Banning BLM shares on photos, dismissal for a joke about the Holocaust and the status of Crimea: what surrounds the Tokyo Games

Empty stands at the opening ceremony

Less than a day is left before the start of the Olympic Games.

The opening ceremony starts on Friday afternoon Moscow time.

But literally a day before her, a serious scandal broke out with the participation of the director of the event, Kentaro Kobayashi.

It turned out that back in 1998, a man who was trying his hand at comedy at that time made a joke about the Holocaust.

He suggested “playing the Holocaust” by scattering paper-cut figures.

After the video went online, Kobayashi was fired.

The head of the organizing committee, Seiko Hashimoto, admitted that the ceremony would have to be "revised", but promised to have time to solve all the problems.

This is not the last loss for the team.

Earlier, composer Keigo Oyamada lost his post, who in the early 90s admitted in an interview that, as a schoolboy, he subjected teenagers with disabilities to bullying.

Live in the stands, the opening ceremony will be able to contemplate only 950 officials, including diplomats, sponsors and members of the IOC.

As for the Russian team, according to the President of the ROC Stanislav Pozdnyakov, the event will be attended by 66 to 80 athletes.

Gymnasts and volleyball players will definitely miss it, but the boxers will arrive in full force.

“This is due to the fact that many competitions will start the next day, they will be released.

All others who wish will take part, ”the TASS functionary is quoted as saying.

Rainbow Bandage Permit

Meanwhile, the British The Guardian on the eve of the Olympic Games published a large material about the national team.

It is noted that since 2014 the country has been under pressure due to doping scandals and is now torn between the desire to "fight back" and return to its athletes the opportunity to fully perform at major international competitions.

The publication also told about a special memo, which was handed out to the team members in the ROC.

According to media reports, it contains answers to tricky questions from foreign journalists, including about the attitude towards Black Lives Matter and the status of Crimea.

The Guardian, based on this situation, concluded that in Russia, they allegedly still see enemies in journalists from other countries, WADA and the IOC.

At the same time, the British noted that, in general, in the country, the issue of preparing for the Olympic Games faded into the background after the failure of the football team at Euro 2020 and the subsequent dismissal of Stanislav Cherchesov.

Returning to the topic of the status of Crimea, it is necessary to say a few words about one more interesting detail.

The official website Olympics.com depicted the peninsula as part of Russia.

The Olympics Cheer Zone pop-up window displays a map of Europe with borders between states.

In particular, she divided Crimea and Ukraine.

The State Duma welcomed such a step by the organizers.

In particular, the deputy Dmitry Svishchev recalled that this territory has not been Ukrainian since 2014.

“Athletes living there are citizens of the Russian Federation and must compete under the flag of Russia.

This is the decision of the IOC, everyone must respect it, ”the Sport-Express politician quotes.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, on the contrary, remained extremely unhappy with what had happened.

According to local media reports, the ministry instructed the embassies in Switzerland and Japan to investigate the situation. 

According to media reports, the organizers also banned the publication in their social networks, as well as the IOC social networks, of photos of athletes kneeling as part of the Black Lives Matter campaign.

Earlier, the International Olympic Committee was going to ban participants from doing this at all, but due to a serious resonance, they relaxed the requirements.

Athletes are no longer allowed to kneel at the awards ceremony, but they can - on the eve of the start of the competition.

This is exactly what the British and Chilean footballers did on Wednesday.

This Black Lives Matter event was the first in the history of an OI.

But on the social networks of the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, not a single frame of them was published.

In parallel, the captain of the German women's field hockey team, Nika Lorenz, was allowed to enter the court with a rainbow band in support of the LGBT movement.

Thus, she will appear with her in the first match of the Olympic tournament with Great Britain.

It is curious that the captain of another German national team, the football one, played with a rainbow armband at Euro 2020.

It's about Manuel Neuer.

The local federation even almost received a serious fine for the behavior of the goalkeeper, but in the end, FIFA decided not to apply sanctions.

Deteriorating coronavirus situation

Meanwhile, the coronavirus situation in Japan is getting worse every day.

On Thursday, 1,979 new cases of infection were recorded in Tokyo.

This is the highest figure since January this year.

The number of cases is also increasing directly at the Olympics.

On July 22, 12 people passed positive tests at once, including two athletes from the Olympic village.

More (15) were recorded only once from the beginning of the month - on the 17th.

The very first athlete to be officially suspended from participation in the Olympic Games due to COVID-19 was the Chilean taekwondo player Fernanda Aguirre.

According to the girl, before flying to the Land of the Rising Sun, she passed two negative PCR tests, but an express test for antigen and a smear showed positive results.

Unfortunately, Aguirre is not the last participant to be deprived of the opportunity to perform in Tokyo due to the coronavirus.

Thus, two members of the Slovak national athletics team were quarantined.

This was done due to contact with an infected passenger on a flight to Japan.

In the national team of the Netherlands, two athletes have also passed positive tests: skateboarder Katie Jacobs and taekwondo player Reshmi Ugink.

And the national team of Guinea, consisting of five people, completely refused to participate in the Olympic Games "for the sake of preserving the health of athletes."

True, according to an AFP source in the country's government, this is more likely due to a lack of funds for a trip to Tokyo.

True, on Thursday, the African team decided not to withdraw from the Games, having received the necessary guarantees from the health authorities.

It is not surprising that the organizers, due to the worsening epidemiological situation, are forced to impose the most stringent restrictions in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

However, not everyone was satisfied with the antiquity measures.

For example, Rosie Gallegos-Main, a chiropractor of the US women's wrestling team, in her post on social networks, compared them with the methods used in Nazi Germany.

Later, the woman had to apologize and delete everything posted.

“Now I see an inextricable connection between these things.

I will never again use this word in any form, unless there are proper grounds for it, for example, in a history lesson or as part of educating people about the events of the past, ”quotes the AP doctor.

Apologized for Gallegos Main and the US Olympic Committee. As a result, the chiropractor was still allowed to stay in Tokyo at the location of the national team.