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Two Belarus Coaches Expelled From Tokyo Olympics

Two Belarus Coaches Expelled From Tokyo Olympics

TOKYO — Two coaches involved in the attempt to force an Olympic athlete home to Belarus against her will have been stripped of their credentials and expelled from the Olympic Village, Games organizers said Friday.

The case of the 200-meter specialist Kristina Timanovskaya, 24, briefly turned the Tokyo Games into the center of a major diplomatic conflict when Timanovskaya sought sanctuary from the police at Narita International Airport. Timanovskaya, who is now in Poland, said she had been “kidnapped” after writing an Instagram post criticizing the Belarusian athletic federation’s preparations for the Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee had come under pressure over the slow progress of its investigation into the matter until, on Friday, the organization announced in a Twitter post that it had asked the coaches, Artur Shimak and Yuri Moisevich, to leave the Olympic Games. “They will be offered an opportunity to be heard,” the post said, noting that the investigation was continuing.

Timanovskaya complained in her video that her coaches had registered her for an event she hadn’t trained for, the 4×400-meter relay, because they had failed to conduct enough antidoping tests on other athletes.

In an interview with The New York Times this week, Timanovskaya named Moisevich, the head coach of the Belarusian national team, and Shimak, the deputy director of the Belarusian Republican Track and Field Training Center, as central players in the attempt to remove her from Tokyo.

She said the two men had come to her room at the Olympic Village to persuade her to recant the complaints she had made in her Instagram post and to go home. The order, they said, came from higher-ranking officials.

“Put aside your pride,” Moisevich can be heard saying on a partial recording Timanovskaya made of the conversation. “Your pride will tell you: ‘Don’t do it. You’ve got to be kidding.’ And it will start pulling you into the devil’s vortex and twisting you.”

He adds, “That’s how suicide cases end up, unfortunately.”

Timanovskaya can be heard crying on the tape. At other times she sounds defiant, refusing to believe that if she were to acquiesce and return home, she would be able to continue her athletic career.

The chairman of the Belarus Olympic committee is the eldest son of Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, the strongman leader who has held power in the country for 27 years. He has long sought to stifle any dissent, through measures including a brutal crackdown that began a year ago after a disputed presidential election. Targets of the crackdown also included a number of athletes, leading to the I.O.C.’s decision in December to bar the Lukashenkos from attending the Tokyo Games.

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World News

Tokyo Olympics Open to a Sea of Empty Seats

Tokyo Olympics Open to a Sea of Empty Seats

TOKYO – The athletes marched into the arena masked and waving exuberantly. Dancers in pastel costumes and hats clapped and raised their arms in the air to create excitement. But there were no fans and no cheering audience – just row after row of mostly empty seats that stretched into the vastness of the huge Olympic Stadium in central Tokyo.

A year after initial planning, the opening ceremony of the 32nd Summer Olympics took place amid a persistent pandemic, with attendance limited to fewer than 1,000 dignitaries and other invited guests in a 68,000-seat stadium.

The Japanese public is exhausted from the pandemic and has widely spoken out against the Games. But the ceremony attempted to project a world that continued after more than a year of battling the virus when confetti pigeons fell from the sky and a rendition of “Imagine” on jumbotrons with performances by Angélique Kidjo, John. Legend and Keith Urban echoed through the huge stadium.

The organizers sprinkled traditional Japanese culture through the celebrations and staged a typical summer festival with lanterns and a taiko drum soundtrack as well as an excerpt from a famous kabuki piece.

In a different way, they took a more modern perspective, choosing Naomi Osaka, Japan’s most famous athlete to light the Olympic cauldron, and Rui Hachimura, the basketball star who plays for the Washington Wizards, as one of the standard bearers for Japan. They are just two of several mixed race athletes who represent a largely homogeneous Japan at the Olympics.

Although some competitions began earlier this week, the ceremony on Friday marked the official start of the Olympic Games. More than 11,000 athletes from 205 countries are expected to compete in 33 sports over the next two weeks.

Almost all events, such as the opening ceremony, take place without spectators and the athletes compete according to strict protocols that restrict their freedom of movement.

Usually it is the Olympians who face significant odds, but this time it was the organizers who fought an uphill battle to get that moment. What was intended as a showcase for Japan’s brilliant efficiency, superior service culture and attractiveness as a tourist destination has instead been inundated by fears of infection and scandals by the host committee.

The opening ceremony is often the host country’s chance to showcase itself – think Beijing’s regulated drummers in 2008 or London’s National Health Service dancing nurses four years later. But the Tokyo organizers put on a darker show.

In a moment of silence, a spokesman urged viewers around the world to remember the Covid-19 losers and athletes who died in previous Olympics, including the Israeli athletes who died in a terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Games were killed.

Although it was first mentioned in the organizers’ speeches, the ceremony relied on the original version of Tokyo’s Olympic bid as a symbol of the country’s recovery from the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Fukushima in 2011. A single figure dressed in white and ghostly make-up danced on a platform in the middle of the field, while waves of light swept through the stadium.

And with illuminated drones over the stadium forming a giant spinning globe, the organizers were clearly trying to divert the Games’ message from the pandemic and scandals and towards the more anodyne issues of peace and global harmony.

But that message may have little resonance from the Japanese public as coronavirus infections in Tokyo have soared to a six-month high and domestic vaccine adoption is slow.

In quieter moments during the ceremony, demonstrators could be heard outside the stadium shouting “Stop the Olympics” through megaphones.

“I can’t really think of any real meaning or significance as to why we’re doing all of this,” said Kaori Hayashi, professor of sociology and media studies at Tokyo University. “We started recovering Fukushima, but that has been completely forgotten. And now we want to show the world that we have overcome Covid-19, but we have not yet overcome it. “

Updated

July 24, 2021, 8:42 p.m. ET

While the pandemic has presented the organizers of the Games with an unprecedented challenge, it was far from the only one.

Just a day before the opening ceremonies, the organizing committee sacked the ceremony’s creative director after it was discovered that he joked about the Holocaust during a television comedy years ago.

His discharge came just days after a composer resigned for the ceremony – and organizers withdrew a four-minute piece he had written – in response to a loud social media campaign criticizing him for being during had bullied severely disabled classmates during his school days.

And these were just the latest in a long line of setbacks.

Two years after the award, the government decided against an elegant stadium design by the famous architect Zaha Hadid for reasons of cost. The organizers had to abolish their first logo after allegations of plagiarism. The French public prosecutor’s office has charged the President of the Japanese Olympic Committee with allegations of corruption in connection with the application process. For fear of extreme heat in Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee moved the marathon to Sapporo on the North Island of Japan, 500 miles from the Olympic Stadium. And the president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee had to resign after sexist statements.

While the decision to move the Games forward amid a pandemic has drawn attention to the billions of dollars at stake for the International Olympic Committee, the international spotlight has been tough for Japan at times.

The year-long delay in the games exposed social issues such as sexism in a country where almost all top jobs are held by older men, as well as the conservative government’s opposition to gay and transgender rights.

But now that the Games are finally here, the sheer spectacle of the world’s greatest sporting event began to brush these issues aside.

Basics of the Summer Olympics

The night before the opening ceremony, Aya Kitamura, 37, a traditional Japanese musician, cycled to the Olympic Stadium to stake out the best vantage point from outside the venue.

“Of course, I understand that there are many opinions about the Olympics,” said Ms. Kitamura, who said her parents often shared stories about the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. “But as the games get closer, I think everyone gets a little more excited every day.”

The near absence of spectators disappointed some who said they did not understand why the Olympic Games are different from other recent sporting events with large crowds in Europe, where infection rates are still higher than in Japan.

“It’s kind of unfair that only a limited number of people can see the opening ceremony,” said Hinako Tamai, 19, an Olympic volunteer who took the media to the stadium on Friday night. “But there’s not much we can do about Covid.”

Among the hundreds of people seated in the $ 1.4 billion Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony on Friday was Japan’s Emperor Naruhito, who officially opened the Games; the American first lady Jill Biden; President Emmanuel Macron of France, whose capital Paris will host the next Summer Games in 2024; and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization.

But several high profile potential attendees said they would not be in attendance, including Akio Toyoda, the executive director of Toyota, a prominent Olympic sponsor who had voted against Olympic television advertising in Japan. Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister who helped Tokyo secure the application for the Games, also decided to stay away.

Several foreign dignitaries, including Princess Anne of England and the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, chose not to come, citing coronavirus restrictions. South Korean President Moon Jae-in canceled a planned visit after being insulted by a Japanese diplomat.

Even if the Olympics doesn’t turn out to be a superspread event, it will be difficult for them to escape the shadow of the pandemic as the Delta variant spreads and the daily numbers of new cases in the Olympic Village add to the fear.

“I really feel that no matter what, the pandemic is creating the impression that money is putting money above public health,” said Jessamyn R. Abel, Associate Professor of Asian Studies at Pennsylvania State University.

And the fanfare of the games can only go so far with a cautious audience. Kentaro Tanaka, 28, an adviser in Tokyo who was walking his dog near the Olympic Stadium the night before it opened, said he likes football and plans to watch the Games but questioned authorities’ priorities.

“Aren’t there other things the government needs to work on?” said Mr Tanaka, before wondering aloud when he could finally get a vaccination appointment.

Hikari Hida contributed to the coverage.

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World News

With Tokyo Olympics Weeks Away, U.S. Warns Individuals To not Journey to Japan

With Tokyo Olympics Weeks Away, U.S. Warns Americans Not to Travel to Japan

WASHINGTON — The State Department on Monday warned Americans against traveling to Japan as the country experiences an increase in coronavirus cases less than two months before the start of the Tokyo Olympics.

The move has little practical effect, as Japan’s borders have been closed to most nonresident foreigners since the early months of the pandemic. But the warning is another blow for the Olympics, which are facing stiff opposition among the Japanese public over concerns that they could become a superspreader event as athletes and their entourages pour in from around the world.

The Japanese authorities have insisted that they can carry off the Olympics safely. They have made clear that they intend to proceed with the Games regardless of public discontent and a state of emergency currently in place in much of the country.

Likewise, Japanese officials told the local news media that they viewed the American warning as separate from any considerations for the Games. The State Department declaration is unlikely to affect the United States’ decision to send its athletes to the Olympics. Presumably, most if not all have been vaccinated, although the Games’ organizers are not requiring participants to be inoculated.

The United States added Japan to a list of dozens of nations that have received its highest-level travel warning — “do not travel” — after the country’s virus incidence rate rose to a threshold that triggers such a declaration.

Starting in late April, large parts of the country entered a state of emergency as more contagious variants of the virus drove a rapid increase in case numbers, particularly in major cities. Osaka, part of Japan’s second-largest metropolitan area, is struggling to deal with the surge, which has put pressure on its health care system.

The state of emergency — under which residents are encouraged to restrict their movements and some businesses are asked to close early or suspend operations entirely — is scheduled to end on May 31. The Japanese media has reported that officials are likely to extend the declaration as virus case numbers remain elevated.

Although the numbers in Japan are low by the standards of the United States and much of Western Europe — the seven-day average was around 5,100 new cases as of Saturday — many in the country have been frustrated by the government’s response, including its slow vaccine rollout.

Less than 5 percent of residents have received a first shot of a coronavirus vaccine, putting Japan last among major developed nations in its vaccination campaign. Vaccines are not expected to be available to the general public until the end of the summer at the earliest.

The International Olympic Committee has offered to vaccinate many of the athletes and other participants who will be going to Japan. It has also offered inoculations for 20,000 people in Japan connected to the event. In addition, the Japanese organizers of the Games have barred international spectators from attending.

But those moves have not allayed public concerns. About 80 percent of the Japanese public believes that the Olympics, which were delayed by a year because of the pandemic, should be canceled or postponed again, polls show. The approval rating for Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has fallen to the low 30s over his handling of the virus, according to a recent poll by Jiji Press.

Hundreds of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for the Games to be canceled, and protesters have taken to the streets to denounce the event as a threat to public health. In a poll conducted last week, nearly 70 percent of companies said that the Olympics should be stopped or delayed.

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Health

Olympic organizers ought to mandate Covid vaccines for athletes and followers at Tokyo Video games

Olympic organizers should mandate Covid vaccines for athletes and fans at Tokyo Games

Arthur L. Caplan is the founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine in New York City and Lee H. Igel is a clinical professor in the NYU Tisch Institute for Global Sport.

Pfizer and BioNTech are donating doses of their Covid-19 vaccine to athletes and delegations heading for the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games this July.

With so many people around the world still waiting for a jab and the pandemic not letting up in more than a few regions, should Olympians be jumping the vaccine line? Yes — and they ought to get a running start with a tough, mandatory program as soon as possible.

The offer to donate the doses came up during a recent conversation that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla was having with Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide. That led that Japanese government into discussing the opportunity in a meeting with the International Olympic Committee. The IOC then worked with Pfizer and BioNTech on a memorandum of understanding. It will have National Olympic Committees across the globe — 206 in all — coordinate with their local governments to administer vaccinations to athletes and delegates who are eligible for them.  Given the two-shot schedule, they need to start now.

Japan is planning to host a total of about 15,000 athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Several thousand more people who will travel as part of the delegations will join them, even as numbers are limited due to pandemic regulations. Some of those heading to Tokyo will have been vaccinated already. Many, however, will have not yet had access to a vaccine. Others will have refused to take it because they are hesitant or don’t believe in its safety.

How many thousands of doses will end up being provided to the Olympic movement remains to be seen. Pfizer, BioNTech, and the IOC have said that those doses will be in addition to amounts already set to be supplied to different countries. But many people are wondering, if the pharmaceutical firms can produce extra vaccines for Olympic allotment, shouldn’t those doses go to people who are at greater risk for severe illness or death if they contract Covid?  

 That is a fair question, but it misses an important reality: the Games are on pace to take place as scheduled. This despite the fact that Tokyo and surrounding prefectures are under a government-mandated state of emergency because of high Covid infection rates.  But Japan is too far down the road to cancel the Games, which were already postponed once.

At a cost of more than $26 billion, the coming version of the Tokyo Olympics is the most expensive Summer Games ever. True, a majority of the Japanese public — about 60%, according to Yomiuri Shimbun polling, and up to 80%, according to polls cited by the Associated Press — opposes holding the Games. Doctors and nurses are protesting, and employees in at least one hospital posted signs in windows pleading for the Games to be canceled, because of overcapacity. But the money invested, not public health concerns, are now driving events. Unless a shock catastrophic event takes place, the Games will go on.

The Olympic festival, its athletes and delegates, and registered media and broadcast teams will be flowing into and around into Japan in late July. Even if Tokyo reduces the infection rate to a more manageable level in time for opening ceremonies, allowing thousands of unvaccinated people to enter and move about is irresponsible. It risks real strain on health care and public safety systems in the Olympic venues and throughout the city, in a nation that has one of the highest rates of vaccine hesitancy and lowest rates of vaccine confidence in the world.

The IOC will not be requiring athletes and delegates to have received a vaccine in order to participate in the Games. That is flat out wrong, given the danger of spreading new strains around the world when participants return home from the Games. Athletes, coaches, delegates, media, and suppliers, should be required to take the two-shot vaccine doses being offered. There is a need to keep as many people as safe as possible, and vaccines can help greatly in that regard.

Authentication by a physician that a person has been vaccinated a minimum of one month before the Games should be part of the protocol. So should frequent testing just prior to departure, on arrival, and throughout the Games, as should maintaining a tight bubble at all Olympic sites, venues and lodgings.

Olympic athletes and their support staff can be seen as “essential workers,” in that their participation in the Games can be seen by the world as a sign of good things happening in a bleak time. As IOC President Thomas Bach said, they can “lead by example … and send a powerful message that vaccination is not only about personal health, but also about solidarity and consideration of the wellbeing of others in their communities.”

Arguing about canceling the Games is over. They are going to happen. The organizers and athletes have about a month from now to insure their safety, the safety of Tokyo, and the safety of the world. Vaccination, testing, and quarantine are the key tools to aligning public health with the world’s desire for a bit of relief from a deadly plague. Let’s hope the IOC, local organizing committee and Japan get this right.

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Business

Asia, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong costliest cities for the rich

Asia, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong most expensive cities for the wealthy

Asia is still the most expensive place in the world to get rich. This emerges from a new report in which the region’s resilience to the Covid-19 pandemic kept high prices stable.

The world’s most populous continent remained the most expensive for high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in Bank Julius Baer’s Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2021, as its swift response to the global health crisis and overall currency stability kept the cost of luxury goods in the region up .

Four of the top five most expensive cities for HNWIs – those with investable assets of $ 1 million or more – are now in Asia, according to the annual report.

Shanghai, China jumped to the top of the ranking of 25 world cities and was named the most expensive place for a wealthy individual. Hong Kong, number one last year, slipped to third place while Tokyo, Japan stayed in second place.

Monaco, a small affluent state in Western Europe, and Taipei, Taiwan rounded out the top 5.

Covid did not become an epidemic (in Asia) like the other countries in the index.

Rajesh Manwani

Bank Julius Baer, ​​Head of Markets and Wealth Management Solutions (Asia Pacific)

“Covid did not become an epidemic (in Asia) like the other countries in the index,” said Rajesh Manwani, head of markets and wealth management solutions for the Asia-Pacific region at Bank Julius Baer.

Europe and the Middle East took second place, with the majority of global cities represented in the region being sustained by the strength of the euro and the Swiss franc.

America, badly hit by the pandemic, turned out to be the cheapest region to live a luxurious lifestyle as the US dollar and Canadian dollar fell against other major global currencies.

The new must-have luxury goods

The ranking is based on the price of a basket of luxury goods representing discretionary purchases by HNWIs in the 25 world cities.

This year, significant changes were made to the list as four of the 18 items were replaced as the pandemic changed consumption habits.

Personal trainers, wedding banquets, botox, and pianos have been rolled out and replaced with bikes, treadmills, health insurance, and a technology package including a laptop and phone.

“During a year ravaged by global bans, personal technology and treadmills have grown in popularity while the price of women’s shoes has fallen,” the report said.

“We expect all of these items will continue to have a place on the list,” added Manwani, predicting the shifts caused by pandemics will be permanent.

Overall, the luxury goods that saw the largest drop in US dollar prices were women’s shoes (-11.7%), hotel suites (-9.3%) and wine (-5.3%). Business class flights (11.4%), whiskey (9.9%) and watches (6.6%) saw the largest increases.

Watch Asia prosperity trends

Asia is expected to maintain its stronghold as the most expensive region in the world for the rich in the coming years as economic growth continues to accelerate, the report said.

India – currently home to one of the region’s more affordable world cities, Mumbai – will be one of the leading countries, said Mark Matthews, director of research in Asia Pacific at Bank Julius Baer.

India is getting more expensive. Now it’s a bargain.

Mark Matthews

Head of Research (Asia Pacific), Bank Julius Baer

“India’s growth rate will increase,” he said. “India is getting more expensive. Now it’s a bargain.”

China, meanwhile, will remain the world’s leading luxury goods market as the affluent Chinese consumer moves in, he said. By 2025, China is projected to account for 47% to 49% of the luxury goods market, up from 16% to 18% in America and 12% to 14% in Europe.

However, two other trends could change the way wealthy individuals spend their money in the coming years, the report added: conscious consumption and preference for experience over goods.

“We believe that the consumer conscious lifestyle has really become mainstream,” said Manwani. Hence, people can restrict long-haul flights and buy electric vehicles, change their diet and reject fast fashion.

“Zillennials are interested in this trend,” he said, referring specifically to Generation Z consumers.

Do not miss: These are the most expensive cities in the world for expats

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North Korea Bows Out of Tokyo Olympics, Citing Covid-19

North Korea Bows Out of Tokyo Olympics, Citing Covid-19

North Korea announced on Tuesday that it had decided not to participate in the 32nd Summer Olympics in Tokyo because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The decision was made when the National Olympic Committee of the North met in Pyongyang on March 25th and decided that a delegation would skip the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled for July 23rd to August 8th, “to our athletes protect from the global health crisis caused by the malignant viral infection, “said the government-run sport in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

It’s the first Summer Olympics the North has skipped since boycotting the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

North Korea, which has a rundown public health system, has taken tough measures against the virus since the beginning of last year, including closing its borders. The country officially claims there are no Covid-19 cases, but outside health experts remain skeptical.

North Korea’s decision robs South Korea and other nations of a rare opportunity to make official contact with the isolated country. Officials in the south had hoped the Olympics could provide a venue for high-level delegates from both Koreas to discuss issues beyond the sport.

The 2018 Winter Olympics in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang provided such an opportunity. Kim Yo-jong, the only sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, attracted worldwide attention when she became the first member of the Kim family to cross the border into South Korea to attend the opening ceremony.

Mr. Kim used the North’s participation in the Pyeongchang Olympics as a signal to begin diplomacy after a series of nuclear and long-range missile tests. The inter-Korean dialogue soon followed, leading to three summit meetings between Mr. Kim and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea. Mr. Kim also met three times with President Donald J. Trump.

Since the collapse of Mr Kim’s diplomacy with Mr Trump in 2019, North Korea has avoided official contact with South Korea or the United States. The pandemic has deepened its diplomatic isolation and economic difficulties amid concerns over its nuclear ambitions. North Korea launched two ballistic missiles in its first such test in a year on March 25 to challenge President Biden.

The Tokyo Games, which start in July, were originally scheduled for 2020 but have been postponed for a year due to the pandemic. The Tokyo Organizing Committee has made efforts to develop security protocols to protect both attendees and local residents from the virus. Concern is high in Japan, with large majorities in polls saying the Games shouldn’t be held this summer.

A number of health, economic and political challenges have besieged the Games. Even when the organizers decided last month to exclude international viewers, Epidemiologists warn that the Olympics could turn into a superspreader event. Thousands of athletes and other participants will come to Tokyo from more than 200 countries while much of the Japanese public remains unvaccinated.

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Entertainment

For My Subsequent Trick … Opening a New Musical in Tokyo in a Pandemic

For My Next Trick … Opening a New Musical in Tokyo in a Pandemic

The security measures in the rehearsal room were extensive. On daily arrival, participants packed their personal items in assigned garment bags, including the face masks that were worn during the commute. Production delivered a new mask each day that could be worn during rehearsal. No food was allowed in the room. No phone chargers. The schedule included regular “ventilation breaks”.

During my first week of quarantine in a Tokyo hotel, I attended rehearsals through Zoom. Choreographer Ste Clough was already in the studio, but the rest of the overseas creative team remained confiscated and channeled back via WhatsApp. Over the course of the week we cut off 15 minutes of the show, replaced a song, and juggled notes from different directions. We staged the first half of our non-stop musical.

On the morning of my eighth day of quarantine, I received a call from a producer. One of the actors had symptoms and had tested positive for Covid-19. The rehearsals were interrupted. The exposed – 19 performers; various producers, stage managers, and production assistants who were in the room every day; That afternoon those who had just dropped in were also tested, including our orchestrator and a vocal coach.

The more optimistic among us shared the hope that the results would confirm the precautions taken and allow work to resume in two weeks after everyone in close contact with the actor concerned had waited their quarantine period.

The next afternoon, our lead producer shared the results at a Zoom production meeting. Seven positives. Five on the stage, two off. Our efforts may have limited the spread of the virus, but certainly not prevented it. It became more and more difficult to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances. “Sometimes,” she said, “the bravest thing is to go away.”

I realized that we would have to be in the studio with as few people as possible if we were to continue. And I had to admit, I wasn’t sure if I would feel safe to be one of them. Since the remote sampling machine was already in place, I decided to return to New York.