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Tokyo 2020 president Seiko Hashimoto is “100%” certain the Olympics will go ahead, but warned the Games “must be prepared” to proceed without spectators in the event of a coronavirus outbreak. There are 50 days until the delayed Tokyo Games begin on 23 July. Japan is dealing with a fourth wave of coronavirus cases, with 10 areas of the country under a state of emergency.
More than 230,000 people have signed a Japanese petition calling for the Tokyo Olympics to be canceled in the two days since it was launched online, as public concerns mount over holding the showpiece event during a pandemic. With 11 weeks to go before the start of the Games, already postponed from 2020 due to the coronavirus, questions remain over how Tokyo can host the global gathering while keeping volunteers, athletes, officials and the Japanese public safe from COVID-19.
North Korea has announced it will not take part in the Tokyo Olympics this year, saying the decision is to protect its athletes from Covid-19. The decision puts an end to South Korea’s hopes of using the Games to engage with the North amid stalled cross-border talks. In 2018, both sides entered a joint team at the Winter Olympics which led to a series of historic summits.
The torch relay for the postponed Tokyo Olympics began its 121-day journey across Japan on Thursday and is headed toward the opening ceremony in Tokyo on July 23. The relay began in northeastern Fukushima prefecture, the area that was devastated by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and meltdown of three nuclear reactors. The first runner with the torch was Azusa Iwashimizu, a key player in the Japan team that won the Women’s World Cup in 2011.
In yet another setback for the postponed Tokyo Olympics — and another involving comments about women — games’ creative director Hiroshi Sasaki resigned on Thursday after making demeaning comments about a well-known female celebrity in Japan. Sasaki’s resignation is the latest blow. Last year he suggested to planning staff members in online “brainstorming exchanges” that well-known entertainer Naomi Watanabe could perform in the ceremony as an “Olympig.”
Japanese athlete-turned-politician Seiko Hashimoto has been chosen as president of the Tokyo 2020 Organising committee, replacing a man who resigned after setting off a furor with sexist remarks. She must ensure athletes and officials are kept safe from the coronavirus, while also facing strong public opposition to the Games being held amid the pandemic.
The head of the Tokyo Olympics has announced his resignation over sexist comments. Yoshiro Mori had said women talk too much during an online meeting of the committee’s board of trustees earlier this month, where he also said women are driven by a “strong sense of rivalry”. The former Japanese prime minister, 83, had previously refused to step down.
The president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, is expected to resign after derogatory comments he made about women caused an international uproar less than six months before the Games are due to open. Mori, who has led the organizing committee since 2014, will step down after insisting for days that he would not resign, the Fuji News Network reported on Thursday.
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.