The full financial impact is yet to be determined but there is loose consensus in Japan over the ‘coercive’ approach of IOCThe public square outside Shimbashi station, the scene of anti-Olympic protests this summer, has resumed its usual role as an after-work rendezvous. Newspapers that juxtaposed athletic feats with a rising coronavirus caseload now wonder how Japan’s new prime minister, Fumio Kishida, will fare when voters go to the polls at the end of this month.The recent lifting of Covid-19 emergency measures has added to the feeling that “normality” is being restored in Tokyo after months of Olympic controversy and virus-induced anxiety. Residents who were banned from attending all but a few events might be tempted to ask if the...
Gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, 46, eyes an Asian Games medal while Kim Clijsters fights to keep her tennis comeback on trackOne of the most touching moments of the Tokyo Games this summer was entirely spontaneous. During the qualifying round of the women’s gymnastics, 46-year-old Oksana Chusovitina took to the podium in her eighth Olympics as she attempted to qualify for the vault finals one last time. Chusovitina, who won her first world championship golds in 1991 and took an Olympic team gold in 1992, had previously announced that Tokyo would mark the end of her illustrious career.Chusovitina finished 14th in the vault competition that day, missing out on the final after two fine but flawed vaults. In lieu of an audience...
Christine Mboma knows the faster she runs the clearer her advantages with difference in sex development becomeChristine Mboma runs the 200 metres like no other elite sprinter in history. Her start is sluggish. Her drive phase needs work. But then her legs begin to whirr … and suddenly whoosh! One, two, three, four opponents are picked off. At the Olympics she flew from fifth with 50m left to win a silver medal. Last week she also added the Diamond League title in an Under-20 world record of 21.78 sec. What makes the 18-year-old’s achievements remarkable, aside from her age, is that she only began focusing on the 200m in July.Given time, and better technique, Florence Griffith Joyner’s world record of...
It’s time to ditch the old cliches and to change the way we think about Olympic athletes, who are humans rather than robotsChris Boardman signalled the shift when he summed up British Cycling’s performance at the Tokyo Olympics: “Fewer medals but a better story.” What could he mean? We all know sporting performance pushes forward. Innovation never stops as athletes look deeper and search further to raise their game. The new territory this time is fresh vocabulary, human stories and different thinking.The Paralympics are poised to begin, the Beijing Winter Olympics follow next year, with Paris 2024 not so far away. Olympians of different ages and from different nations are challenging us to shift our mindsets and broaden the lens...
After losing in the quarter-finals I was distraught – a week later the hurt is still raw but there are reasons to smileI have been home from the Olympics for a few days and, while the hurt is still raw, I am feeling so much better than I did last Tuesday in Tokyo. Then, after I lost a split decision in my lightweight quarter-final against Sudaporn Seesondee of Thailand, I felt distraught. I had missed an Olympic medal on a 3-2 verdict.I am only 20 but I am not naive. Even before I won two fights to reach the quarters I had said the Olympic Games can make or break your dreams. I know it’s an unforgiving arena. But I...