Protest against equestrian sports

The Tokyo Olympics sparked a conflict between organizers and animal rights activists. PETA has called on the International Olympic Committee to withdraw from equestrian competitions due to several controversial events that have occurred with horses during the competition.

The most famous of these was the incident with the German pentathlete Annika Schla. She was supposed to perform in show jumping on a horse named Saint Boy, but as soon as she was in the saddle, it became clear that it would not be possible to pass the route - the animal completely refused to obey. Shloy, who was in the lead at that time in the overall standings, tried to calm the horse with the help of force, but nothing happened. Her trainer Kim Reisner, standing aside, also hit the animal, for which she was later disqualified. The International Union of Modern Pentathlon assured that Saint Boy was not injured and only feels tired after the competition, but these statements did not satisfy the animal lovers.

Among those who were outraged by the attitude of Shloy and Reisner to the horse was the American actress Kaley Cuoco, known for her filming in the TV series The Big Bang Theory.

The main hobby of her life is equestrian sports, and she herself owns several riding horses.

Upon learning of what had happened, Cuoco not only criticized the athlete and the coach, but also stated that she wanted to buy the injured animal and provide him with a decent life.

The actress asked only to name the price she would need to pay.

"Golden" help 

Jamaican runner Hunsl Parchment also nearly lost his medal.

On the day when he had to compete in the semifinal race of 110 meters with hurdles, the athlete got on the wrong bus.

When he realized his mistake, he went out and asked for help from a volunteer.

A girl named Trijana Stojkovic gave him money for a taxi and put him in the car.

Thanks to this, the athlete managed to perform, made his way to the final and then became the Olympic champion.

After his victory, Parchment took the same bus again, but on purpose, to find his savior.

When they met, the athlete showed the girl a gold medal, which he would not have received without her help, presented his T-shirt and reimbursed the taxi costs.

In its own way, the Ministry of Tourism of Jamaica thanked Stoykovich - it invited the girl to visit the country.

Bitten medal

A completely different story happened with the gold medal of the Japanese softball player Miu Goto.

After her team won the home Olympics, she traveled to her hometown of Nagoya and attended a reception with Mayor Takashi Kawamura.

Traditional honoring of athletes unexpectedly went wrong when an official asked the athlete to hang the award around her neck.

Then he took off his protective mask and took a bite of the medal.

In addition to the fact that Kawamura violated the rules of hygiene and disrespected the Goto award, he also made a number of ambiguous remarks, asking, for example, the athlete if she was allowed to enter into a romantic relationship.

The politician's behavior caused a whole scandal in Japan, for which he had to apologize.

Kawamura promised to pay Goto a new medal.

He was also denied the opportunity to attend the Paralympic torch relay.

Refusal of financial aid

Water jumper Quan Hongchang became a real national heroine of China at the Tokyo Olympics.

At the age of 14, she won the platform jumping competition.

After her victory, the athlete admitted that she was performing in order to raise money for the treatment of her mother, who was injured in a car accident four years ago.

Quan's words touched her compatriots so much that they began to challenge the champion's family.

According to the South China Morning Post, she was offered a new home and 200 thousand yuan (about 2.2 million rubles -

RT

)

as a gift

.

However, the athlete's father refused to accept all donations, and also asked the fans not to come to his house, which has become a real place of pilgrimage.

Taekwondo attack

Athletes from Tokyo were not honored as heroes in all countries.

For example, the first in the history of Ireland to participate in the Olympic Games in taekwondo Jack Woolley was brutally attacked on the streets of Dublin a few days after returning home.

On his Instagram, the 22-year-old athlete said that on the evening of August 13, he was walking with a friend along the embankment, when suddenly a crowd of aggressive young people and girls came out to meet them.

They began to pounce on passers-by, and Wooley also fell under the hot hand.

He was hit hard in the face.

View this post on Instagram

Publication from Jack Woolley 🦂 (@jack_woolley_tkd)

Wooley was admitted to a local hospital and will now need lip plastic surgery.

The taekwondo fighter, who had only one lost fight in Tokyo, said that according to rumors, one of the victims of the attack died from knife wounds, so the athlete was still lucky that he survived.

Grandma's pride

Alberto Gines Lopez, the first ever Olympic rock climbing champion, described how his own grandmother reacted unusually to his success.

To celebrate the victory of her 18-year-old grandson, an elderly woman got herself a tattoo.

A relative of the athlete put on her hand a small drawing in the form of black Olympic rings.

According to Lopez, the grandmother decided on such an act in order to boast of his achievement in front of others.

Even the legend of Spanish basketball Pau Gasol reacted to this.

He praised the tattoo on Twitter and said it was no surprise that a grandmother was proud of such a grandson.

Late Olympics

Residents of the DPRK were the last in the world to watch the Olympic competitions from Tokyo.

According to NK News, which specializes in news from the closed country, the first broadcasts from sports arenas began after the Games were officially closed.

Only on August 10, Korean Central TV broadcast a 70-minute segment of the women's football match between the national teams of Great Britain and Chile, which took place on July 21.

It is noted that the broadcast went without comment, and the video quality was rather low. Also, part of the picture was hidden, which gives reason to believe that the recording was made illegally. In the past, DPRK television has already broadcast world-class competitions with a long delay. At the same time, North Koreans will not be able to see the performances of their athletes - the national team of their country was the only one that missed the Olympics due to concerns about the coronavirus.