2 sports in the Paralympics that are not played in the Olympics
The Paralympics have started in Tokyo, and itโs easy to spot sports that are both in Paralympics and Olympics, such as basketball, volleyball, weightlifting, soccer, equestrian and cycling, to name just a few, and with various adaptions.
Abrahamson: Doubters, critics, skeptics -- the Games are a wrap, and from the athletes, thanks
The Tokyo 2020 Summer Games drew Sunday to an end, an Olympics that began as a bet countering controversy and considerable fear โ could they come off โ and closed with the bet won. The Games happened. And for 16 days, just as it should be, the athletes of the world commanded center stage.
Mayor, governor want to cancel Osaka legs of Olympic relay
The governor of Osaka prefecture said on Thursday that he wants to cancel the Olympic torch relay legs going through Osaka later this month. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP, File)TOKYO โ The Tokyo Olympic torch relay ran into big trouble on Thursday when the governor of Osaka prefecture and the mayor of the city of Osaka asked that relay legs going through the city be canceled with the games opening in less than four months. โWhen I watch the torch relay elsewhere in Japan, people tend to gather and those places get crowded," Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui said Thursday. "Itโs very unfortunate but I think we should call it off.โOsaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura echoed the mayor: "I think the torch relay through the middle of Osaka should be canceled.โJapanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga suggested on Thursday that the Osaka relay was off. AdThe torch relay is scheduled to arrive in Osaka prefecture on April 13 and will go through the city on April 14.
Volunteers from abroad ruled out for Tokyo Olympics
Seiko Hashimoto, center, President of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, talks with Kyoko Raita, right, Tokyo 2020 Executive Board member and speaker for a presentation on the Olympic Charter and Gender Equality in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, March 22, 2021. Fujio Mitarai, Honorary President of Tokyo 2020, is at left. Hashimoto said they will take all possible COVID-19 countermeasures as the torch relay opens this Thursday from northeastern Fukushima prefecture. (Kimimasa Mayama/Pool Photo via AP)TOKYO โ Volunteers from abroad will not be allowed into Japan for the postponed Tokyo Olympics, organizers said Monday. Japan's Kyodo news agency, quoting โsources close to the matter,โ said around 500 overseas volunteers would be given exemptions to enter Japan.
Olympic host Japan will not take part in China vaccine offer
Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020), speaks during a news conference Thursday, March 11, 2021, after attending the International Olympic Committee (IOC) general meeting. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)TOKYO โ Japan will not take part in China's offer โ accepted by the International Olympic Committee โ to provide vaccines for โparticipants" in the postponed Tokyo Games and next year's Beijing Winter Games. Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa said Friday that Japan had not been consulted by the IOC about the Chinese vaccines, and that Japanese athletes would not take them. โWe have been taking comprehensive anti-infectious disease measures for the Tokyo Games in order to allow participation without vaccinations,โ Marukawa said. AdThe IOC has indicated it is a sports body and will not meddle in domestic issues in China.
New Tokyo Olympic president tries to assure Japan on safety
Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020), speaks before reporters after a five-party meeting at the Tokyo 2020 headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Du Xiaoyi/Pool Photo via AP)TOKYO โ The new president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee has begun holding weekly news conferences hoping to win over a doubting Japanese public with the postponed games opening in just under five months. โI understand there are a lot of people in Tokyo and in Japan who have concerns about the games in Tokyo this summer. โPeople need to start to build confidence in the safety of the games,โ Hashimoto said. โPeople in the world are now paying attention to gender issues, diversity issues on the organizing committee," she said.
Report: No fans from abroad for postponed Tokyo Olympics
This photo shows the opening remark session of a five-party meeting held by the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) at the Tokyo 2020 headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (Du Xiaoyi/Pool Photo via AP)TOKYO โ The postponed Tokyo Olympics look like they will take place without any fans from abroad when they open in just under five months. The report came just an hour before Tokyo organizers held โfive-partyโ talks online with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the central government of Japan. The organizing committee has budgeted income of $800 million from ticket sales. Seiko Hashimoto, the new president of the organizing committee, cautioned on Tuesday of the problems that await.
Tokyo Games offer Playbooks to assure athletes, sway public
Christophe Dubi, Olympic Games Executive Director for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), joins other representatives from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) at a Joint press briefing in Tokyo on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. โThere are indeed a lot of questions in the public domain about how the games will take place this summer. And today is a preliminary review of how things will be done," Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi said in a video news conference with Tokyo officials. The rollout of the Playbooks is aimed at assuring athletes, and an attempt to convince the Japanese public that the Olympics should go ahead. The IOC held a similar session earlier in the week with Olympic athletes and their representatives to explain the stringent guidelines in their rule books.
Amid cancellation talk, Tokyo Olympics `focused on hosting'
FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2020, file photo, ThomasBach, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President,speaks during the joint press conference between IOC and Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) in Tokyo, Japan. The International Olympic Committee is pushing back against reports that the postponed Tokyo Olympics will be canceled and will not open on July 23. The Tokyo Games were postponed 10 months ago at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, and now their future appears threatened again. (DuXiaoyi/Pool Photo via AP, File)TOKYO โ IOC President Thomas Bach and local organizers are pushing back against reports that the postponed Tokyo Olympics will be canceled. Now set to open July 23, the Tokyo Games were postponed 10 months ago at the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, and now the event appears threatened again.
Tokyo Olympics delay costs may reach $2.8 billion
(Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP)TOKYO โ The cost of the postponement for the Tokyo Olympics could reach about $2.8 billion, according to figures released Friday by the Tokyo organizing committee, the Tokyo city government and Japanโs national government. โI think our biggest challenge is the additional costs,โ Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said during an online news conference. Tokyo said the Olympics would cost $7.3 billion overall when it won the bid in 2013 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The operational cost for the delay is listed at 171 billion yen, or about $1.64 billion at the present exchange rate. Tokyo organizers also said they could add 27 billion yen (about $260 million) from a contingency fund to help cover added costs.