which they are entered. But Poland reportedly filled more than its allowed spots and had to decide who should leave.
In a four-page statement explaining the error, Słomiński expressed “regret, sadness and bitterness” about the athletes’ situation.
He attempted to apportion some of the blame on the country’s Olympic committee, and the international federation that sets the qualifying rules, saying that he did not receive a clear message from either until July 14 regarding his request to accept the six swimmers to compete.
The Polish swimming officials’ desire, he said, was “to allow as many players and coaches as possible to take part" in the Olympics.
A video shared on Twitter by a Polish journalist showed the dejected athletes sharing hugs with their teammates before leaving Tokyo over the weekend.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/07/21/poland-swimmers-error-tokyo-olympics/
Here's some food for thought. When Tokyo hosted the Olympics in 1964, the games were held in October in order to avoid Tokyo's hot, humid summers. The only reason the 2021 games are going ahead this month is because the Olympics are now a television spectacle, and it's in broadcasters interests to televise spectacles like the Olympics in the summer. The long distance running events are being held in the northern city of Sapporo in order to avoid the sultry weather, but as the Pacific Northwest Heatwave has demonstrated, not even normally temperate places are safe from extreme temperatures.
I'm going to put this out there. I wouldn't be surprised if the Tokyo games are cancelled mid-game either due to an extreme COVID spike or some sort of natural calamity like a super-typhoon. Tokyo 2021 is just looking too rickety.
@coyote Thanks for the information about the timing of the games due to television spectacle. Also I love predictions so will be thinking of this one.
I'm going to put this out there. I wouldn't be surprised if the Tokyo games are cancelled mid-game either due to an extreme COVID spike or some sort of natural calamity like a super-typhoon. Tokyo 2021 is just looking too rickety.
This would make my prediction on this last year 3/4 right…
It’s so sad for all the athletes who have worked so hard to get where they are, but I also reiterate, that the games themselves probably shouldn’t have gone on this summer in the first place.
They are not ruling out canceling them. I think there is a good chance they might mid way through, especially if they athletes continue to contract the virus.
@coyote, it is a shame the Olympics were not moved to the fall like the '88 olympics were held for S. Korea It would have also bought Japan more time to vaccinate their people. These breakthrough cases are rough.
Need some good Olympics news? Here is some, sorta I guess. Because of all of the covid restrictions in place for this Olympics, the carbon footprint is projected to be much smaller than anticipated.
Need some good Olympics news? Here is some, sorta I guess. Because of all of the covid restrictions in place for this Olympics, the carbon footprint is projected to be much smaller than anticipated.
Oh, I like that news. Thank you for posting.
I recently read a piece in which the author characterized civilizations as "linear construct within vast non-linear systems" (or something like that). The Olympics seem to embody modern global civilization's ever shaky faith in linearity. The idea that every four years a select city can construct several billion dollars worth of venues and that tens of thousands of athletes, trainers, organizers, and journalists (plus tourists) can then converge on the assemblage is a product of a time when global economic and environmental conditions were stable, but that's not the case anymore. It's pretty clear that the climatic and economic bounds of our paradigm are just getting started with an exponential phase shift.
So if the Tokyo games are cancelled at the 11th hour or mid-way, that could be a blessing in disguise, since it would force global civilization to further reckon with its conceit of linearity.
@coyote Your comment seems to fit why Brisbane was just chosen to host a future summer Olympics? They already have 80% of the infrastructure. Same with LA hosting a future summer Olympics, much of the infrastructure for the games is already present. Unlike what happened to Greece which didn't eve use the stadium after really and it was left to rot...
Not sure if this is better in the Covid thread or here but it fits both threads.
What I noticed most of this clip of Jill Biden arriving in Tokyo for the Olympics was her mask, meaning she IS masked. Likely a requirement from Tokyo and the IOCC. But, it makes you wonder, she is fully vaccinated and outside and everyone is wearing a mask. OUTSIDE.
I have been wearing a mask indoors for the most part and will likely increase it to nearly all the time again around others because of the Delta variant..
But we are talking outside...this virus has Tokyo terrified I think. How does the U.S. explain science and the virus now if she is wearing a mask outside? Olympic science is different than CDC science?
I didn't know Brisbane was just selected as a host city. But yeah, I've thought about how Los Angeles and Paris were both selected as future host cities at the same time, so even the IOC is trying to adjust to an emerging awareness that conditions are different.
This approach might work for the summer games, but the winter games are a whole other animal, since you need a host city that is close enough to cold, snowy mountains. The IOC can select its winter hosts 10-12 years in advance, but in 10-12 years climate conditions can change drastically. I expect that the Winter Olympics will stop being held in my lifetime.
Who is enjoying the Olympics so far? It is nice to actually have the games as a distraction to everything going on in the world.
I love the new skateboarding events and can't believe there are 13 year old girl skateboarders competing in the Olympics! They are amazing! I am looking forward to surfing too.
Anyone else finding themselves happy for ALL competitors perhaps more so this year than other Olympics, not just the ones from your country?
There certainly some issues with this Olympics but I am happy that these hard working athletes are finally able to chase their dreams.
@lovendures Good morning! My husband I are enjoying the Olympics immensely. It’s the time I personally feel most patriotic—in support of our country’s athletes—and, as you say, also cheering for the world’s athletes.
I find that I’m grateful for their dedication, perseverance and representation of their host countries. Pride wells up and I’m grateful that we all can connect in positive and invigorating ways. Joy arises which makes me feel happier in these stressful times. I missed the skateboarding but watched a little surfing, the newest sport. I esp love the swimming matches prob bc I love to swim. Looking forward to all of it! U.S.A!!!
Love that they have skateboarding in the Olympics now. Love it even more, that 13 year olds are schooling the grown-ups in Olympic Skateboarding!
I'm so old, that when i was a 13 y.o. skateboarder, it was still called Sidewalk Surfing
Don't be afraid to try the newest sport around
Bust your buns, bust your buns now
It's catchin' on in every city and town