Searing heat, dripping humidity, and face masks: it’s going to be a sweaty Tokyo Olympics and while coronavirus measures are top priority, heatstroke remains a serious risk, experts warn. Long before the pandemic forced Tokyo 2020’s postponement, the Japanese capital’s brutal summer heat was the main health concern for organisers. While the Games have been […]
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Japan’s Fukushima, Hokkaido ban fans at Olympic events
Japan’s northern Fukushima and Hokkaido regions have banned spectators from Olympic competitions in their areas, expanding unprecedented steps to hold the Games mostly behind closed doors due to the pandemic. The announcements by their regional governors reversed a decision Thursday evening by Olympic organisers to save competitions outside the greater Tokyo area for live viewing. […]
Japan announces virus emergency throughout Olympics
Japan’s government on Thursday announced a new virus state of emergency stretching throughout the Olympics, as reports said organisers could bar fans from almost all events at the Games. With just two weeks until the July 23 opening ceremony, coronavirus infections are rising in the capital, and the spread of the more infectious Delta variant […]
Keep politics out of the Games: Olympics chief
Olympics chief Thomas Bach pleaded Wednesday for politics to be kept out of the Games, saying they would otherwise become as divisive as other areas of society. The Olympic movement needs to be kept neutral and cannot be expected to solve civil liberties issues that politics had failed to fix, Bach said in a video […]
India’s hockey hero Keshav Datt dies aged 95
India’s double Olympic hockey champion Keshav Chandra Datt has died at the age of 95, the sport’s national body said Wednesday. The centre halfback, born in Lahore, in what is now Pakistan, was part of India’s gold medal-winning team at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games in London and Helsinki. “Datt was part of India’s […]
NBA star Doncic leads Slovenia into Tokyo Olympics
NBA star Luka Doncic delivered a triple-double to lead Slovenia over Lithuania 96-85 on Sunday and into their first Olympic basketball tournament. Slovenia punched their ticket to Tokyo with the victory in the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament in Kaunas, Lithuania. Doncic, 22, scored 15 of his 31 points in the second quarter and added 11 […]
Two World Series champs, four MLB All-Stars on US Olympic team
World Series champion pitchers Edwin Jackson and David Robertson were among four former Major League Baseball All-Stars named Friday to the United States baseball team for the Tokyo Olympics. The Americans will compete for gold against host Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Israel and the Dominican Republic when the Olympic tournament begins July 28. Jackson, a […]
Mirza makes ‘difficult decision’ over son for Olympic call of duty
Sania Mirza will become the first Indian woman to compete in four Olympic Games but she admitted Thursday it will be “difficult” to be separated from her young son while she is in Tokyo. Family members are banned from going to this month’s Games as Japanese authorities aim to reduce the risk from Covid-19 as […]
Badminton boss vows ‘highest level’ competition at Tokyo Games
Badminton’s top official vowed Thursday the “highest level” of the sport would be played at the Tokyo Olympics despite the challenges of holding the Games during the coronavirus pandemic. The Olympics, delayed from last year due to the virus, will take place under strict rules, with overseas fans banned and local spectators limited. Like most […]
Australian table tennis veteran Jian, 48, to play in sixth Olympics
Australian table tennis veteran Jian Fang Lay was Monday selected for a sixth Olympics, second only to the sport’s Nigerian Olufunke Oshonaike, who will be making her seventh appearance. Born in China, Jian moved to Australia in 1994 to become one of the country’s all-time greats, winning 24 Oceania titles and 30 national crowns. Now […]