Category Archives: Olympic Games

Coronavirus live news: record daily toll takes Indonesia past 2m cases; France to open nightclubs from 9 July

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Indonesia reports 14,536 new cases, its highest daily toll ; nightclub industry to open in France for first time since March 2020

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.

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Tokyo 2020 will allow up to 10,000 domestic fans into Olympic venues

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  • 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.

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Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard will be first trans athlete to compete at Olympics

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  • 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.

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Uganda Olympic athlete arriving in Tokyo tests positive for coronavirus

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Infection in team that had been fully vaccinated is first Covid-19 case detected among athletes visiting for next month’s Games

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.

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Tokyo Olympics athletes warned not to use 160,000 free condoms

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  • Organisers say condoms are souvenirs to take home
  • 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.

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‘Claims could run into billions’: the interests at stake if Olympics in Japan were cancelled

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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.

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Ryan Lochte: ‘I was headed to a dark, dark place’

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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.

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Coronavirus live news: Japan mulls tests for Olympics fans; India posts lowest case numbers since April

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Japan may require Games fans to test negative or show vaccine proof; India reports lowest case numbers since 11 April; signs UK is facing third wave

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.

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Tokyo Olympics: local fans may need to show vaccination proof or negative Covid test

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Games authorities are relying on Japan’s spectators to provide atmosphere but are now in a race against time to inoculate population

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.

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Japan expected to extend emergency Covid measures less than two months ahead of Olympics

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Medical officials say case numbers in Tokyo need to be much lower to prevent another surge during the Games

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.

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Tokyo Olympics: anger in Japan at IOC call to make ‘sacrifices’

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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.

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Nancy Pelosi calls for diplomatic boycott of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics – video

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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.’

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Nancy Pelosi calls for US diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics

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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.

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Could the Tokyo Olympics still be cancelled? – video explainer

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The Tokyo Olympics are due to begin on 23 July, but calls for the Games to be cancelled are growing due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in Japan. The Guardian's Tokyo correspondent, Justin McCurry, looks at the current state of play. 

A recent spike in coronavirus cases has caused many prefectures to enter a state of emergency, including Tokyo. Japan has been reporting nearly 7,000 daily cases and the surge has put pressure on the country’s healthcare system, with the rollout of its vaccination programme slower than anticipated.

Organisers says tough anti-virus measures, including regular testing of athletes and a ban on overseas fans, will keep the delayed Games safe, but a new poll indicates more than 80% of Japanese people oppose hosting the Olympics this year. In addition, some elite athletes including tennis star Naomi Osaka have expressed their own concerns.

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Tokyo Olympics: poll shows 60% of Japanese people want Games cancelled

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  • Limited public support amid surge in Covid-19 cases in Tokyo
  • Time for discussion about staging Games is now, says Naomi Osaka

Preparations for Tokyo Olympics have suffered another setback after a poll found that nearly 60% of people in Japan want them to be cancelled, less than three months before the Games are due to open.

Japan has extended a state of emergency in Tokyo and several other regions until the end of May as it struggles to contain a surge in Covid-19 cases fuelled by new, more contagious variants, with medical staff warning that health services in some areas are on the verge of collapse.

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Sadiq Khan pledges to explore new London Olympic bid if re-elected

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Mayor will say city could look at bidding for 2036 or 2040 Games as post-Covid morale boost for nation

Sadiq Khan is pledging to look at bringing the Olympics back to London within 20 years if he is re-elected as mayor on Thursday.

In a speech at an amateur boxing club in Earlsfield, south-west London, on Tuesday, Khan will set out the prospect of another London Olympics as a post-Covid morale boost that he argues would extend beyond the capital.

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‘Cancel the Olympics’: fashion outcry as Canada brings back jean jackets for Tokyo

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  • Denim outfits welcomed with mix of outrage and delight
  • Designers say uniforms reflect Tokyo’s street art and fashion

For sports fans, there are many reasons to be thankful that the Tokyo Olympics look like they will take place – a year late – despite concerns about coronavirus: the chance to see supreme athletes compete at the highest level, an opportunity to deliver your definitive opinion on the Montenegro water polo team and marvel at the proxy superpower struggle at the top of the medal table. But the biggest treat of all could happen on the final night of the Games when the Canadian team walk out for the closing ceremony.

The athletes will be clad in graffiti-splashed denim jackets that would have been very current at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona or on Degrassi Junior High at its peak, but haven’t quite passed muster among 21st-century critics on social media.

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100 days to Tokyo: Pessimism and fear remain in Japan as Games loom | Justin McCurry

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Despite feelgood golf and swimming stories the local opinion on the Covid-delayed Games is that they should not happen

When Hideki Matsuyama sank the putt that won the Masters on Sunday, he not only made history by becoming the first Japanese man to win a major golf title – he gave the organisers of the Tokyo Olympics rare cause for celebration.

Days earlier his compatriot Rikako Ikee secured a place at the rescheduled 2020 Games in the 100m butterfly less than eight months after she had recovered from leukaemia.

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‘I’m not a little girl anymore’: Simone Biles on world domination, pandemic ennui and staying on for Paris 2024

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Much has changed since America’s greatest athlete set Rio aflame, but one familiar constant endures: her only competition is herself

So much has changed in the five years since Simone Biles lit up the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, affirming her presumptive status as the greatest gymnast ever with four gold medals in seven days.

The 24-year-old from suburban Houston moved out of her parents’ house into her own digs, adopted two French Bulldog puppies (Lilo and Rambo) and went public with boyfriend Jonathan Owens, a safety for the NFL’s Houston Texans. She enlisted the husband-and-wife coaching team of Laurent Landi and Cecile Canqueteau-Landi following an amicable split with longtime personal coach Aimee Boorman. The sport she’s come to define was rocked by the worst sexual abuse scandal in American sports history. And her bid for a historic second straight Olympic all-around title was waylaid by a global pandemic that turned the sports world on its ear.

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North Korea pulls out of Tokyo Olympics, citing coronavirus fears

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With the Games just months away, the regime’s sports ministry says it wants to protect athletes from the ‘global health crisis’

North Korea’s sports ministry said on Tuesday that it will not participate in the Tokyo Olympics this year to protect its athletes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision was made at a meeting of North Korea’s Olympic committee, including its sports minister Kim Il guk, on 25 March the ministry said on its website, called Joson Sports. “The committee decided not to join the 32nd Olympics Games to protect athletes from the global health crisis caused by the coronavirus,” it said.

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