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The Tokyo Olympics arenas can have up to 10,000 local fans in attendance despite low COVID-19 vaccination rates in Japan and against the advice of the country's top medical adviser.
Olympic organizers announced Monday that they are planning to allow 50 percent capacity at events. The Games are set to go ahead amid a wave of criticism and safety concerns within Japan and around the wider world.
A poll conducted in May found that 83 percent of Japanese people did not support hosting the Olympics.
Dr. Shigeru Omi, Japan's leading medical adviser, recommended holding the Games without fans to ensure the safety of citizens and athletes. A host city does not have the option of canceling or postponing the Games once selected; only Olympic organizers can make such a call.
Originally planned for 2020, the Tokyo Olympics were moved to this summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While vaccinations have led to sharply declining infection rates in some countries, Japan is not expected to reach widespread vaccination until October. Currently, only 17.7 percent of the Japanese population has received at least one shot of the vaccine.
Organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said it's possible the Games will eliminate fan attendance if a state of emergency is called.
"We need to be very flexible. If there is any abrupt change in the situation, we will hold five-party meetings again to make other decisions," Hashimoto said. "If there is an announcement of a state of emergency during the Games, all the options like no-spectator games will be examined."
Fans will be banned from cheering and must wear masks to attend the Games.
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson is recovering after suffering a ministroke last week.
In a series of tweets posted on Saturday, Johnson announced he is back at home with his family:
"Last week I rather surprisingly suffered what's known as a Transient Ischemic Attack or mini stroke. The good news is I'm back at home with my family, cleared of any heart issues and have already made great progress on my road to a full recovery.
"It seems these things can affect anyone, even the once fastest man in the world! I'm no stranger to a good exercise plan and have thrown myself into it with my usual focus and determination. ... I will be posting updates on my recovery often. Thanks for all the words of encouragement!"
Johnson took part in the Olympics three times in 1992, 1996 and 2000. He won his first gold medal during the '92 Games as part of the 4x400 meter relay team that set a then-world record time of 2:55.74.
The 1996 Gaes in Atlanta were Johnson's crowning achievement as a sprinter. The California native became the first man in history to win Olympic gold medals in the 200- and 400-meter races.
Johnson returned to the Olympics one more time in 2000 and won gold in the 400 meters. He also owns eight gold medals at the IAAF World Championships from 1991-99 and was elected into the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2004.
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt predicted Tuesday during an appearance in Japan that the world records he set during his illustrious track career could last for two decades.
Jim Armstrong of the Associated Press passed along comments from Bolt, who said he went up against the "best era" of competition, which should allow his marks to stand the test of time.
"I think [they're] going to last a while," he said. "I think our era with Yohan Blake, Justin Gatlin and Asafa Powell and all these guys was the best era of athletes. If it was going to be broken, it would have been broken in this era, so I think I have at least 15 to 20 more years."
Bolt retired last month following the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London. He finished third in the 100 meters behind the American duo of Gatlin and Christian Coleman and suffered a hamstring injury while trying to run the 4x100-meter relay for Jamaica.
It represented a mundane end for the fastest man in history.
The 31-year-old fan favorite is the world-record holder in both the 100 meters (9.58 seconds) and 200 meters (19.19 seconds) along with assorted other marks in relays and age-based races.
He won eight Olympic gold medals, highlighted by winning both the 100 and 200 in each of the Beijing, London and Rio Games. He added 14 more medals, including 11 golds, in World Championship races.
Looking toward the future, Bolt has been discouraged by the lack of competitive fire shown by the next wave of potential track superstars once the money starts to roll in, according to the AP.
"I've noticed a lot of the young athletes, as soon as they get their first contract and start making money, they really just don't care as much anymore," Bolt said. "A lot of them are satisfied with getting their first contract, going out and making their first team. If they are satisfied with that, then we're in trouble. Hopefully, a few of these young guys are going to be hungry and want to be great, and if we get those guys we will be OK, but so far it is not looking good."
Bolt added he walked away from the track because he had "nothing to prove," and his focus has shifted toward his personal life and potentially playing soccer.
According to a new report, more than 1,000 Russian athletes were involved in an "institutional conspiracy" that included doping, specifically in relation to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Per Stephen Wilson of the Associated Press, World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren concluded in the report Friday that the Russian Sports Ministry, national anti-doping agency and FSB intelligence service were all involved in the scandal. It resulted in 15 Russian medalists getting their doping samples tampered with in Sochi.
McLaren cited "irrefutable forensic evidence" to back his conclusion.
"It is impossible to know just how deep and how far back this conspiracy goes," McLaren said, per Rebecca R. Ruiz of the New York Times. "For years, international sports competitions have unknowingly been hijacked by the Russians."
The report comes on the heels of a May article from Ruiz and Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times in which Russian anti-doping laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov detailed the manner in which Russian athletes' tainted urine samples were replaced with clean ones.
Rodchenkov estimated as many as 100 samples were tampered with, adding: "People are celebrating Olympic champion winners, but we are sitting crazy and replacing their urine. Can you imagine how Olympic sport is organized?"
Following an investigation, 118 Russian athletes were banned from competing at the 2016 Rio Games; 271 were cleared. Further, all Russian Paralympic athletes were banned from taking part in the Rio Paralympics.
The next Winter Olympics will take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018.
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The United States men's 4x100-meter relay team has lost its appeal after being disqualified from the gold-medal race on Friday at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Per Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden, IAAF deputy director of communication Anna Legnani's ruling of Team USA's appeal of the decision was that "all protests and appeals rejected. All results stand.''
The U.S. team finished third in the relay race, behind Jamaica and Japan, but it was later ruled that Mike Rodgers passed the baton to Justin Gatlin before reaching the first exchange zone.
NBC Olympics on Twitter provided highlights of the controversial moment, along with an explanation from Rodgers:
Gatlin also talked about the disqualification, per David Caplan of ABC News: "It was the twilight zone. It was a nightmare. You work so hard with your teammates, guys you compete against almost all year long. All that hard work just crumbles."
These miscues have plagued the U.S. men's team for more than 20 years. Per the Associated Press (via Seth Rubinroit of NBCOlympics.com), the Americans "have been disqualified or failed to get the baton around at an Olympics or world championships" nine times since 1995.
Jamaica comfortably took home the gold medal with a time of 37.27 seconds thanks to Usain Bolt's mad dash to the finish line. Japan won silver with a time of 37.60 seconds.
Since the U.S. team was disqualified, Canada moved into the bronze-medal spot with a time of 37.64 seconds.
The United States' last Olympic medal in the men's 4x100-meter relay race was in 2004 when it won a silver. Gatlin and Coby Miller botched one of the handoffs in that race, costing the team a chance at the gold.
After briefly celebrating what should have been the biggest moment in their lives, the American team once again found itself in a position where it needed to defend itself because of yet another mistake on the biggest stage in the world.
Slovakia's Matej Toth strode to a dramatic victory in the men’s 50-kilometre walk at the 2016 Rio Olympics on Friday.
World record-holder Yohann Diniz marched to the front from the off, although he was struck down with injury after halfway and fell back. That opened the door for the Slovakian world champion, finishing ahead of previous winner Jared Tallent, who took silver for Australia, and Japan's Hirooki Arai, who finished in the bronze medal position.
Here are the results from the event and a recap of how one of the most gruelling races on the Olympic schedule panned out in Rio de Janeiro.
| Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|
| Matej Toth (SVK) 3:40:58 | Jared Tallent (AUS) 3:41:16 | Hirooki Arai (JPN) 3:41:24 |
Given the length of this event, the tactical battles towards the back end can be fascinating to watch. But as the fastest man in the field, Diniz decided to stamp his authority on the race very early on.
The 38-year-old was quick off the lane, moving to the front of the field quickly. None of the chasers were keen to go with the Frenchman, and as noted by the European Athletics Twitter feed, he’d built up a sizeable lead at the 15-kilometre mark:
It didn’t stop there either. The veteran walker, who set his world-record mark in 2014, continued to crank up the pace as he closed in on halfway, extending his lead to almost a kilometre between himself and the second group on the road.
Given the punishing heat in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, it left those in pursuit with a difficult challenge if they were to clinch gold. None quite had the ambition to make a break from the group to Diniz either. Two-time Olympian Colin Griffin wanted to see someone inject some pace from further back:
That didn’t materialise, though, as Diniz continued to stride away up front. At the midway point, he had a lead of one minute and 40 seconds and was looking extremely strong.
The halfway mark did prompt a surge from further back, with Canada's Evan Dunfee deciding to break away from the second group. He was narrowing the gap before the Frenchman dramatically pulled up with an injury. When Dunfee came past Diniz sought to carry on, although the Canadian quickly walked away from him and into the lead.
As noted by Today FM News, there was still time for sportsmanship from Dunfee in the heat of this battle for gold:
The Canadian was caught by the chasing pack, though, setting up an attritional finish. It seemed to suit Tallent, who moved to the front and built up a significant gap.
This one looked to be decisive, too, as the 2012 winner kept the cadence high and his stride long. As the race approached the final stages, the Australian managed to carve out what looked to be an insurmountable lead. But Toth suddenly upped the pace, and with one lap to go, he caught and overtook the champion.
Spikes were enjoying a dramatic finish to the race:
It was enough for the Slovakian to clinch gold and soak in the moment as he crossed the line. Tallent had to make do with second place, while Arai held off a late burst from Dunfee for third.
Diniz will be distraught having looked in such good shape in the early stages. As a 34-year-old, he was disqualified at the London Olympics four years ago and had an excellent chance to grab glory again here. Surely that’s his last chance gone in terms of a medal at the Games.
Toth deserves major credit, though, as he kept his composure and paced himself supremely. To win both the world and Olympic titles represents a remarkable achievement for the Slovakian, and the manner in which he pulled this victory off will make the gold extra sweet.
Kerron Clement of the United States captured the gold medal in the men's 400-meter hurdles Thursday at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
Clement's winning time of 47.73 seconds represented his best result of the season, and he needed every bit of it to hold off a late surge from Kenya's Boniface Mucheru Tumuti, who finished just five-hundredths of a second behind. Yasmani Copello of Turkey rounded out the podium by taking bronze.
Let's check out the complete race results from Olympic Stadium:
| Place | Athlete | Country | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Kerron Clement | USA | 47.73 |
| Silver | Boniface Mucheru Tumuti | KEN | 47.78 |
| Bronze | Yasmani Copello | TUR | 47.92 |
| 4 | Thomas Barr | IRL | 47.97 |
| 5 | Annsert Whyte | JAM | 48.07 |
| 6 | Rasmus Magi | EST | 48.40 |
| 7 | Haron Koech | KEN | 49.09 |
| n/a | Javier Culson | PUR | DQ |
And here's a look at the updated medal table for the Games:
The race received an immediate shake-up after Puerto Rico's Javier Culson got disqualified for a false start. The 32-year-old veteran was the reigning bronze medalist in the event and figured to contend for another top-three finish this time around.
BBC Sport passed along a snapshot of a dejected Culson:
It's a difficult situation because it's hard to watch an athlete's Olympic dreams end because of a split-second mistake. At the same time, false-starting in a 400-meter race is something that shouldn't happen, and Culson's reaction showcased that frustration.
Ultimately, it gave everybody else in the field a slightly better chance of earning a medal, and Clement took full advantage to earn Team USA's 31st gold of the Rio Games.
The University of Florida product was clearly losing steam as he jumped the final few hurdles coming down the homestretch. He had just enough energy left in the tank to hold on to the top spot, though.
While the American women have enjoyed a strong start on the track in Brazil, Clement's victory finally gets the U.S. men on the gold-medal scoreboard in track, as noted by SportsCenter:
MileSplit US highlighted American decathlete Ashton Eaton taking a quick break from his own competition to congratulate his teammate:
Although Tumuti missed out on gold by fractions of a second, his silver medal is still a terrific accomplishment. He failed to even make it out of the opening round of qualifying four years ago in London, finishing sixth in his heat with a time of 50.33 seconds.
So he improved his time by more than 2.5 seconds to earn silver in Rio. It continues an already-memorable year for the Kenyan, who won the 400-meter hurdles at the African Championships.
Copello, the reigning European champion in the event, picked up his first Olympic medal as well. He edged Thomas Barr of Ireland by the same margin as the difference between first and second (five-hundredths) to take the final podium spot.
All told, the IAAF noted it was a race where a lot of records fell:
That's why it took a special effort from Clement to come out on top. It wasn't necessarily pretty over the final 100 meters, but he gave himself enough of an edge to hold on for gold and take another step toward ensuring the United States' dominance of the medal count.
Sandra Perkovic failed on five of her six attempts in the discus throw event at the 2016 Rio Games on Tuesday, but her one attempt that landed in play was good enough to bring home gold for Croatia.
The 26-year-old defended her discus throw gold from the 2012 London Games, dwarfing the field with a throw of 69.21 meters. She is the first woman since Evelin Jahl to win back-to-back golds in the event and just the second all time.
That said, it was far from a breezy performance.
| Medal | Thrower | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | Sandra Perkovic (Croatia) | 69.21 meters |
| Silver | Melina Robert-Michon (France) | 66.73 meters |
| Bronze | Denia Caballero (Cuba) | 65.34 meters |
As she did during the qualifying round, Perkovic struggled to get a legal throw off. Her first two attempts were waived off due to violations. But the third time proved to be the charm, as she set her one and only mark of the morning. Three more faults left her sweating out the rest of the field that was trying to catch up.
Melina Robert-Michon of France came closest, posting a throw of 66.73 meters on her fifth attempt. She had two of the three longest throws and set the pace early with a 65.52-meter throw on her first try. Denia Caballero took home bronze for Cuba at 65.34 meters.
Dani Samuels of Australia and Su Xinyue of China rounded out the top five.
A 2012 gold medalist and 2013 world champion, Perkovic came to Rio de Janeiro attempting to atone for a surprising second-place finish at the 2015 World Championships. Caballero took home the gold in Beijing last year with a throw on par with her performance Tuesday.
It was a disappointing result that seemed to be weighing on Perkovic coming into qualifying. She barely survived with two fouls in her three attempts to make it into the final and then made mistake after mistake to give her opponents chances. But it goes to show that when you have Perkovic's otherworldly gifts, sometimes it takes only one attempt to get it right.
Her gold brings Croatia's total to three in these Games and its overall medal count to four. France's 27 medals sit fifth on the overall count, while China remains in second with 47.
For the second straight Summer Olympics, Americans Christian Taylor and Will Claye swept the top two medals at track and field's most difficult combination of athleticism and timing. Taylor brought home his second consecutive gold with a jump of 17.86 meters at the 2016 Rio Games on Tuesday. Claye's second-place jump was just 0.10 meters behind, as the two competitors and friends again battled each other down to the final attempt.
Dong Bin of China earned a bronze with a jump of 17.58 meters.
| Medal | Jumper | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | Christian Taylor (United States) | 17.86 meters |
| Silver | Will Claye (United States) | 17.76 meters |
| Bronze | Dong Bin (China) | 17.58 meters |
The narrative unfolded differently from London, when Taylor and Claye both waited until their fourth jump to get their best score. Both went about setting the tone early Tuesday, with Taylor going for 17.86 meters on his first try to lock himself in clear medal contention.
That number set the bar for everyone who tried and failed to top it. Claye's first attempt went for 17.76 meters to put him in second place, and the two essentially went about the rest of their day trying to top one another.
Taylor wound up recording the three best jumps of the day, hitting 17.77 meters on both his second and fourth attempts. Clay's next best effort was a 17.61-meter leap on his fourth try, and he added a 17.55-meter jump on his final try.
While the result was the same, there was one major difference from 2012: Taylor's jumping leg. A left knee injury in 2013 forced him to switch to jumping off his right leg, a decision Taylor says required him to "relearn" how to triple jump.
“It is a lot of coordination and timing,” Taylor said, per Jaylon Thompson of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There is a lot of muscle development that goes into it. I had to switch my thinking and re-learn the event. It starts from smaller hops and lots of repetition.”
Taylor came back better than ever, recording the second-best jump in history (18.21 meters) last August. The only other man competing who had touched 18 meters was Cuban Pedro Pablo Pichardo, who pulled out of the Rio Games due to injury.
With Pichardo out of the picture, Claye was Taylor's only real competition—appropriate given they've spent most of their lives battling each other. Separated by just one year in age, Taylor, 26, and Claye, 25, both attended the University of Florida, where they competed for SEC and national championships. That competition carried over to the last two Olympic Games, with Taylor consistently coming out on top.
Four years from now, Taylor will be 30 and Clay 29. It's unclear whether either man plans on going for a third medal. If they do, it'll be hard to count them out given their history.
