Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Olympic organisers have decided to ban spectators from the Tokyo Games after Japan’s prime minister declared a state of emergency in the host city.
The news was confirmed by the Olympic minister, Tamayo Marukawa, following talks between the government, organisers and Olympic and paralympic representatives - although he left open the possibility that some venues outside Tokyo could still have fans.
A woman attempted to extinguish the torch’s flame in Japan with a squirt gun – and she’s far from the first to stage a protest during the torch relay
Are you kind of, sort of, not really into the fact that the Olympics are still going to happen later this month in Tokyo despite the coronavirus pandemic and the fact that the vast majority of our planet’s 7.8 billion people remain unvaccinated, with alarming outbreaks cropping up worldwide?
The Jamaican legend on the importance of Black Lives Matter, his 800m challenge and lessons of parenthood
The fastest man in history is pondering just how much more destructive he could have been in the super spikes that have swung a wrecking ball at so many world records. Briefly, there is a battle between Usain Bolt the diplomat and Usain Bolt the competitor. The competitor wins. “Me and a friend were talking about this the other day,” he says. “And I was like, ‘should I be upset?’ Because I know over the years everyone has tried to make spikes different and better but …”
Bolt stresses he is not worried about the current crop shredding his 100m world record of 9.58sec or his 200m best of 19.19sec. Yet he sounds uneasy about where the arms race in shoe technology will lead. “How can I argue if World Athletics decide that it’s legal? I can’t do anything about it. The rules are the rules. I don’t think I’ll be fully happy, but it’s just one of those things.”
American star tested positive after US Olympic trials
Texan has been hailed as most exciting sprinter since Bolt
Richardson may still run in 4x100m relay in Tokyo
The American sprint sensation Sha’Carri Richardson will miss the women’s 100m at the Olympics after accepting a one-month ban for testing positive for marijuana at last month’s US trials.
The 21-year-old was regarded as one of the favourites for a gold medal, having run the sixth fastest time in history this year, but her sanction means that her US trials victory is struck from the books.
Japan’s emperor has voiced concern over the possible spread of coronavirus during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, in an unexpected intervention in the debate over holding the Games in the middle of a pandemic.
Naruhito, who ascended the Chrysanthemum throne in 2019 after his father, Akihito, abdicated, said he shared widespread public concern about the Games, which open in a month’s time.
The US will ship three million doses of the Johnson & Johnson one-jab Covid-19 vaccine to Brazil on Thursday, the country with the second highest coronavirus death toll in the world, a White House official said.
The shipment - part of Washington’s pledge to donate 80 million vaccines - will depart Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on an Azul Airlines flight, bound for Campinas, a city in southeastern Brazil about 100 km (62.14 miles) from Sao Paulo, Reuters reports.
The organisers of the Tokyo Olympics have been forced to abandon plans to allow the sale of alcohol at venues after public outcry.
The president of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, Seiko Hashimoto, said on Wednesday that the decision had been made to ensure the Games were “safe and secure” during the coronavirus pandemic.
A fresh electronic lottery is to decide the fate of prospective attendees of Tokyo 2020 as organisers must refund some 910,000 tickets due to new caps, of up to 50% of a venue’s capacity or a maximum of 10,000 residents of Japan, announced today.
The number of spectators, all of whom must be resident of Japan, is to be capped at 2.72 million, according to Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto, meaning some 910,000 ticket holders will lose their chance to see the Games.
A Thai temple building a 69-metre-tall Buddha statue that will be visible across Bangkok has said construction is nearly complete but the opening may be pushed back to 2022 due to delays caused by the pandemic.
The Royal Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen temple on the outskirts of Bangkok dates back to 1610 and is located on a island created by canals flowing from the Chao Phraya river. Work on the statue, which is as tall as a 20-storey building, started in 2017 and should be completed this year, but due to the pandemic the official opening may be pushed back to 2022, said temple spokesman Pisan Sangkapinij.
Olympic organisers cap fans at 50% of venue capacity
Spectators could still be cut if infection situation worsens
Thousands of Japanese spectators will be allowed to attend events at the Olympic Games this summer, organisers said on Monday, despite warnings from health experts that crowds risk fuelling a surge in coronavirus cases.
The president of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, Seiko Hashimoto, said attendance would be capped at up to 50% of a venue’s capacity or a maximum of 10,000 people.
Hubbard has been included in New Zealand’s weightlifting team
‘I am grateful and humbled,’ says 43-year-old in statement
The New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard is set to make history and headlines, plus an enormous amount of controversy, after being confirmed as the first transgender athlete to ever compete at the Olympic Games.
The 43-year-old will be a live medal contender when she competes in the women’s super heavyweight category on 2 August. But Hubbard’s inclusion will also frustrate those who believe she has an unfair advantage over her rivals, having gone through male puberty before transitioning in 2012.
A member of Uganda’s Olympic team has tested positive for coronavirus and was barred entry into Japan, in the first detected infection among athletes arriving for the Tokyo Games, due to open in five weeks.
The athletes, who arrived on Saturday night at Tokyo’s Narita airport, were all fully vaccinated with AstraZeneca and had negative PCR tests before boarding, the Asahi newspaper reported, quoting an anonymous cabinet secretariat official.
Competitors must ‘avoid unnecessary forms’ of contact
The organisers of the 2020 Olympics have repeatedly vowed to put on a “safe and secure” Games during the coronavirus pandemic. But safe sex – or anything approaching intimacy for that matter – will be forbidden for athletes competing in Tokyo.
The International Olympic Committee this week repeated demands that residents of the Olympic village must observe social distancing guidelines to prevent an outbreak of Covid-19, threatening rule-breakers with a range of penalties, including fines, disqualification or even deportation.
IOC officials have avoided any mention of the commercial forces driving the Tokyo Games towards their 23 July opening date
The least divisive statement in the saga surrounding Tokyo 2020 – assuming, as many people now do, that it will happen in just over 40 days’ time – is that it will be an Olympics like no other.
Overseas fans have been banned; athletes will spend what for many will be the pinnacle of their career sealed off from the outside world; GPS-tracked journalists hoping to escape their hotel rooms for a late-night fix of ramen risk being put on the next flight home.
The second-most decorated swimmer in Olympic history became a global symbol of privilege in Rio en route to rock bottom. Now the 36-year-old father of two will try to reach a fifth Games
It’s been a roller-coaster five years for Ryan Lochte, even accounting for the ample fluctuations of a celebrity athlete whose nearly two decades in the public eye have been defined by in-water excellence measured against self-sabotage out of it. The second-most decorated men’s swimmer in Olympic history has married and become a father of two. He’s also been branded as a global symbol of privilege after an eponymous Rio Olympics scandal where he lied about being robbed at gunpoint, served two lengthy suspensions and admitted himself to rehab for alcohol addiction after one TMZ headline too many. Peaks and troughs, as they say.
Yet through all the tumult, Lochte has never meaningfully wavered in his goal of swimming in a fifth Olympics. And when the US swimming trials begin on Friday in Omaha, the 36-year-old will attempt to make it a reality. His best chance is expected to come on Sunday night in the 200m individual medley, the event where he set a world record nearly a decade ago that stands today. Should he earn a spot on the US team for Tokyo, he will become the oldest American male swimmer to ever compete at an Olympics.
China today re-imposed anti-coronavirus travel controls on its southern province of Guangdong, announcing anyone leaving the populous region must be tested for the virus following a spike in infections that has alarmed authorities, the Associated Press reports. .
Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong, recorded 20 new confirmed cases, all contracted locally, in the 24 hours through to midnight yesterday.
Guangdong’s numbers are low compared with many places in the world, but the rise has rattled Chinese leaders who thought they had the disease under control.
Hello, this is Haroon Siddique. I’ll be updating the blog for the next few hours.
Burkina Faso, one of several countries in Africa that has yet to launch a Covid-19 vaccination campaign, received its first shipment under the global vaccine-sharing scheme Covax yesterday, Reuters reports, citing the country’s health ministry.
The 115,200 AstraZeneca doses were flown into the airport of the capital Ouagadougou and were welcomed by a local delegation led by health minister Charlemagne Ouedraogo.
“In a few weeks other vaccines will probably arrive to supplement what we have,” Ouedraogo said.
Sports fans in Japan could be allowed to attend Olympic events in Tokyo this summer if they have proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test, a newspaper reported on Monday.
While many athletes are expected to have been fully vaccinated by late July, poor planning and staff shortages mean most Japanese citizens will still be waiting for a jab when the Olympics begin in less than two months’ time.
Japan is expected to extend emergency coronavirus measures in Tokyo and several other regions by about three weeks, according to officials, as the country struggles to rein in a fourth wave of infections less than two months before the Olympics.
The state of emergency – the third in the capital since the start of the pandemic – was called in late April and was originally due to end on 11 May, but was extended until the end of this month, as restrictions on businesses failed to make a dent in infections. Media reports said the latest extension could last until 20 June.
Senior Games figures John Coates and Thomas Bach criticised for attitude amid calls for event to be cancelled
The International Olympic Committee’s insistence that “sacrifices” must be made to ensure the Games go ahead in Tokyo regardless of the coronavirus situation in Japan has sparked a backlash and more calls for them to be cancelled.
John Coates, an IOC vice president, drew criticism in Japan after saying the Games would proceed even if the host city was still under a state of emergency due to the coronavirus. “The answer is absolutely yes,” Coates, who is overseeing preparations, said when asked on Friday if he thought they could be delivered despite the restrictions.
US House speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for a US diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, saying global leaders who attend the games would lose their moral authority to criticise China for human rights abuses. Pelosi’s statement comes as US lawmakers have been increasingly vocal about a boycott or venue change over the treatment of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China. ‘What I propose – and join those who are proposing – is a diplomatic boycott,”’Pelosi said. ‘Let’s not honor the Chinese government by having heads of state go to China.’
US House speaker says leaders who attend Games would lose moral authority because of China’s treatment of Uyghur minority
US House speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for a US diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, criticising China for human rights abuses and saying global leaders who attend would lose their moral authority.
US lawmakers have been increasingly vocal about an Olympic boycott or venue change, and have lashed out at American corporations, arguing their silence about what the State Department has deemed a genocide of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China was abetting the Chinese government.