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TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s prime minister said he was “determined” to hold the Tokyo Olympics as organisers on Friday brushed off a report claiming officials think cancellation is inevitable. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s latest insistence that the postponed Games are on track comes after The Times cited an unnamed government source saying Japan has already shifted its focus to hosting in 2032. “I am determined to realise a safe and secure Tokyo Games […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The Tokyo 2020 torch relay, which was put on hold when the Olympics were delayed over the coronavirus, will start next March from Japan’s Fukushima region, organizers said Monday. The Olympic flame had already arrived in Japan from Greece and the relay was days from beginning earlier this year when organizers and Olympic officials took the historic decision to postpone the Games by 12 months. The flame is currently on […]
by Harumi OZAWA TOKOROZAWA, Japan (AFP) — Olympic boxing hopeful Arisa Tsubata is used to taking blows in the ring but it is during her work as a nurse that she faces her toughest opponent: coronavirus. The 27-year-old juggles a brutal training regime in boxing gloves with long, irregular hours in surgical gloves at a hospital near Tokyo. Tsubata mainly treats cancer patients but she said the virus was a constant threat, with medical experts […]
by Sara HUSSEIN Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese expert who has criticised the country’s response to the coronavirus warned Monday that he is “pessimistic” that the postponed Olympics can be held even in 2021. “To be honest with you I don’t think the Olympics is likely to be held next year,” said Kentaro Iwata, a professor of infectious diseases at Kobe University. Japan and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) agreed last […]
TOKYO, Olympics (AFP) — The Olympic torch relay, due to begin Thursday from a symbolic site in Fukushima, will proceed as scheduled but organizers said they would re-assess in the coming days given the “worsening” coronavirus situation. “The torch relay will start on March 26 in Fukushima, the plan has not changed,” Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto told reporters, a day after the International Olympic Committee said it was considering postponing the Games due […]
by Sunghee Hwang SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Travel restrictions around the world on arrivals from virus-hit South Korea are plunging its Olympic preparations into turmoil, with some athletes considering self-imposed exile and some at risk of missing the Games altogether. South Korea is a country that takes the Olympics seriously, coming eighth in the medal table at Rio 2016 with nine golds, and fifth at London 2012 with 13. But it also has the […]
by Eric BERNAUDEAU Agence France Presse LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday banned Russia for four years from major global sporting events including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, over manipulated doping data. WADA’s executive committee, meeting in Lausanne, handed Russia the four-year suspension after accusing Moscow of falsifying laboratory doping data handed over to investigators earlier this year. Not only will Russia be ruled […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The US Department of Justice has launched an investigation into sexual abuse in US Olympic sports, becoming the latest federal agency to probe failures in the country’s Olympic organizations, the Wall Street Journal reported. The investigations, which focus mainly on USA gymnastics, stems from the Larry Nassar scandal. Nassar, the longtime USA gymnastics doctor, has been accused of abuse by more than 350 girls and young women, including […]
PIRAEUS, Greece (AFP) — Olympiakos basketball coach David Blatt revealed on Monday that he had been diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS). “Sometimes life throws things at you that really have no explanation or rhyme or reason. Those are moments that upon recognizing you have to make choices that test your true character,” the 60-year-old Israeli American said in a letter to the team. Blatt said he was diagnosed with PPMS a few months […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A South Korean Olympic short-track medallist sexually harassed another male Games podium-finisher, officials said Tuesday — prompting them to suspend the entire team. The offender — who has not been identified — reportedly forcibly pulled down the victim’s trousers, leaving him standing in his underwear in front of team-mates at the national training centre in Jincheon. In response coaches collectively punished the entire team — seven men and seven women […]
by Natsuko Fukue Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The head of Japan’s Olympic Committee Tuesday denied involvement in a suspect payment made before Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Games, while apologizing for any possible impact on the hosting of the event. French investigating magistrates have indicted Tsunekazu Takeda as they probe two payments of 2.8 million Singapore dollars ($2.1 million) made before the Japanese capital was chosen to host the Olympics. During […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s double Olympic short track gold medallist Shim Suk-hee has accused her former coach — already convicted and jailed for repeatedly beating her over many years — of sexual assault, her lawyer said Wednesday. Shim filed her complaint against Cho Jae-beom to police last month, on the same day she testified at his appeal against a 10-month jail sentence for physically assaulting her. Aged 21, the elite athlete […]
