100 days to go until Tokyo Olympics

The Rainbow Bridge is illuminated with Olympic colors on Wednesday to mark the 100 days countdown to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics that were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Tokyo, Japan. A Kyodo News poll showed more than 70% of people in Japan want the Tokyo Olympics to be cancelled or delayed due to COVID-19 fears as Tokyo recently began measures to curb a fourth wave of infections. 

-reuters-

'Olympics will go ahead': Tokyo organizers slam virus rumors

TOKYO—Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers said Thursday the Games would "go ahead as planned," slamming misinformation over the new coronavirus for triggering panic.

Chief executive officer Toshiro Muto revealed that organizers had set up a task force to combat the fast-spreading disease that has killed over 560 people and infected at least 28,000 -- the vast majority in mainland China -- but promised that the Games would be not derailed.

"The Olympics will go ahead as planned," he told reporters after a Paralympic project review.

"It is important to remain objective and cool-headed. We don't want to alarm the public. The infection is still limited and there is no problem staging the Olympics based on the current situation."

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) spokesman Craig Spence complained that scaremongering had created an "info-demic" that could skew public perception in the run-up to the Olympics and Paralympics.

"Fear is spreading quicker than the virus," he said. "It's important we quell that fear. Only 191 of the total cases are outside mainland China, so let's put things into perspective.

"If you compare those rates with the common flu, they are still relatively small numbers," added Spence.

"The World Health Organization (WHO) has not declared this a pandemic. We dealt with the Zika virus in Rio and in these matters we need to rely on the experts.

"We will follow the advice of the World Health Organization. Every organizing committee looks into countermeasures, and we have measures in place from previous Olympics and Paralympics here in Tokyo. It is standard practice, it's business as usual."

More than 20 countries have confirmed cases of the flu-like coronavirus.

GLOBAL PANIC

Japan has had no reported deaths so far, but 45 cases have been detected, including at least 20 people on a cruise ship carrying more than 3,700 passengers and crew quarantined off Yokohama.

The WHO has declared the outbreak a global health emergency.

Japan has warned citizens against non-essential travel to China and fast-tracked new rules including limits on entering the country as it tries to contain the spread of the virus.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday pledged that preparations for the Olympics would proceed as normal.

"The coronavirus is beginning to have an impact on tourism," he said. "But the government will continue to steadily prepare for the Games in close cooperation with the IOC (International Olympic Committee), the local organizing committee and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government."

The Japanese government has chartered 3 flights to repatriate 565 Japanese nationals from Wuhan, the central Chinese city hardest hit by the virus.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike promised at the weekend to implement "thorough measures" to protect people from the virus.

The health scare has led to the cancellation of Olympic qualifying events in China such as boxing and badminton.

The Tokyo Olympics begin on July 24 with the Paralympics starting on Aug. 25. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

LeBron, Harden, Westbrook want spots on 2020 Olympic team

James Harden and LeBron James became the latest NBA superstars to express interest in playing for the United States in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

"I would love to. I have to," James said Friday at the Los Angeles Lakers media day. "I want to stay healthy as well. That's most important."

In Houston, Rockets guard Harden said he wants in, and his teammate, Russell Westbrook, said he'd like to be considered.

"That's one of my goals to represent the USA and represent this beautiful country in the games," Harden said at the Rockets media day.

Playing without the NBA's best, Team USA finished a disappointing seventh place in the FIBA World Cup earlier this month. One by one, NBA stars dropped off the team, many citing the rigors of a long NBA season.

James, who will be 35 next summer, said the United States needs a turnaround.

"I was not happy about how we did this summer," he said.

James has two Olympic gold medals (2008, 2012) and one bronze (2004). Harden and Westbrook were part of the 2012 team.

Golden State's Klay Thompson, who won a gold medal in the 2016 Olympics, and Stephen Curry have said they want to be on the Olympic team, as has Portland's Damian Lillard. Neither Curry nor Lillard have played in the Olympics.

Harden and Lillard were among the players who dropped out of the competition for a World Cup roster spot.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

London sets bar high for 2020 bid trio

PARIS - The three candidates still standing to win the right to host the 2020 Olympics all acknowledge that they have a tough task to emulate the Games hosted so successfully by London this year.

Delegations from the Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo bids were all in London and the appraisal of International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge at the closing ceremony will still be ringing in their ears.

"These were happy and glorious Games," said the 70-year-old Belgian.

Buenos Aires will be a momentous time for not only the three bid cities, who will learn their fate when the 100+ IOC members vote there on September 7, but also for Rogge, as he will step down after 12 generally highly successful years.

All of the cities enter 2013 eyeing the finishing straight with reason to be optimistic.

Istanbul believe that they can prevail at the fifth attempt -- though this is the first realistic chance they have had of winning -- with the government wanting to prioritise the Olympics rather than a bid for the Euro 2020 football championships.

Rogge had emphasised that IOC rules did not allow another major sporting event to be held in the country of the host city in the same year.

The Istanbul bid chief, former basketball player turned successful businessman, Hasan Arat told AFP that the IOC would be making an historic decision by giving them the Games.

"My dream is to make Olympic history, to really catch an historic moment - one city, one Games and two continents.

"The athletes will have the unique experience of sleeping on the European continent and competing on the Asian continent."

Tokyo, who are the only one of the trio to have previously hosted the Games (1964), also are looking to tug at the IOC heartstrings and persuade them the perfect panacea for the 2011 tsunami that devastated the country would be the Games.

"The bid process - and ultimately having the chance to host the Games - is helping Japan heal and re-unite after a difficult 2011," bid chief Tsunekazu Takeda told AFP.

"Without a doubt, Tohoku (the region affected by the tsunami), and the rest of Japan, will benefit from the Games."

Madrid too can dream of securing the Games, after finishing surprise runners-up behind Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 edition, especially as despite Spain's severe economic crisis they made the short list, easily seeing off Doha.

It was the second successive time Doha flopped in their efforts to make the short list and serious questions will be asked why the successful formula that worked on FIFA for winning the race to host the 2022 World Cup falls well short when their message gets to be put across to IOC members.

While there are no officially declared candidates to succeed Rogge, it is generally accepted German lawyer and former team fencing Olympic gold medalist Thomas Bach will throw his hat into the ring.

However, while many have seen him as the Crown Prince, there may be a wish to take the presidency away from European hands after the last three supremos have been from the 'old continent'.

Indeed, only one non-European has held the position, the unloved American Avery Brundage.

Puerto Rican banker Richard Carrion is prominent in some lists and won respect for his handling of the television broadcast rights negotiations with NBC.

One seen as a possible compromise candidate is the impressive Taiwanese architect, and president of the International Boxing Association (AIBA), Dr Ching-Kuo Wu.

But his age may count against him as he will be nearly 67 by the time of the election.

Rogge for his part, as he told AFP in May, will retire gracefully and is just looking forward to reading, visiting art galleries and driving his grandchildren around.

"Normally with regards to legacy you only speak about that when people die," he said.

"I didn't take the mandate up to leave a legacy and historians can write about that in 20 years time if they so wish. However... I took up the baton of (Juan Antonio) Samaranch and I believe I will leave behind some notable successes."

source: abs-cbnnews.com