Tokyo 2020 - The African Mirror

Jul

2021

Olympics-Gymnastics-Biles says gymnastics not everything, ‘we also have to focus on ourselves’

ELAINE LIES and GABRIELLE TETRAULT-FARBER IN the end, Simone Biles decided to pull out of the Tokyo 2020 team gymnastics finals because things just did not feel right after her vault, saying mental health is more important than sports. Biles, who wrote on her Instagram just a day before about feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders, decided that rather than risk injury - and a medal for the rest of the team - she needed to just stop. "It's like fighting all those demons and coming out here. I have to put my pride aside. I have…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

S.Korean TV apologises over opening ceremony broadcast

WORLD

JUN-MIN PARK and MITCH PHILLIPS A South Korean TV network has apologised after using inappropriate images and captions to describe countries during the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony on Friday. The broadcaster, MBC, used images of pizza to describe Italy, an upheaval for Haiti, Chernobyl for Ukraine, salmon for Norway, when athletes from those countries entered the stadium for the opening ceremony. In its captions broadcasting the ceremony, the network referred to the Marshall Islands as "once a nuclear test site for the United States", and Syria as the country that has "a civil war going on for 10 years". In…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa hopes for medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

SPORT

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER THE Tokyo Olympics are finally upon us - albeit with questionable energy - and this instalment of games sees a number of new and returning faces representing the African continent. While known countries such as Uganda; Egypt; Nigeria and South Africa have increased their representation at the summer games with the introduction of new sporting codes, some notable faces will be missing the tournament due to IAAF rulings or reluctance to participate amid the coronavirus pandemic. Many sports fans will be eager to see how South Africa’s sprinters and swimmers will do against the USA’s dominant sprinters,…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Scandal-hit Tokyo looks to final torchbearer to mend battered image

WORLD

TIM KELLY BATTERED by scandal on the eve of the opening ceremony, Tokyo 2020 organisers have the chance to patch up the Games' image when they reveal who will carry the Olympic flame for the final few steps to light the stadium's cauldron. The identity of the final torchbearer is one of the Games' most closely held secrets yet speculation has swirled for months around well-known athletes such as former Seattle Mariners baseball player Ichiro Suzuki and Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels, the latest Japanese player to woo the United States. One sports figure who might be able…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Guinea takes part in Olympics

COVID-19

GUINEA’S five athletes will participate in the Tokyo Olympics after all, a statement from the West African nation's sports ministry has said, reversing the previous day's decision to suspend its participation in the Games citing the pandemic. On Wednesday, Sports Minister Sanoussy Bantama Sow said in a letter to the country's National Olympic Committee that the government had cancelled Guinea's participation to "preserve the health of its athletes" due to a surge in COVID-19 variants. Daily coronavirus infections in Tokyo rose to 1,979 cases on Thursday, the city said, the highest level since January. The July 21 letter seen by…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

The Tokyo Olympics will be the Games of all mothers

SPORT

IN March, the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Organizing Committee announced that the Tokyo Games would be the “first gender-balanced Olympic Games in history.” JANE THORNTON, Clinician Scientist, Canada Research Chair in Injury Prevention and Physical Activity for Health, Sport Medicine Physician, Western University MARGIE DAVENPORT, Associate Professor, Christenson Professor in Active Healthy Living, Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, University of Alberta The gender gap in sport is well-established. Men have historically dominated elite sport for centuries, but thanks in part to the advocacy of organizations like the IOC Women in Sport Commission, global female representation…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria Basketball stun USA in historic win

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO THE Nigerian senior national team continued their Tokyo 2020 Olympic preparation by defeating a star-studded United States of America team 90-87 in an exhibition game in Las Vegas. Known as D’Tigres, Nigeria’s starting five, consisting of Josh Okogie, Gabe Nnamdi Vincent; KZ Okpala; Ike Nwamu and Precious Achiuwa, came out guns-blazing, matching the USA team shot for shot. “We just wanted to compete,” said Nigeria’s Gabe Vincent, who plays for the National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise the Miami Heat. “We know what USA Basketball means around the world and what they’ve stood for, for so long.” Vincent stole…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Frustrated by delays, Tokyo 2020 sponsors cancel booths, parties -sources

WORLD

EIMI YAMAMITSU and MAKI SHIRAKI JAPANESE Olympics sponsors are cancelling or scaling back booths and promotional events tied to the Tokyo 2020 Games, frustrated by "very last minute" decisions by organisers and a delay on whether spectators would be allowed, sources told Reuters. The moves by more than a dozen companies, including Canon, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance and Ajinomoto, highlight the delicate situation for sponsors, who have tied themselves to a Games now hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and public opposition. Some 60 Japanese companies paid a record of more than $3 billion for sponsorship rights and then…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Up to 10,000 fans allowed at Tokyo 2020 venues, despite warnings

WORLD

CHRIS GALLAGHER, ANTONI SLODKOWSKI and DANIEL LEUSSINK UP to 10,000 domestic spectators will be allowed in Tokyo 2020 venues, Olympics organisers have announced, a decision that cuts against the recommendation of medical experts who said holding the event without fans was the least risky option. The announcement ends months of speculation and highlights Japan's determination to push on with the Games and salvage the multi-billion-dollar extravaganza amid public opposition and deep concern about a resurgence in infections. The decision was widely expected after some recent comments by organisers and as the government's own medical experts last week appeared resigned to…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

‘We cannot postpone again,’ Tokyo 2020 boss says of COVID gloom

WORLD

ROCKY SWIFT THE head of Japan's Olympics organising committee ruled out on Thursday another suspension of the Games, despite deep disquiet at the prospect of thousands of athletes and officials arriving during a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections. Already postponed from last year at the cost of an extra $3.5 billion, a scaled-down version of the Games, with no foreign spectators, is set to start on July 23. But with a slow vaccine rollout, Tokyo and nine other regions under a state of emergency, and rising numbers of severe coronavirus cases, most Japanese oppose hosting the Olympics. Most of the…