Category Archives: Tokyo Olympic Games 2020

Tokyo 2020 Olympics president expected to resign over sexist comments

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Yoshiro Mori had insisted for days he would not quit but Japanese media say he will step down amid a growing tide of anger over his remarks

The president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organising committee, Yoshiro Mori, is expected to resign after derogatory comments he made about women caused an international uproar less than six months before the Games are due to open.

Mori, who has led the organising committee since 2014, will step down after insisting for days that he would not resign, the Fuji News Network reported on Thursday.

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Tokyo governor to boycott Olympics meeting over sexism row

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Yuriko Koike says attending meeting with under-fire Games chief would not send positive message

The governor of Tokyo has said she will not attend a key meeting of Olympic officials next week, as the row over sexist comments made by the head of the 2020 Games’ organising committee intensifies.

Yuriko Koike, who became the city’s first female governor in 2016, said she saw no merit in attending the meeting between the committee head, Yoshiro Mori, the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, and Japan’s Olympics minister, Seiko Hashimoto.

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IOC condemns remarks about women by Tokyo chief as volunteers quit

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Head of organising committee in Japan, Yoshiro Mori, under pressure to step down as anger grows

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has condemned derogatory remarks about women by the head of the Tokyo 2020 Games organising committee, Yoshiro Mori, as “absolutely inappropriate”.

The unusually strong intervention came after Mori complained last week that meetings tended to drag on because “competitive” women in attendance “talked too much”.

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Tokyo 2020 chief pressed to resign after saying women talked too much at meetings

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Yoshiro Mori said he would not stand down after saying female participants meant meetings tended to ‘drag on’

Yoshiro Mori, the head of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organising committee, has apologised for making sexist remarks about “talkative” women in sports organisations, but said he would not resign.

Mori, a former Japanese prime minister with a history of demeaning remarks, told a meeting of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) this week that meetings attended by too many women tended to “drag on” because they talked too much.

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Tokyo Olympics: definitely going ahead unless cancelled again?

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Billed as a celebration of humankind’s victory over coronavirus, Games could fall foul of pandemic for a second time

The Olympic rings have been spruced up and are once again overlooking Tokyo Bay. Countdown clocks have been reset, telling passersby there are just 171 days to go until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games begin.

They are supposed to build excitement in the host city and among sports fans around the world. But Japan’s Olympic dream is quickly turning sour in the face of the worst global health crisis for a century.

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Japan faces Olympian task with slow start to Covid vaccinations

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With a vaccine-hesitant public and jabs yet to begin, there are fears immunisations are off the pace

Japan was among the first countries to report cases of Covid-19 after the world was alerted to the virus in December 2019. But just over a year later, it is the last major economy to deploy a vaccine – a measure widely acknowledged as the best hope for a return to something resembling normal life.

The first round of jabs is not expected to begin in Japan until the end of February, months after the US and UK – which have recorded far higher death tolls and caseloads – began their vaccination programmes.

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Japan dismisses ‘categorically untrue’ stories that Tokyo Olympics are doomed

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  • Sources at IOC adamant Games will go ahead in July
  • Country has surge in Covid cases centred on capital

The Japanese government has vehemently denied a story that it has privately concluded that this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo are doomed, calling them “categorically untrue”.

Sources at the International Olympic Committee have also told the Guardian that they are still planning for a “full Games” in July, despite the spiralling number of Covid-19 cases in Japan and across the globe. They also dismissed a Times report that said that government officials had resigned themselves to cancelling the Olympics and were instead hoping a wave of sympathy would help Tokyo secure the 2032 Games.

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Olympic athletes and officials ponder vaccine dilemma as Tokyo Games loom | Kieran Pender

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With the Covid-19 pandemic still raging, Olympians wonder whether they will – and should – be vaccinated in time for the Games

Steve Solomon, a 400-metre sprinter and co-captain of the Australian athletics team, has plenty to think about. The postponed 2020 Olympics are now just six months away and, barring a Covid-19 outbreak in Australia, Solomon will compete in the national championships in April before beginning final preparations for Tokyo. But there is one thing that the sprinter insists is not front of mind for him and his teammates: the coronavirus vaccine. “Everyone is just focused on making sure we are physically and mentally ready for the Games,” he said.

Solomon’s thoughts may be elsewhere, but plenty within the Olympic movement in Australia and overseas are pre-occupied with how the world’s biggest sporting event can take place safely in the midst of a pandemic. The Games are scheduled to begin on 23 July; the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government insist it will go ahead, despite a recent spike in cases in Tokyo. If the Olympics are to proceed, the vaccine offers a potential solution.

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Tokyo Olympic Games unlikely to go ahead, says London 2012’s Sir Keith Mills

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  • ‘I would be making plans for a cancellation’
  • Sebastian Coe remains confident Games will take place

Sir Keith Mills, the deputy chairman of the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games, is unconvinced that the delayed Tokyo Olympics will take place.

Tokyo organisers and the International Olympic Committee are adamant the Games will start in July despite a fresh wave of infections sweeping the globe.

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Tokyo’s Covid outbreak adds to doubts over hosting Olympic Games

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Emergency measures expanded to cover more than half of Japan’s population

A dramatic rise in coronavirus cases in Tokyo has reignited speculation about the Olympic Games, which are due to open in the city in just over six months’ time.

Japan widened its coronavirus state of emergency to cover more than half the country’s population on Wednesday, as surging infections sparked warnings of intense pressure on hospitals.

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Festivals, holidays, Euro 2020… will summer’s big events still go ahead?

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Burgeoning hopes for a normal sporting and cultural calendar are now in question again as infections increase

As Covid-19 cases rise across the world, hopes that life could get back to some semblance of normality by summer are fading. What chance do we have of going to a festival, flying off for a holiday or attending a major sporting event?

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Olympics official says he is not certain Tokyo Games will go ahead

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IOC’s Dick Pound voices concern after host city declared state of emergency due to third wave of coronavirus

Dick Pound, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee, has said he “can’t be certain” that the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games will go ahead this summer, as a coronavirus state of emergency was declared in the host city.

Asked about the prospects that the Games will open on 23 July, the Canadian told the BBC: “I can’t be certain because the ongoing elephant in the room would be the surges in the virus.”

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IOC seeks Covid vaccines for athletes in second wave so Olympics can go ahead

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  • IOC: athletes do not want to ‘jump queue’ but must get jabs
  • Confidence remains delayed 2020 Games will go ahead in July

The International Olympic Committee is working on ways to get athletes the coronavirus jab in the second or third wave so that the Tokyo Games can go ahead safely in July, the Guardian has been told.

While insisting that we “do not want to queue jump”, IOC sources are hoping athletes from around the globe will be high up on the vaccination list, once key workers and the vulnerable are given the jab.

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Fresh fears for Tokyo Olympics as host city sees surge in Covid-19 infections

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  • Tokyo reported 1,300 new coronavirus infections on Thursday
  • Health experts concerned over stretched medical infrastructure

When Japanese and International Olympic Committee officials finally accepted defeat in March and postponed the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, there was general agreement that a one-year wait would give the world ample time to overcome the coronavirus pandemic.

The delayed Olympics, the then prime minister Shinzo Abe said, would be an opportunity to pay tribute to the human spirit in overcoming the world’s biggest public health crisis for a century.

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Russia’s cyber-attack plan for Olympics part of a familiar pattern

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The reach of the GRU spy unit behind attacks on Japan and South Korea is remarkable

In the aftermath of Moscow’s hacking of the 2016 US election, many analysts expected the GRU to be punished. After all, Russia’s powerful military spy agency had been caught red-handed. The FBI indicted several GRU hackers in humiliating fashion. The spies who stole Democratic party emails – tens and thousands of them – were named and shamed.

In fact, the GRU avoided any repressions. In recent years Vladimir Putin has carried out a sweeping and brutal reorganisation at the top of government, sending a shiver down the spine of nervous bureaucrats. He has sacked or had arrested regional governors and ministers. Even the FSB, Putin’s old spy agency and a rival to the GRU, has seen generals fired.

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French Olympic hopeful climber Luce Douady, 16, dies after cliff fall

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  • Douady seen as one of the sport’s brightest young talents
  • French climbing federation expresses ‘immense sadness’

Teenage French climbing prodigy Luce Douady was killed on Sunday when she fell on a footpath in a climbing area in the French Alps, the French Mountain Climbing Federation (FFME) and its club in Chambery said.

The 16-year-old reigning world junior champion fell 150m as she and a group of friends were crossing a tricky path equipped with a handrail between two climbing areas.

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Japan to explore ‘simplified’ Olympics, says Tokyo governor

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  • Possible changes for Games next year being discussed
  • Mandatory testing and limited movement among options

Tokyo’s governor Yuriko Koike has said it may be necessary to a stage a “simplified” Olympics next year due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and that organisers were already discussing possible changes.

Koike’s comments come after the Yomiuri newspaper reported that various options, such as mandatory coronavirus testing and having fewer spectators, were being considered by organisers.

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Tokyo Olympics organisers considering options to delay – reports

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As thousands flock to the Olympic flame in Japan, the organising committee is reportedly drafting plans to postpone the Games

As huge crowds defied coronavirus fears to queue for hours to see the Olympic flame in northern Japan, a report emerged that organisers of Tokyo 2020 have begun drafting alternatives to holding the Games this summer.

In contrast to the official line from the Japanese government and the IOC, two sources familiar with the talks have told news agency Reuters that options for postponing the Games are now being drawn up.

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Abe insists Olympics to go ahead as planned despite Covid-19

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Japan’s prime minister say country will host the Games ‘without problem, as planned’

Japan is still preparing to host the Olympics, Shinzo Abe has said, despite growing concern about the viability of the summer Games because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Japan’s prime minister and his government have been adamant that the Olympics will go ahead, even as other global sporting events have been put on hold. Speculation about a delay of the July start date has grown since the Donald Trump said organisers should consider a one-year postponement.

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‘We always get an A’: Fukushima strives to prove food safety before Tokyo Games

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Stringent testing continues in prefecture to counter reputational damage from triple disaster

Knives are wielded in silence as chunks of meat are sliced up and placed in containers, the reputation of an entire region resting on every step of the process being completed without a hitch.

Staff at the Fukushima Agricultural Technology Centre are dissecting samples of beef neck; on other days it could be batches of cucumbers and peaches, or fish from the nearby Pacific Ocean.

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