Olympics row deepens as 35 countries demand ban for Russia and Belarus
Vilnius, LithuaniaReuters A group of 35 countries, including the United States, Germany and Australia, will demand that Russian and Belarusian athletes are banned from the 2024 Olympics, the Lithuanian sports minister said on Friday, deepening the uncertainty over the Paris Games. The move cranks up the pressure on an International Olympic Committee that is desperate […]
War takes heavy toll on Ukrainian sport
Kyiv, UkraineReuters Young soccer players in the city of Kharkiv are grieving over the death of their coach, killed by a Russian shell last week in an incident that highlights the heavy toll the war is inflicting on all areas of Ukrainian society, including sport. “It hurt so much, it is as if I had lost […]
US lawmakers ask IOC for assurances uniforms not made through forced labour
Reuters The United States’ Congressional-Executive Commission on China released a letter to the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday voicing concern over forced labour in the production of uniforms ahead of the Beijing Games. The CECC is concerned that Anta Sports and Hengyuanxiang Group, with which the IOC has contracts to produce uniforms, use cotton from […]
Host city Tokyo bans Olympic spectators amid COVID-19 emergency
Tokyo, JapanReuters The Olympics will take place without spectators in host city Tokyo, organisers said on Thursday, as a resurgent coronavirus forced Japan to declare a state of emergency in the capital that will run throughout the Games. The move marked a sharp turnabout from as recently as last week, when some officials were still […]
Full-blown boycott pushed for Beijing Olympics
AP Groups alleging human-rights abuses against minorities in China are calling for a full-blown boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, a move likely to ratchet up pressure on the International Olympic Committee, athletes, sponsors and sports federations. A coalition representing Uighurs, Tibetans, residents of Hong Kong and others issued a statement Monday calling for the […]
Explainer: What’s driving a possible boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics?
AP Some kind of boycott is almost sure to affect next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics. It’s driven by the widely reported internment of Muslim Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in China, which has been termed a genocide by human rights groups. In this 3rd February, file photo, exiled Tibetans use the Olympic Rings as a […]
Tokyo Games chief expects decision by March on allowing spectators
Tokyo, JapanReuters Organisers of the postponed Tokyo Olympics should decide in February or March whether the coronavirus risks have fallen enough to let spectators attend the Games in July, the head of the organising committee said on Tuesday. The Japanese Government and the International Olympic Committee made the decision last March to postpone the 2020 […]
IOC chief Bach says Olympic Games cannot be “marketplace of demonstrations”
Reuters International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said the Olympic Games are not about politics and must guard against becoming a “marketplace of demonstrations”. Against the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement to protest racial injustice, calls have increased this year for a change to Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which bans any […]
More than 160 rights groups call on IOC chief to revoke 2022 Beijing Winter Games
Beijing, ChinaReuters More than 160 human rights advocacy groups have delivered a joint letter to the chief of the International Olympic Committee calling for it to reconsider its choice to award China the 2022 Winter Games in light of Beijing’s human rights record. It is the largest coordinated effort following several months of similar calls […]
STOP THE CLOCK: JAPAN AWAKES TO REALITY OF TOKYO GAMES POSTPONEMENT
JACK TARRANT and JU-MIN PARK, of Reuters, report from Japan as news that the Olympics Games have been postponed sinks in…