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The International Olympic Committee is working on ways to get athletes the coronavirus jab in the second or third wave so that the Tokyo Games can go ahead safely in July, the Guardian has been told. While insisting that we “do not want to queue jump”, IOC sources are hoping athletes from around the globe will be high up on the vaccination list, once key workers and the vulnerable are given the jab.
The 2018 Olympic games ended with North and South Korea marching in the closing ceremony with different uniforms, as Norway took home the most wins, with 14 gold medals. US intelligence revealed that hacks in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics were performed by Russian military spies who tried to blame North Korea.
After security concerns about the Winter Olympics in South Korea, American United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley, said, Wednesday, it is an ‘open question’ whether American athletes will attend, due to Korean Peninsula tensions. White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, commented, Thursday, ‘The US looks forward to participating in the Winter Olympics in South Korea.’
Yesterday afternoon it was announced that Los Angeles will be hosting the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. After deliberating with Paris as to whether to take the 2024 or 2028 games, the LA Officials expressed their flexibility and were happy to take the 2028 slot. Paris and LA were the last two cities left for the Olympic bid. According to LA officials, the IOC will advance $1.8 billion to the city in preparation for the games.
IOC announced they have added mixed-gender events in swimming, athletics, table tennis and triathlon for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games on Friday. 3-on-3 basketball and BMX freestyling have also been among the new sports added to the approved list of Olympic events, to appeal to younger audiences. The new sports will create 18 new events and will add 474 new athletes.
Adolph Kiefer, who dominated in the backstroke in the 1930s and 1940s, and also was the Navy’s chief swimming instructor during World War II, died May 5 at his home in Wadswordth, Ill. The cause as revealed by one of his grandsons is a heart attack. The first person to swim the 100-yard backstroke under 1 minute, Mr. Kiefer set at least 17 world records at distances ranging from 100 yards to 1,500 meters, setting his first at the age of 16 at Berlin Olympics. He had also been greeted by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who reportedly called him ‘the perfect example of the true Aryan.’