Paris on track for 2024 Olympics, says mayor

PARIS, France -- Paris is on time and on budget for the 2024 Olympics, the city's mayor said on Tuesday, dismissing concern expressed recently by a senior Olympics official.

"Look at all the previous Olympics and Paralympics around the world, one year before the Games, generally it's stressful and people are saying 'we'll never manage this'. Well, we're ready," mayor Anne Hidalgo told the France Inter radio station on Tuesday.

"We're on budget and we're on time."

During a visit to Paris on Monday, International Olympic Committee (IOC) official Pierre-Olivier Beckers, who is responsible for monitoring the Paris Games, voiced concern about the work needed to balance the budget.

French authorities chipped in another 111 million euros ($119 million) last December to take into account inflation, taking the overall budget to 4.48 billion euros.

Delays in signing major sponsorship deals, including with French luxury goods giant LVMH, has also left a major question mark about the finances of the event.

"There is still plenty of work to do," Beckers told reporters.

A provisional report from the French national auditor, revealed by Le Monde newspaper on Monday, said that "substantial uncertainties remain, notably for domestic partnerships."

The Games have also become embroiled in a row over ticket pricing, with the high cost of attending many events leading to criticism of organizers amid a cost-of-living crisis in France.

Agence France-Presse

USA top Olympic medal table as delayed Games draw to close

TOKYO, Japan -- Eliud Kipchoge produced a marathon masterclass and the USA edged China at the top of the Olympics medals table as the curtain was set to fall on the biggest sports event since the pandemic on Sunday.

After Kipchoge's marathon win for Kenya, volleyball, track cycling and basketball wins put the United States top of the medals tally with 39 golds, just one ahead of China in a battle for bragging rights.

With just handball and water polo finals still to come, the 2020 Games were all but done after defying an extraordinary build-up when they were postponed last year and veered close to the first cancellation since World War II.

Thirty-three sports have been contested across 16 days in largely empty stadiums, with fans barred over coronavirus risks and athletes living in strict biosecure conditions.

"Some were already speaking of 'Ghost Games'," Olympics chief Thomas Bach told an International Olympic Committee session on Sunday.

"What we have seen here is that on the contrary the athletes have brought soul to the Olympic Games."

A succession of big names have failed to perform in Japan but marathon world record-holder Kipchoge showed his class, kicking in the closing stages and clocking 2hr 08min 38sec to retain his 2016 title.

The Games have been plagued by low Japanese support over super-spreader fears and the marathon, moved north to Sapporo to avoid Tokyo's summer heat, was one of the few events to allow spectators.

"I know there were a lot of people against holding this Olympics due to the coronavirus," said a flag-waving, 47-year-old fan on the marathon route who gave his name as Tsujita.

"But I am glad it took place. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everyone."

However, Sunday's closing ceremony will take place at a largely vacant Olympic Stadium, rounding off an extraordinary Games conducted mostly without live spectators but in front of a TV audience of billions.

- Trans athletes and 'twisties' -

Athletes, ordered to wear masks when not competing, training, eating or sleeping, have endured the extra psychological strain of strict "bubble" conditions in Tokyo.

Victory celebrations have been low-key, with lonely laps of honor and sparsely attended medal ceremonies. But the emotions of the competitors have been on full view.

Superstar gymnast Simone Biles provided the most jaw-dropping moment when she abruptly pulled out of competition over a bout of the "twisties", a disorientating mental block.

Biles, widely acknowledged as the greatest gymnast in history, recovered sufficiently to return for the final event, the beam, claiming a redemptive bronze.

Weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender woman to compete at the Games and Canada's Quinn became the first openly transgender Olympic medallist, with gold in the women's football.

In other highlights, the US men's team won their fourth consecutive men's basketball crown and US swimmer Caeleb Dressel took over the mantle of Michael Phelps with five gold medals in the pool.

Among the final events on Sunday, Canadian cyclist Kelsey Mitchell took gold in the women's sprint while Jason Kenny won the men's keirin to become the first Briton to win seven Olympic titles.

The Americans started the day two golds behind China but the women's basketball and volleyball titles and US track cyclist Jennifer Valente's omnium victory put them top of the final table.

Uzbekistan's Bakhodir Jalolov beat US fighter Richard Torrez in the super-heavyweight boxing final, while Britain's Lauren Price and Ireland's Kellie Harrington also boxed their way to gold.

The Olympic flag will pass to 2024 hosts Paris at the closing ceremony. But the circus will reconvene in just six months' time when Beijing, faced with boycott threats and a renewed coronavirus emergency, holds the Winter Games in February.

Agence France-Presse

Japan's Yosozumi wins battle of the teens for Olympic skateboarding gold

TOKYO -- Japan's Sakura Yosozumi won the women's park competition to maintain the hosts' stranglehold on Olympic skateboarding on Wednesday and stop Kokona Hiraki and Sky Brown becoming the Games' youngest-ever gold medallists.

The 19-year-old carved up the Ariake Urban Sports Park with a flowing opening run in the final and her 60.09 points proved enough for victory ahead of teammate Hiraki, 12, and Brown, 13.

Despite missing the title Hiraki, who scored 59.04, becomes the youngest Olympic medalist since French rower Noel Vandernotte in 1936.

Brown, now Britain's youngest medalist, threatened to snatch a dramatic win with a flawless closing routine but her 56.47 was only good enough for bronze. 

"It was unbelievable," Brown said of her closing run. "Even right now it feels like a dream. It's insane. 

"I'm so happy and so thankful and so proud of every one of the other girls, too."

There was heartbreak for world number one Misugu Okamoto, who missed a medal when she fell on all three runs in the final to finish fourth.

Japan also snapped up the men's and women's street titles and they have bagged five of the nine medals so far as skateboarding makes its Olympic bow.

Skateboarding is one of four debut sports intended to reach new audiences and in an ultra-young field, only eight of the 20 competitors were out of their teens. The podium had a combined age of 44.

Both Brown, at 13 years and 28 days, and Hiraki (12 years and 343 days) were bidding to break an 85-year-old record to become the youngest champions in Olympic history.

They had a shot at bettering American diver Marjorie Gestring, who won 3m springboard gold aged 13 years and 268 days at the 1936 Games in Berlin.

For Brown, who is also Britain's youngest-ever Olympian, it completes a comeback just over a year after a horrific fall in training left her with skull fractures and a broken wrist and hand.

The accident would have ruled Brown, just 11 at the time, out of the 2020 Olympics if they had not been postponed for a year over the coronavirus pandemic.

"Everyone did amazing, everyone was doing so good, I'm so proud of everyone," she said on Wednesday, paying tribute to her friend Yosozumi.

"Just being on the podium with my really good friend is just insane."

Brown, born to a Japanese mother and a British father, opted to compete for Britain in 2019, saying the team offered a more relaxed approach.

Agence France-Presse

History-seeking Biles makes flawed entrance at Tokyo Games

TOKYO, Japan -- American gymnastics superstar Simone Biles got off to a shaky start in her quest for five gold medals and Olympic history in Tokyo on Sunday, as an Uzbeki mother-of-one bid a poignant farewell after a remarkable career spanning eight Games.

At 46 years old, Oksana Chusovitina, gold medallist at her debut Olympics in Barcelona in 1992, has earned the right to occupy her time in more sedate ways than exploding up a 25 metre runway and somersaulting backwards over a vault against competitors younger than her son.

Among those rivals is Biles, who kept the wheels on her bid to level Soviet great Larisa Latynina's record of nine gymnastics gold medals, but her qualifying performances were peppered with rare imperfections.

On the floor, Biles over-rotated after one series of mesmerising tumbles and went off the mat, drawing a gasp from at least one onlooker in the near-deserted Ariake Centre.

She rolled her eyes after another unsteady landing over on the vault, and her performance director Tom Forster expressed disbelief after an untidy end to her beam routine.

"Simone took three big steps on the beam dismount, I've never seen her do that before," said Forster.

Biles qualified top in the all-around and vault, and was second on the floor, with the USA occupying the same position behind the Russians for Tuesday's team final.

But in the beam standings she paid for her flawed ending to lie sixth of the eight progressing.

Biles also booked a place for the uneven bars final, though, which the 19-time world champion missed at Rio 2016, as the eighth qualifier.

While there were many moments of dazzling Biles brilliance, Forster was thankful this was only qualifying.

"We're going to be okay... this is not the finals, this is getting into the finals, this might be a great awakening for us," he said.

He said there was work to do. "Mostly fixing steps on the floor. Staying in bounds would help," he added, putting the lapses down to "nerves".

Biles later chose to focus on the USA's team title defence rather than any personal ambitions of adding to all the precious metal on her sideboard.

"I feel we did a pretty good job. Obviously there are little things we need to work on, so we'll go back and practise and work on that, just so we can do our best performance at team finals, because that's what matters."

One gold medallist from Rio out of luck on Sunday was Sanne Wevers.

- 'Tears of happiness' -

The Dutch beam outgoing champion had to wait 13 minutes for the judges to announce her score but when they did it sent her not to the final, but to the airport.

"They've just told me I will be on the plane home tomorrow. So, my short-term future is just about packing my bags and going home," she said, adding that she had reached the same assessment of her routine as the judges "in a lot less time!".

Another gold medallist, but from much further back than Rio, departing Tokyo was the evergreen Chusovitina.

She received a hugely affectionate ovation from her team, rivals, media and photographers when she narrowly failed to qualify for the vault at her eighth and last Olympics.

Born in 1976, Chusovitina's Olympic odyssey began in Barcelona in 1992, where she won team gold, adding silver in the vault in Beijing 2008.

"We thank her for her contributions to artistic gymnastics," the stadium announcer said as teams, officials and journalists applauded.

She said later she had been crying "tears of happiness, because so many people have supported me for such a long time.

"I'm just so grateful."

Monday sees the first gymnastics title on offer with the men's team final.

Agence France-Presse

Half of Tokyo residents oppose Olympics in 2021: poll

TOKYO, Japan -- Just over half of Tokyo's residents don't think the postponed 2020 Olympics should be held next year, backing either a further delay or outright cancellation because of fears over the coronavirus, according to a poll published Monday.

The survey carried out by two Japanese news organisations is only a single data point, but comes after health experts warned that even a year's delay may not be sufficient to hold the Games safely.

The poll conducted over the weekend found 51.7 percent of respondents hope the Games in 2021 are postponed again or cancelled, while 46.3 percent want to see the rescheduled Olympics go ahead.

Among those opposed to a 2021 Games, 27.7 percent said they want them cancelled altogether, while 24.0 percent would prefer a second postponement.

The telephone poll, conducted by Kyodo News and Tokyo MX television between June 26-28, received 1,030 replies.

Of those who said they want to see the Games held next year, 31.1 percent said the event should be in a scaled-back form, including without spectators, while 15.2 percent said they wanted to see a full-blown Olympics.

Tokyo 2020 was postponed in March as the coronavirus spread across the globe, causing the worst disruption to the Olympics since two editions were cancelled during World War II.

The Games are now scheduled to begin on July 23, 2021, although they will still be known as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Officials from Japan and the International Olympic Committee have warned it will not be possible to postpone again, and even the year-long delay has created significant financial and logistical headaches.

The poll, conducted ahead of the Tokyo gubernatorial election on July 5, also found incumbent Yuriko Koike leading her opponents "by a large margin".

Her precise lead was not specified, in keeping with a media tradition of not publishing polling figures in the days before a vote.

Koike has been heavily involved in preparations for the Games, travelling to Rio for the handover ceremony after the last Summer Olympics.

Earlier this month, she told AFP that the rescheduled Olympics will be safe despite the coronavirus pandemic, pledging a "120-percent effort" to ensure the first-ever postponed Games can go ahead.

Agence France-Presse

NFL: Ted Ginn Jr. claims he beat Bolt in high school race

Ted Ginn Jr. has been turning heads with his speed throughout his NFL career, and now the veteran wide receiver is doing the same with his recent comments to TMZ.

Ginn, 35, told TMZ that he defeated Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt in a race during high school.

"Well I ran against Usain Bolt. I got him when we was in the 12th grade. All of the top guys that won in the Olympics between 2004 until now, I basically had a chance to race them guys in high school," Ginn said.

When asked to confirm that he indeed defeated Bolt -- who is generally regarded as the fastest human being alive -- Ginn was quick with his response.

"Yeah. I got that. You can go look that up," he said.

Ginn's bragging didn't end there. He said had he not gone to the NFL that an Olympic gold medal "for sure" would have been in his future.

Bolt, 33, is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist.

The Chicago Bears signed Ginn to a one-year contract earlier this month. He caught 30 passes for 421 yards and two touchdowns for the New Orleans Saints in 2019, and has 409 career receptions for 5,702 yards and 33 scores in 187 games with six teams since 2007.

Field Level Media/Reuters

USA Gymnastics says its athletes want Tokyo Olympics postponed

The majority of USA Gymnastics athletes support the idea of postponing the July 24-Aug. 9 Tokyo Olympics due to concerns about the coronavirus crisis, the federation said on Monday.

The national governing body had asked gymnasts to complete an anonymous survey to ensure their voices were heard on the topic of whether to delay the two-week showcase event.

"After considering the responses from athletes who participated in our survey & the 62% who were in favor of delaying the Games, we are adding our voice to the chorus advocating for postponement," Li Li Leung, president and chief executive officer of USA Gymnastics, said in a news release.

"We are grateful to have our athletes' insight and input to guide this decision."

The U.S. women, spearheaded by four-time Olympic and 19-time world champion Simone Biles, are favourites to complete a hat-trick of team titles in Japan should they ultimately attend an event whose organisers are facing global pressure to postpone.

Detailed results of the survey, which followed recent calls from USA Swimming and USA Track and Field to postpone the Tokyo Olympics, were not disclosed.

Earlier on Monday, International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound said the IOC has decided to postpone the Games in light of the pandemic with an eye towards possibly staging them next summer instead.

Major sporting nations Australia and Canada had already withdrawn on Monday as organisers came under global pressure to postpone the event for the first time in its 124-year modern history. 

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto and Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Japan says Tokyo Olympics may be postponed due to coronavirus

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said for the first time on Monday that the Tokyo Olympic Games may need to be postponed if the event cannot be held in its "complete form" due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Sunday after an emergency meeting that it is stepping up its "scenario planning" for the 2020 Games due to start on July 24, including a possible postponement.

Abe said that while cancelling the Games was not an option, a delay was now on the cards if that was the only way to hold the event in its complete form.

"If that becomes difficult, we may have no option but to consider postponing the Games," he told parliament.

He said he had conveyed his views to Tokyo Games chief Yoshiro Mori on Sunday evening, who then discussed the issue with IOC President Thomas Bach.

Under mounting pressure from athletes, federations and national committees to postpone the Games, the IOC did a partial U-turn on Sunday after long insisting, with Tokyo organisers, that the Games would go ahead as planned.

Tokyo 2020 organisers have started drafting alternative dates for the Olympics, sources have told Reuters.

More than 13,000 people have died globally since the coronavirus outbreak began in China late last year, with the epicentre now in Europe.

As of Sunday morning, Japan had 37 deaths and 1,055 coronavirus cases, excluding those from a cruise ship that was quarantined near Tokyo last month and returnees on chartered flights from China, a tally by public broadcaster NHK showed.

Abe said all travelers from the United States, including Japanese citizens, would be asked to go into quarantine for 14 days after their arrival in Japan.

In the United States nearly one in three residents has been ordered to stay at home to slow the spread of the flu-like virus as cases nationwide topped 32,000, with more than 415 dead, according to a Reuters tally.

Japan's foreign ministry has advised citizens to avoid non-essential and non-urgent travel to the United States. 

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Stephen Coates)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Gymnastics: Carlos Yulo’s next target? Gold in next year’s Olympics

Hopes are high for 19-year-old Carlos Edriel Yulo in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Yulo did what no other Filipino has done when he won the gold in the men’s floor event of the world gymnastics championships.

He believes he can still outdo himself with more hard work and training.

“Hindi pa po ako satisfied doon,” Yulo said during a media conference on Tuesday hosted by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for him, boxer Nesthy Petecio and pole-vaulter EJ Obiena.

“Alam kong mas-kaya ko pa po.”

Even Cynthia Carrion, head of the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines, the sport’s national governing body, agreed with this mindset of Yulo.

“He needs to forget his win in the worlds. Stop it. From now on, he has to think of the Olympics. Olympics, Olympics. He has to win the gold,” Carrion said.

No Filipino has ever won a gold medal in the Olympics.

PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said his office has already prepared P500,000 award for Yulo based on the incentives law.

“The board also approved to give him P500,000 more. Who would have imagined a Filipino winning a gold in the world championships?” said Ramirez.

Yulo also stands to get P1 million more from the MVP Foundation. 

“Plano ko ibili iyon ng bahay para sa pamilya ko,” Yulo said. “Magiging atleta na rin kasi ang mga kapatid ko, kaya magandang lumaki sila sa maayos na environment.”

Yulo acknowledged it wasn’t always a bed of roses training for more than 3 years in Tokyo away from his family.

“Noong mga unang araw ko sa Japan, nakakaramdam na’ko ng lungkot. Nami-miss ko na’ng pamilya ko,” said Yulo, who once considered quitting.

“ ’Yung training hindi madali. Sobrang hirap. Araw araw naiiyak ako. Sinabi ko sa coach ko na magku-quit na ako,” he said.

But after visiting home and having a heart-to-heart talk with his parents, he eventually continued to train.

“Ngayon target ko nang di maulit ’yung dati. Gusto kong lumaban, gusto kong ipakita na kaya ko po,” Yulo said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'Truly outstanding' - Tokyo marks one year till 2020 Olympics

TOKYO -- Tokyo promised a high-tech Olympics complete with robots as it marked a year to go until the 2020 Games on Wednesday, hoping to leave behind some bumps in the road including an ongoing corruption investigation.

Organizers have battled everything from fears over deadly heat to persistent questions about the cost of the Games and how Tokyo won its bid.

But as the one-year countdown began, they touted speedy progress on venue construction and pledged a historic Games.

"I can truly say I have never seen an Olympic city as prepared as Tokyo, with one year to go before the Olympic games," said International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach at a ceremony Wednesday.

"All the elements that make a truly outstanding Olympic Games are in place," he added, predicting "an amazing experience" for athletes.

Officials pointed to "unprecedented" ticket sales and applications by 200,000 people for just 80,000 volunteer positions as evidence of building excitement for the Games.

"The six years since Tokyo was picked have zipped by, but I'm glad that preparations have gone very smoothly," Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, before the symbolic handing-out of invitations to national Olympic committees.

Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori said Bach praised the speed of the city's preparations as "an Olympic record".


- High-tech showcase -

Half of the new permanent venues have been completed, and organizers say construction of the rest is on track.

Tokyo residents lined up for hours to try out Olympic sports at one of the events to celebrate the landmark.

Twelve-year-old Yukimasa Nakahara queued from 5:30 am with his mother for the chance to pitch baseballs.

"I'm looking forward to the Olympics... We've won tickets for a baseball game for the bronze medal," he told AFP with a big smile.

While cooler weather this summer has assuaged fears raised by a deadly heatwave last year, organizers say they have a raft of safety measures planned in case temperatures soar.

Tactics from misting towers to flower beds -- which don't radiate heat, and which organizers say also have a "psychological" cooling effect -- will be tested this week at a beach volleyball event.

With the countdown under way, organizers have also been stepping up efforts to promote the Games as a showcase for Japan's high-tech know-how.

Japan's reputation as an industrial innovator has flagged since the last time it hosted the Games, in Tokyo in 1964, when it wowed the world with bullet trains.

But government and businesses are hoping to dazzle visitors with everything from driverless airport transport to robot greeters and mascots.

The organizers have even teamed up with two Japanese astronauts who will send messages of support from the International Space Station to those carrying the Olympic torch through the country.

- Millions apply for tickets -

The torch relay, featuring a rose-gold cherry blossom-shaped torch, will start from a sports centre in Fukushima that housed workers battling to remove radioactive waste after the 2011 tsunami.

It will pass through other areas of north-east Japan devastated by the disaster, with authorities hoping to demonstrate the region's recovery.

Organizers also want the Games to be the "most sustainable ever" and are making everything from medals to podiums from recycled materials.

Designs for the medals were unveiled Wednesday, featuring a rough outer ring similar to a meringue encircling a smooth shining centre.

Organizers said the design was intended to resemble stones that had been polished -- a symbol of the daily striving of athletes preparing for the Games.

The preparations haven't all been plain sailing for the organizers, with persistent questions over the cost of the Games, despite cuts of more than $4 billion.

The last version of the budget, released in December 2018 stood at 1.35 trillion yen ($12.1 billion), unchanged from 2017.

Organizers have also faced a series of embarrassing sideshows, including the resignation of Japan's Olympics minister in April after a string of gaffes.

That came just a month after the head of Japan's Olympic Committee Tsunekazu Takeda said he would step down as French investigators examine payments made before Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Games.

But the clouds appear to have done little to dull enthusiasm for the Games, at least in Japan.

Organisers say more than 7.5 million residents registered for a lottery to buy tickets during a first round in July.

Demand was so high that the registration period was extended and organizers will hold a follow-up in August for those who were unsuccessful the first time around.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Games bus hit by gunfire, no one seriously hurt: witnesses

RIO DE JANEIRO - A bus carrying journalists at the Rio Games was hit by gunfire on a highway between Olympic venues on Tuesday, witnesses said. No one was seriously injured in the incident.

The bus was making its way from the Games basketball venue to the main Olympic park when, according to passengers, two shots were heard hitting the vehicle. Windows shattered and flying glass left two people with minor lacerations.

"We were shot at. I mean we could hear the report of the gun," said Sherryl "Lee" Michaelson, a retired U.S. air force captain who is working for a basketball publication in Rio.

Brazilian police were not immediately available for comment.

Violent street crime in Rio has left its mark on South America's first Olympic Games. On Saturday, a bullet hit the equestrian centre, missing journalists there by just a few feet. That bullet was suspected to have been fired by a gang member trying to shoot down a police blimp or drone, officials said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Free at Rio Olympics: 9 million forest-friendly condoms

XAPURI, Brazil - Brazil's government will hand out 9 million condoms for free around Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics in August, a push meant to encourage safe sex and also defend the Amazon rainforest.

Rio's local Olympic organizing committee said about 450,000 of the sustainably-produced condoms will be destined for athletes and staff housed in the Olympic Village.

The rest will be made widely available to the many visitors who will be arriving in the city in just a few weeks, the Health Ministry said.

All the condoms to be distributed are produced by Natex, a factory in the western Amazonian state of Acre, deep in the rainforest near Brazil's border with Bolivia.

The factory, run by the Acre state government, uses latex gathered from Amazon rubber trees by tappers who are employed by a government-run program designed to protect their traditional livelihood, foster sustainable use of the rainforest and deter illegal loggers.

The tappers see themselves as guardians of the rainforest.

On a recent outing, Raimundo Mendes de Barros, a 71-year-old lifelong rubber tapper with a stark white beard, gathered the milky-white latex dripping into metal buckets hooked at the base of countless trees. Above, the tropical sun was filtered by the Amazon canopy.

Barros spoke with pride about the fierce fight he and other sustainable rubber tappers wage to maintain their craft.

"Our condom factory, aside from guaranteeing a fair price for the rubber, employs hundreds," he said. "It gives the world a product - the condom - that will be very present there in Rio, to fight disease and help with birth control."

For decades, tappers like Barros have been on the front line of pushing Brazilian leaders to do more to halt deforestation, which is mostly caused by the illegal clearing of forest for ranching, soy farms and timber extraction.

The fight has sometimes come at a heavy cost as farmers and loggers have sometimes retaliated with hired guns. Scores of people have been killed over the years trying to protect the forest, most notably the internationally known environmentalist and rubber tapper Chico Mendes.

His 1988 murder in Xapuri, where the condom factory now stands, helped galvanize the government to take serious measures to battle deforestation and the violence against Amazon defenders.

For several years Brazil's Health Ministry has distributed millions of condoms from the factory for free at big events around Brazil - most notably the annual bacchanal of Carnival.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com