Abe apologizes for costly Olympics stadium fiasco, design rethink | The Japan Times.
Oh no.
“The Strongest Man in the World” – that is the unofficial title given to the gold medalist of the +90kg weight lifting competition, where men lift total weights that measure over half a ton.
In 1964, it came down to two massive men from the Soviet Union – Yury Vlasov and Leonid Zhabotinsky.
Vlasov was the champion, winning gold in Rome and becoming one of the Soviet Union’s most popular people. According to the book Rome 1960 by David Maraniss, Pravda described him in 1960 as a man not only possessing superior strength, but brains as well. “He is a young man, very cultured, very well read,” Pravda boasted of the engineering student. “Vlasov is the best example of the harmonical physical and mental development of the Soviet athletes.” Vlasov was expected to succeed in Tokyo as well.
Zhabotinsky was a 2-meter, 160-kilogram giant, who had never won head-to-head against Vlasov prior to Tokyo. While Vlasov, who wore glasses during his competitions had a reserved, scholarly look, Zhabotinsky was boisterous, and perceived to be crude in manners, according to this analysis of the weightlifters from 1964.
As American champion Norbert Schemansky faded, it came down to a battle between Vlasov and Zhabotinsky. In the second to final attempt in the clean-and-jerk finals, Zhabotinsky failed his second attempt, and according to this explanation, actually went up to Vlasov and conceded defeat. So when Vlasov made his third attempt, he went for a world record at 217.5 kg thinking that it didn’t matter whether he got it or not, thinking Zhabotinsky had emotionally given up. But since Zhabotinsky had the last attempt, and knew his second “failed” attempt was a ruse, he did his best, broke the world record at 217.5 kg, and won the gold medal.
This is reportedly how Vlasov felt at the time: “When Vlasov realized that he had been the victim of a dishonest trick, he was furious. ‘I was choked
Survey finds only 20% willing to work as volunteers for 2020 Games | The Japan Times.
Johnny Weissmuller: 5 gold medals in 1924 and 1928; Don Schollander: 4 gold medals in 1964; Dara Torres: 4 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze in 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2008; Mark Spitz: 9 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze in 1968 and 1972; Jenny Thompson: 8 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004; Michael Phelps: 18 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze in 2004, 2008 and 2012
Except for Katie Ledecky, who won five gold medals and set world records, the US swimming team had a relatively weak World Championships. Despite the fact that the Americans were atop the medal standings, they had the lowest totals in an Olympics or Worlds in the past 50 years.
Americans have been dominant in swimming. At every Olympics since 1964, the American swimming team won the medal count, often overwhelmingly. There was one bump in this relatively smooth ride through the past 50 years of international competition, when the East German team had the largest medal haul, led by Kristin Otto, the first female to win 6 gold medals in a single Games.
But according to Michael Phelps in this NBC OlympicTalk blog post, the American swimming team finds itself in unfamiliar territory: “Honestly, I really don’t know what to say about what I’ve seen over there,” said Phelps. “An interesting place
Amazing!
Kokura was the location of munitions factories, which had been targets of US bombers in previous days. In fact, the smoke of burned-out factories, as well as the dense smoke from burning coal tar done with purpose by Japanese on the ground, was so bad that the bomber pilots decided to move on to their secondary target – Nagasaki.
And the rest is history.
This last tidbit is tiny in the context of this story. The reason isn’t clear to me, but the sport of Keirin was initiated in the city of Kokura in 1948. Keirin, a bicycle race that takes place on an oval track, was devised to raise money through gambling. According to this article, over 55,000 people came out on a single day to the Kokura Velodrome, raising close to 20 million yen, motivating local governments to arrange similar activities.
Keirin became an Olympic sport in 2000 at the Sydney Games. Racing around a track for 2 kilometers, differentiated by its use of an accelerating motorized bicycle that sets the pace, Keirin has become one of the most popular racing events in the Olympics.
He already has 22 Olympic medals. And he wants more at Rio. Amazing.
“Athletes in next year’s Summer Olympics here will be swimming and boating in waters so contaminated with human feces that they risk becoming violently ill and unable to compete in the games, an Associated Press investigation has found.”
So starts this report from Associated Press released July 30. The pollution is Guanabara Bay has been an issue over several decades, impacted by the growth of Rio de Janeiro and the inability of the country to keep up with the waste management needs of the population. In short, Guanabara Bay has become the cesspool of the Brazilian capitol. The AP report continues: “Extreme water pollution is common in Brazil, where the majority of sewage is not treated. Raw waste runs through open-air ditches to streams and rivers that feed the Olympic water sites. As a result, Olympic athletes are almost certain to come into contact with disease-causing viruses that in some tests measured up to 1.7 million times the level of what would be considered hazardous on a Southern California beach.”
According to the report, athletes competing in canoeing, sailing, rowing, triathlon and open-water swimming are at risk. In this recent article from Nick Zaccardi of NBC OlympicTalk, US officials related to these sports are taking a realistic tone, stating that the safety of their athletes is the highest priority, that they are heavily encouraging the organizers to improve the conditions, and that they will follow the medical recommendations of experts.
“Athlete safety is always of the utmost importance to USA Triathlon, and we take this situation very seriously,” USA Triathlon CEO Rob Urbach said in a statement. “We are in direct conversation with our athletes and listening closely to any concerns. We will continue to work collaboratively with
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