Olympics Thread
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@voodoo said in Olympics Thread:
Tokyo Olympics: a warm welcome but signs of Covid mistrust at Games host
Police officers patrol around the arrival gate at Haneda airport in Tokyo. Picture: Getty Images
Police officers patrol around the arrival gate at Haneda airport in Tokyo. Picture: Getty Images
By MATT LAWTON
THE TIMES
AN HOUR AGO JULY 14, 2021
2 COMMENTS
It was feared that visitors to Tokyo for the Olympic Games would be met with hostility and made to feel like a herd of Delta variant superspreaders.When I arrived yesterday, however, I was treated like the Queen.
At least I was when staff at the accreditation desk at Haneda airport asked me if I had two birthdays.
READ NEXT
ITāS A YES
Ring in the romance
ELLE HALLIWELL
This, it turned out, was prompted by an inconsistency between what it said on the Tokyo 2020 system and what they were now reading in my passport.A consequence, we eventually deduced, of the day and month of my date of birth being inadvertently switched.
A woman walks in front of countdown clock for the Tokyo Olympics, which on Tuesday showed 10 days and 46 minutes to go to the opening ceremony. Picture: AFP
A woman walks in front of countdown clock for the Tokyo Olympics, which on Tuesday showed 10 days and 46 minutes to go to the opening ceremony. Picture: AFP
They thought I was born on 4/12/70, when in fact it was 12/4/70. But the chap in charge could not have been more apologetic, even if I now have to spend three days in quarantine before I can be issued with my official pass.READ MORE:Federer reveals shock injury setback|Adam Scott: āIām stunned Olympics are still onā|IOC chief praises 'best-prepared Tokyo'|Tokyo's taxi drivers face fan-free Olympics|Perfect Patty ices win as new recruit steals show|The Sikh who flew to an Olympic record, only to lose
There have been some horror storiesOne Japanese magazine has been following international journalists and exposing them for breaches of Covid-19 protocols, while the official event organisers warned accredited media that the Japanese public would not hesitate to shame us on social media if we broke the rules.
Never mind a newspaper article that detailed a hotel with segregated lifts for āJapaneseā and āforeignersā. The hotel has since apologised.
The process of getting to Japan was a bit of a faff, involving two PCR tests, 96 and 72 hours before departure ā with completed forms supplied by the Japanese ministry of health a further requirement ā and a mountain of administration.
Activity plans for the first 14 days of your stay had to be submitted and approved, while various phone apps needed to be downloaded to record medical information and monitor your precise whereabouts.
FOXSPORTS0:35
Federer OUT of Tokyo Olympics
Tennis: Roger Federer has been forced to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Swiss star citing a knee injury.
Tokyo is in a state of emergency because of the pandemic and will remain so for two weeks after the Games, and the various checkpoints at the airport meant that it took more than 2 and a half hours to reach the baggage collection area.Test results, documents, accreditation forms and passports were heavily scrutinised, while there was an additional saliva test. Athletes, officials and journalists spat into a tube and then assembled in an area at the terminal, waiting 45 minutes before receiving their result. With the prospect of ten days in isolation in a designated Covid hotel, the little pink form that said ānegativeā came as an almighty relief.
But our Japanese hosts could not have been more courteous and polite, guiding visitors to the next station with a warm smile. Even an armed police officer said: āWelcome to Japan,ā as I strolled past.
Staff members in protective clothing and masks next to empty seats during a test event in Tokyo. Picture: AFP
Staff members in protective clothing and masks next to empty seats during a test event in Tokyo. Picture: AFP
For the athletes there did appear to be a few more challenges. Some Brazilian surfers, for instance, were made to join a painfully long queue for customs with their boards. For reporters armed only with laptops, however, there were no such issues.Free media buses were laid on, transporting reporters to a huge taxi rank with cars ready to deliver us individually to our hotels. It all went impressively smoothly, with my driver pointing out some of the sights en route.
Once at the hotel I immediately spotted two security women positioned inside the lobby, opposite the lifts.
A general view shows the Olympic rings lit up at dusk, with the Rainbow bridge in the background, on the Odaiba waterfront in Tokyo. Picture: AFP
A general view shows the Olympic rings lit up at dusk, with the Rainbow bridge in the background, on the Odaiba waterfront in Tokyo. Picture: AFP
It is their job to make sure we abide by the rules on quarantine, which include permission to leave the hotel for 15 minutes at a time to purchase food.This is because many of the media hotels do not have a restaurant or provide room service.
The two women in my hotel are actually rather lovely.
āAre you an Olympic basketball player?ā one of them asked, with a hint of excitement. Clearly there are some advantages to wearing a mask.
The Times
That's a nice puff piece.
I imagine it is nice coming in as a reporter for a games that the government is determined to be seen as a success. My co-worker who arrived three weeks ago (right at the same time as some athletes started arriving) would paint a very very different story: Think
personprisoner who gets no information, is not given any idea of what is going on, and is treated differently to Japanese arrivals. -
@voodoo said in Olympics Thread:
Tokyo Olympics: a warm welcome but signs of Covid mistrust at Games host
Police officers patrol around the arrival gate at Haneda airport in Tokyo. Picture: Getty Images
Police officers patrol around the arrival gate at Haneda airport in Tokyo. Picture: Getty Images
By MATT LAWTON
THE TIMES
AN HOUR AGO JULY 14, 2021
2 COMMENTS
It was feared that visitors to Tokyo for the Olympic Games would be met with hostility and made to feel like a herd of Delta variant superspreaders.When I arrived yesterday, however, I was treated like the Queen.
At least I was when staff at the accreditation desk at Haneda airport asked me if I had two birthdays.
READ NEXT
ITāS A YES
Ring in the romance
ELLE HALLIWELL
This, it turned out, was prompted by an inconsistency between what it said on the Tokyo 2020 system and what they were now reading in my passport.A consequence, we eventually deduced, of the day and month of my date of birth being inadvertently switched.
A woman walks in front of countdown clock for the Tokyo Olympics, which on Tuesday showed 10 days and 46 minutes to go to the opening ceremony. Picture: AFP
A woman walks in front of countdown clock for the Tokyo Olympics, which on Tuesday showed 10 days and 46 minutes to go to the opening ceremony. Picture: AFP
They thought I was born on 4/12/70, when in fact it was 12/4/70. But the chap in charge could not have been more apologetic, even if I now have to spend three days in quarantine before I can be issued with my official pass.READ MORE:Federer reveals shock injury setback|Adam Scott: āIām stunned Olympics are still onā|IOC chief praises 'best-prepared Tokyo'|Tokyo's taxi drivers face fan-free Olympics|Perfect Patty ices win as new recruit steals show|The Sikh who flew to an Olympic record, only to lose
There have been some horror storiesOne Japanese magazine has been following international journalists and exposing them for breaches of Covid-19 protocols, while the official event organisers warned accredited media that the Japanese public would not hesitate to shame us on social media if we broke the rules.
Never mind a newspaper article that detailed a hotel with segregated lifts for āJapaneseā and āforeignersā. The hotel has since apologised.
The process of getting to Japan was a bit of a faff, involving two PCR tests, 96 and 72 hours before departure ā with completed forms supplied by the Japanese ministry of health a further requirement ā and a mountain of administration.
Activity plans for the first 14 days of your stay had to be submitted and approved, while various phone apps needed to be downloaded to record medical information and monitor your precise whereabouts.
FOXSPORTS0:35
Federer OUT of Tokyo Olympics
Tennis: Roger Federer has been forced to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympic Games, the Swiss star citing a knee injury.
Tokyo is in a state of emergency because of the pandemic and will remain so for two weeks after the Games, and the various checkpoints at the airport meant that it took more than 2 and a half hours to reach the baggage collection area.Test results, documents, accreditation forms and passports were heavily scrutinised, while there was an additional saliva test. Athletes, officials and journalists spat into a tube and then assembled in an area at the terminal, waiting 45 minutes before receiving their result. With the prospect of ten days in isolation in a designated Covid hotel, the little pink form that said ānegativeā came as an almighty relief.
But our Japanese hosts could not have been more courteous and polite, guiding visitors to the next station with a warm smile. Even an armed police officer said: āWelcome to Japan,ā as I strolled past.
Staff members in protective clothing and masks next to empty seats during a test event in Tokyo. Picture: AFP
Staff members in protective clothing and masks next to empty seats during a test event in Tokyo. Picture: AFP
For the athletes there did appear to be a few more challenges. Some Brazilian surfers, for instance, were made to join a painfully long queue for customs with their boards. For reporters armed only with laptops, however, there were no such issues.Free media buses were laid on, transporting reporters to a huge taxi rank with cars ready to deliver us individually to our hotels. It all went impressively smoothly, with my driver pointing out some of the sights en route.
Once at the hotel I immediately spotted two security women positioned inside the lobby, opposite the lifts.
A general view shows the Olympic rings lit up at dusk, with the Rainbow bridge in the background, on the Odaiba waterfront in Tokyo. Picture: AFP
A general view shows the Olympic rings lit up at dusk, with the Rainbow bridge in the background, on the Odaiba waterfront in Tokyo. Picture: AFP
It is their job to make sure we abide by the rules on quarantine, which include permission to leave the hotel for 15 minutes at a time to purchase food.This is because many of the media hotels do not have a restaurant or provide room service.
The two women in my hotel are actually rather lovely.
āAre you an Olympic basketball player?ā one of them asked, with a hint of excitement. Clearly there are some advantages to wearing a mask.
The Times
Potemkin village?
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Beds don;t have to be that strong if all the athletes can offer is ~5 seconds of action!
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A Ugandan weightlifter who went missing on Friday, after he did not qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, has been found in a town about 100 miles away from his training camp.
Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, was scheduled to fly home to Uganda last Tuesday, but he went missing from his hotel room in the Osaka prefecture of Japan on Friday, when he was scheduled for a daily COVID test. He left a note at the time, saying he wished to stay in Japan and work. Police had since been searching for him.
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Cardboard beds are "anti sex"
Four or five years ago, at Her Most Gracious Majesty's Once-Owned-an-Empire Games, held at the Gold Coast, the first item the athlete's village suppliers ran short of was condoms.
I also heard half a dozen accounts from credible mates of security guards passing the time by bonking each other - blokes, all from up north and across a bit to the left just past Malaysia. One of them walked in on two of 'em giving each other a pleasurable tug. Aaaarrrggghhh!
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Followers of the Olympics in NZ may want to bookmark one of these pages for the NZ schedule:
https://olympics2020.sky.co.nz/ (with Sky Sport channel)
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Brisbane gets Olympics and this proud Brisbanite says FFS. What a joke. Did no one else want it this year?
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@rancid-schnitzel said in Olympics Thread:
Brisbane gets Olympics and this proud Brisbanite says FFS. What a joke. Did no one else want it this year?
Quite a change from the heights of the Samaranch era, when the city that wanted it had to stump up with big time coin. Qatar and other countries like it not in an Olympic mood?
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@rancid-schnitzel said in Olympics Thread:
Brisbane gets Olympics and this proud Brisbanite says FFS. What a joke. Did no one else want it this year?
I am reminded of Steven Bradbury.
7 News just boasted Brisbane got 75 out of 77 votes. They were the only ones left in it FFS š¤£
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@crazy-horse said in Olympics Thread:
@rancid-schnitzel said in Olympics Thread:
Brisbane gets Olympics and this proud Brisbanite says FFS. What a joke. Did no one else want it this year?
I am reminded of Steven Bradbury.
7 News just boasted Brisbane got 75 out of 77 votes. They were the only ones left in it FFS š¤£
Imagine bragging that two people faced with no alternative still didn't vote for Brisbane.
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@gt12 said in Olympics Thread:
A Ugandan weightlifter who went missing on Friday, after he did not qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, has been found in a town about 100 miles away from his training camp.
Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, was scheduled to fly home to Uganda last Tuesday, but he went missing from his hotel room in the Osaka prefecture of Japan on Friday, when he was scheduled for a daily COVID test. He left a note at the time, saying he wished to stay in Japan and work. Police had since been searching for him.
Happens at every Olympics, but usually itās after the games have actually startedā¦.
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@act-crusader said in Olympics Thread:
@gt12 said in Olympics Thread:
A Ugandan weightlifter who went missing on Friday, after he did not qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, has been found in a town about 100 miles away from his training camp.
Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, was scheduled to fly home to Uganda last Tuesday, but he went missing from his hotel room in the Osaka prefecture of Japan on Friday, when he was scheduled for a daily COVID test. He left a note at the time, saying he wished to stay in Japan and work. Police had since been searching for him.
Happens at every Olympics, but usually itās after the games have actually startedā¦.
If not for the note I'd have guessed he was still stuffing his face with the great food in Dotonbori!
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@gt12 said in Olympics Thread:
A Ugandan weightlifter who went missing on Friday, after he did not qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, has been found in a town about 100 miles away from his training camp.
Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, was scheduled to fly home to Uganda last Tuesday, but he went missing from his hotel room in the Osaka prefecture of Japan on Friday, when he was scheduled for a daily COVID test. He left a note at the time, saying he wished to stay in Japan and work. Police had since been searching for him.
Surprised they found him so quickly to be honest.
So easy to blend in.
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@canefan said in Olympics Thread:
@rancid-schnitzel said in Olympics Thread:
Brisbane gets Olympics and this proud Brisbanite says FFS. What a joke. Did no one else want it this year?
Quite a change from the heights of the Samaranch era, when the city that wanted it had to stump up with big time coin. Qatar and other countries like it not in an Olympic mood?
The other bids were very halfarsed. Germanyās involved 13 cities in the North-West.
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@sparky said in Olympics Thread:
Congratulations to Brisbane. I am sure you'll do a great job.
Iām sure theyāll let the world and their Olympic teams in with open arms, but manage to keep people from NSW and Victoria out because of one case of COVID-32
Ugandan Weightlifter Found 100 Miles from Olympic Training Camp After He Went Missing in Japan
