Tokyo Games - The African Mirror

Jul

2022

Lyles retains 200m crown as US sweep podium, Jackson wins women’s title

NOAH Lyles retained his 200 metres title as U.S. sprinters secured their second podium sweep while Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce made it a 1-2 finish for Jamaica in the women's event at the World Championships on Thursday. Lyles, bronze medallist at the Tokyo Games, scorched to victory in 19.31 seconds to become the third-fastest athlete of all time over the distance and break four-time Olympic champion Michael Johnson's national record. Five days after Fred Kerley led a U.S. 1-2-3 in the 100m, Lyles produced another dominant performance to clinch gold ahead of Tokyo runner-up Kenny Bednarek in 19.77 while…

Dec

2021

By The African Mirror

Italian boxer Testa comes out as gay after Olympic success

LGBT+, LGBTQIA+

ITALY’S Olympic bronze medal-winning boxer Irma Testa has come out as gay, saying her success at the Tokyo Games earlier this year gave her the strength to make her sexual orientation public. The 23-year-old boxer won bronze in the women's featherweight category at Tokyo 2020. She previously competed at Rio 2016 where she lost in the quarter-finals while she also won gold in the 2019 European Championships. "The people who are close to me have known for years but I think it is right to tell everyone now," she told the Italian edition of Vanity Fair. "Speaking of sexual orientation…

Aug

2021

By The African Mirror

Olympics: Italy hails new sprint king, as drama unfolds at airport

SPORT

GABRIELLE TETRAULT and MITCH PHILLIPS LAMONT Marcell Jacobs has won the most coveted crown in athletics, giving Italy its first 100 metres gold on a night of high drama in Tokyo. As Jacobs stormed to the first Olympic title of the post-Usain Bolt era, the fate of a Belarusian sprinter's Tokyo Games was playing out at a nearby airport. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who had been due to compete in the women's 200 metres on Monday, told Reuters she had sought the protection of Japanese police at Tokyo's Haneda airport after being taken to the airport against her wishes. She said the…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Olympics-Storm lurks over Tokyo, Osaka out of Games

SPORT

OSSIAN SHINE WIND and rain have buffeted the Tokyo region causing delays to Olympic competition and event rescheduling, while tennis superstar Naomi Osaka exited the Games after she was beaten in the third round of the singles tournament. Osaka, who lit the Olympic cauldron on Friday to open the Games, was swiped aside by Czech Marketa Vondrousova in a match where the Japanese player seemed out of sorts and never settled into a rhythm. "I think it's maybe because I haven't played in an Olympics before and for the first one to be here was a bit much," Osaka said.…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigerian-born basketball star Cambage says ‘I’m in’ for Tokyo after race furore

NEWS

BASKETBALLER Liz Cambage has confirmed she will play at the Tokyo Games, backtracking on a threat to boycott the showpiece over a lack of racial diversity in Australia's Olympic photo-shoots. Cambage, who was born to a Nigerian father, took umbrage with pictures of Australia's Olympic athletes on social media last week, saying people of colour had been marginalised and she would "sit this one out" until the situation changed. But in an expletive-laden series of video clips on her Instagram account, Cambage said she was in for her third Olympics after London and Rio. "For everyone wondering so desperately what…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Olympics-80% want Tokyo Games cancelled or delayed – Japanese survey

WORLD

ABOUT 80% of people in Japan say this year's Tokyo Olympics should be cancelled or delayed as worries mount about a record surge in coronavirus cases across the country, according to a Kyodo News poll. The survey found 35.3% want the Games to be cancelled and 44.8% favoured another delay. The world's biggest multi-sports event, postponed last year due to the pandemic, is scheduled to be held from July 23 - August 8 in the Japanese capital. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Photo: Flickr Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency for the greater Tokyo region on Thursday and…