IOC votes to give itself more power to remove sports from Olympics – ESPN

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TOKYO -- The International Olympic Committee has given itself more power to remove sports from the Olympic program.

The decision voted in by IOC members comes during prolonged issues with the leadership of weightlifting and boxing.

The IOC can now remove a sport if its governing body does not comply with a decision made by the Olympic body's executive board or if it "acts in a manner likely to tarnish the reputation of the Olympic movement."

Weightlifting could lose its place at the 2024 Paris Olympics because of long-term doping problems and governance issues. The International Weightlifting Federation was led for two decades until last year by longtime IOC member Tamas Ajan.

Boxing at the Tokyo Games was taken out of the International Boxing Association's control in 2019 after doubts about the integrity of Olympic bouts and IOC concerns about its presidential elections.

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IOC votes to give itself more power to remove sports from Olympics - ESPN

Tokyo Olympics on Thursday: No Easy Wins – The New York Times

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Youth was on display as 13-year-old Rayssa Leal of Brazil won silver in womens street skateboarding. Momiji Nishiya of Japan won gold and shes also 13.

The U.S. softball team celebrated a walkoff home run by Kelsey Stewart to beat Japan. The teams will play again on Tuesday for a gold medal.

Ariarne Titmus of Australia, in Lane 3, outswam Katie Ledecky, in Lane 4, in the 400-meter freestyle. Ledecky led for much of the race but Titmus finished stronger.

Germany attacked Argentinas goal in the handball preliminary round, winning 33-25.

Naomi Osaka needed just 65 minutes to get past Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland, 6-3, 6-2. The womens singles field opened up widely for her as two other top players lost.

Fiji, the reigning Olympic champions, beat Canada in rugby qualifying.

The United States and China had a surprisingly close first half in womens water polo. The Americans prevailed and remain the dominant team in the sport.

The sun was setting as the Netherlands played Belgium in three-on-three basketball.

Nikita Nagornyy of Russia helped his country get past Japan and China in the mens gymnastics team final.

David Tshama Mwenekabwe of the Democratic Republic of Congo fought in the mens middleweight class round of 32.

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Tokyo Olympics on Thursday: No Easy Wins - The New York Times

Why India Struggles to Win Gold Medals in the Olympics – The New York Times

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This is the pressure, inside your head all the time, he added.

Bindra, the Beijing 2008 gold medalist, said that his success was rooted not in state support but in family wealth. His father built a world-class shooting range in their home in the northern city of Chandigarh. Then he topped it up with a swimming pool and a gym so that his son could build his muscle. At the time, the only comparable shooting range was in New Delhi.

Viren Rasquinha, a former captain of the Indian hockey team, is now the chief executive of Olympic Gold Quest, a nonprofit group founded by former top-flight athletes to promote the next generation of talent.

While Rasquinha said that the national sports authority has shed some of its lumbering, graft-ridden reputation, creating an ecosystem of coaches, training facilities, infrastructure and equipment takes time.

In recent years, the countrys most powerful crop of Olympians has come from a narrow neck of land in northeastern India, where ethnic minorities live in the shadow of the Himalayas. These states, Manipur and Assam, are home to insurgent movements fighting for autonomy from the Indian state. Because of their ethnicity, people there often face discrimination.

Rural youth have the passion and fire in the belly, which is missing among the students in the cities, said Rasquinha, whose group has funded some of these athletes.

Mary Kom, a light-flyweight boxer from Manipur who captured bronze at the 2012 Games in London, said she has long faced prejudice from Hindu nationalists who say that as a Christian, she is somehow not truly Indian. There are also racist whispers, some not so quiet, that people from the Himalayan foothills are more martial than others in India and thats why they make good boxers.

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Why India Struggles to Win Gold Medals in the Olympics - The New York Times

Second Best in the World at the Tokyo Olympics, but Still Saying Sorry – The New York Times

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TOKYO Kenichiro Fumita was crying so hard that he could barely get the words out.

I wanted to return my gratitude to the concerned people and volunteers who are running the Olympics during this difficult time, Mr. Fumita, a Greco-Roman wrestler, said between sobs after finishing his final bout at the Games this week.

I ended up with this shameful result, he said, bobbing his head abjectly. Im truly sorry.

Mr. Fumita, 25, had just won a silver medal.

In what has become a familiar and, at times, wrenching sight during the Tokyo Olympics, many Japanese athletes have wept through post-competition interviews, apologizing for any result short of gold. Even some who had won a medal, like Mr. Fumita, lamented that they had let down their team, their supporters, even their country.

After Japans judo team earned silver, losing to France, Shoichiro Mukai, 25, also apologized. I wanted to withstand a little bit more, he said. And Im so sorry to everyone on the team.

Apologizing for being second best in the world would seem to reflect an absurdly unforgiving metric of success. But for these athletes competing in their home country, the emotionally charged displays of repentance which often follow pointed questions from the Japanese news media can represent an intricate mix of regret, gratitude, obligation and humility.

If you dont apologize for only getting silver, you might be criticized, said Takuya Yamazaki, a sports lawyer who represents players unions in Japan.

From an early age, Japanese athletes are not really supposed to think like they are playing sports for themselves, Mr. Yamazaki said. Especially in childhood, there are expectations from adults, teachers, parents or other senior people. So its kind of a deeply rooted mind-set.

The expectations placed on the athletes have been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, which made the Olympics deeply unpopular with the Japanese public before the events began. Many may feel more pressure than usual to deliver medals to justify holding the Games, as anxiety swells over rising coronavirus cases in Japan. Athletes who have failed to do so have offered outpourings of regret.

I feel fed up with myself, said Kai Harada, a sport climber, vigorously wiping his eyes during an interview after failing to make the finals. Takeru Kitazono, a gymnast who finished sixth on the horizontal bar, fought back tears as he spoke of his supporters. I wanted to return my gratitude with my performance, he said. But I couldnt.

Naomi Osaka, in a statement after she was eliminated in the third round of womens singles tennis, said she was proud to represent Japan but added, Im sorry that I couldnt respond to peoples expectations.

In some respects, these athletes have offered an extreme form of the apologies that are everyday social lubricants in Japanese culture.

When entering someones home, a visitor literally says sorry. Workers going on vacation apologize for burdening colleagues, while conductors express deep regret if a train is a minute late or even a few seconds early. Generally, these apologies are a matter of convention rather than a declaration of responsibility.

At times, the mea culpas ring hollow. Corporate chieftains and politicians frequently bow deeply to the news cameras to apologize for this corporate scandal or that political misdeed. For the most part, few consequences follow.

Aug. 8, 2021, 12:43 p.m. ET

The former president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, Yoshiro Mori, initially tried to use such an apology to avoid resigning after making sexist remarks. But a vociferous social media campaign helped depose him.

People who study Japanese culture say the athletes apologies, even in the face of victory, stem from an instinct that is cultivated from childhood.

Americans are very good at finding reasons why you are great even if you fail, said Shinobu Kitayama, a social psychologist at the University of Michigan. But in Japan, he said, even if you succeed, you have to apologize.

The apologies are also likely to be recognized as tacit expressions of gratitude, said Joy Hendry, an anthropologist and the author of Understanding Japanese Society. I expect they feel that they need to apologize for not having achieved the very best they could for those who trained or financially supported them, Ms. Hendry said.

Mr. Fumita, the wrestler, may have also felt pressure to please his father, a well-known wrestling coach. In an interview on NHK, the public broadcaster, Mr. Fumita said he was afraid to answer a call after his silver medal win. I could not pick up the phone, he said. I just didnt know what I could say to my father.

The athletes also know that aside from the medal count, the Japanese public cannot enjoy the perks of being an Olympic host, because spectators are barred from the venues.

The absence of fans was palpable on Tuesday night at a near-empty stadium in Saitama, a Tokyo suburb, during the semifinal mens soccer match between Japan and Spain. Close to 64,000 seats were vacant as loudspeakers blasted recorded cheers and applause onto the field.

After Japan lost in the final minutes of extra time, Yuki Soma, 24, a midfielder, paid tribute to those who could not be there. By winning a medal at any cost, I would like to give energy to Japan and make them smile, he said at a postgame news conference, his eyes downcast. The bronze is still in Japans reach as it faces Mexico on Friday.

Of course, its not just Japanese Olympians who express bitter disappointment after missing out on gold. Liao Qiuyun of China wept openly after winning silver in womens weight lifting last week. After the U.S. womens soccer team fell to Canada on Monday night in a semifinal, one member of the team, Carli Lloyd, crouched on the field, clasping her head in her hands.

But in a post-match interview, she made no apology. I was just gutted, Ms. Lloyd said, adding, we give up so much, and you want to win.

When Simone Biles withdrew from both the gymnastics team competition and the individual all-around competition, she explained that she wanted to protect her own mental and physical health.

The urge to apologize may stem in part from the harsh coaching style found in some sports in Japan, said Katrin Jumiko Leitner, an associate professor in sports management and wellness at Rikkyo University in Saitama. When she first came to Japan to train in judo, she said, she was shocked by coaches' aggressive language. I thought, if thats the way to become an Olympic champion, I dont want to be an Olympic champion, she said. They did not treat athletes like human beings.

Some Japanese athletes have been subjected to public criticism for failing to show sufficient humility. Yuko Arimori, a marathon runner who won silver in Barcelona in 1992 and bronze in Atlanta in 1996, was accused of narcissism by some in the Japanese news media after declaring in Atlanta that she was proud of herself.

Ms. Arimori understands why athletes continue to offer apologies, given that they can convey a sense of gratitude.

But I think supporters know the athletes have worked hard enough, Ms. Arimori added. So there is no need to apologize.

Makiko Inoue and Hikari Hida contributed reporting.

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Second Best in the World at the Tokyo Olympics, but Still Saying Sorry - The New York Times

Olympics 2021 – Five-time Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi are ‘greatest teammates in history of sports’ – ESPN

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Mechelle VoepelESPN.com

As the first basketball players to win five Olympic gold medals -- leading the U.S. women to a seventh consecutive gold in the process on a historic final day at the Tokyo Games -- Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi also solidified the title given to them by the coach who brought the duo together two decades ago.

"They are two of the greatest teammates in the history of sports," UConn's Geno Auriemma said. "Even if you only used UConn, or only the Olympics, or only Europe. Throw in all three, and no one even comes close.

"If this is indeed their last Olympics together, winning a gold medal just got a lot harder [for U.S. women's basketball]."

"If" might seem an unnecessary qualifier considering Bird turns 41 in October and Taurasi is 39. While Bird has said this will be her last Olympics, the backcourt duo has been at the top of the sport for so long, it's hard to imagine Team USA without them.

"We always say we're lucky we get to do this together," Taurasi said. "There's this confidence and this trust factor you have."

Perhaps they will have one last go-round next year at the FIBA Women's World Cup. It's the kind of thing Bird and Taurasi would consider, because they've taken their national team commitment as a solemn oath, as dear to them as anything in their epic careers. They played together two seasons at UConn and several years overseas in Russia. But their most iconic pairing has been wearing the red, white and blue of the senior national team through five Olympics and four World Cups.

Including Saturday's 90-75 win over Japan, Bird has 10 medals between the Olympics and World Cup, more than any men's or women's basketball player. All are gold except the 2006 World Cup bronze. Taurasi is one medal behind her. Bird's first came in the 2002 World Cup when she was a Seattle Storm rookie, and Taurasi was a UConn junior.

"They've done so much for USA Basketball that the rest of us players are just continuing to try and return the favor and make sure that they realize how much we appreciate them," said U.S. forward Breanna Stewart, who is also Bird's teammate with the Storm.

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Medal Tracker | Results | Schedule

A huge amount of talent -- including four-time Olympic gold medalists Lisa Leslie, Teresa Edwards (she also won an Olympic bronze) and current team member Sylvia Fowles -- paved the way and helped the United States win nine of the 11 Olympic women's tournaments they've entered, and their run of winning seven in a row matches the longest gold-medal streak any country has had in any Olympic team sport. But no players have contributed more to the U.S. gold haul than Bird and Taurasi: 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020.

"They're a big part of the glue to the whole system," Leslie said. "Once, they were the babies coming in. They were open to listening, respectful to the older players. That's the culture.

"I believe they've carried the torch beautifully."

There are many famous pro sports duos: Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. Misty May-Treanor and Kerry Walsh Jennings. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

But Bird and Taurasi, who will one day both be in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, are different. What are the odds of two players from opposite coasts, born 20 months apart, ending up at the same college, then going on to be both good enough and healthy enough to stay at the top of their sport through five Olympic cycles? Both also complement each other so well: Taurasi is the WNBA's all-time scoring leader who is also an expert passer, while Bird is the league's career assist leader also known for her dagger-like shooting.

It has been a fantastic confluence of athletic talent, ambition, personality and commitment. One of the closest comparisons in basketball is Bill Russell and KC Jones, who led the University of San Francisco to two NCAA titles, won gold at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics with the United States and then won eight NBA titles together with the Boston Celtics.

There's also Edwards and Katrina McClain, Georgia teammates who reached the 1985 NCAA championship game and then played in three Olympics together.

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Bird and Taurasi came together at UConn in the fall of 2000: Bird a junior from Long Island who had won a national championship with the Huskies earlier that year and Taurasi the highly anticipated recruit from California. They lost in the 2001 Final Four, but nothing could stop them the next season. They defeated Tennessee so thoroughly in the 2002 national semifinals that Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt went to the UConn locker room to tell them they were one of the best teams she had ever seen.

Bird was the No. 1 pick in the 2002 WNBA draft and the understudy at point guard to current U.S. coach Dawn Staley in the FIBA World Cup later that year. Taurasi won two more NCAA titles and was a No. 1 draft pick herself, by Phoenix, and then joined Bird and Staley on the 2004 Olympic team. Their only loss in a major competition with USA Basketball came to Russia in the 2006 World Cup semifinals.

Each has been the longtime face of her WNBA franchise. Bird, in her 18th WNBA season in Seattle, has won four WNBA titles, while Taurasi, in her 17th season in Phoenix, has three. Bird missed two seasons dealing with knee injuries; Taurasi sat out one to rest after years of non-stop play between the WNBA and overseas.

The overseas part of their careers was far from the limelight in frigid Russian winters. They lamented missed milestones with family and friends back home, but it paid so well they committed to doing it. They played on three different Russian teams together and won five EuroLeague championships.

Bird said the few quarrels they've had didn't come when they were playing at UConn or with USA Basketball.

"It was when we were in Russia," she said. "At some point, you get sick of people, or an argument comes up that goes a little too far. Maybe a little too much wine. You take your space and then you wake up the next day and play. But we've had to apologize to each other before."

Taurasi said she could count on one hand the times they truly have been mad at each other.

"And it's probably over the dumbest s--- ever," she said. "We're able to have different opinions but always come to an understanding of working through things. We take that attitude and put it into all the teams we've been on."

Auriemma coached Bird and Taurasi in two Olympics and two World Cups, and said he is particularly proud of their longevity and the mental toughness it takes to keep pushing yourself year after year.

Staley loves their maturity and dependability: "They've played everywhere. They've been through everything. There is nothing they haven't seen.

"They want to play perfectly. They still want to be coached, and that's an incredible thing at this level, when their intellect is off the charts."

Bird said wearing the Team USA jersey still matters just as much to her, no matter how big her medal collection. At 15, she went with AAU teammates to see the national team playing an exhibition in 1995 while preparing for the Atlanta Olympics. Watching U.S. point guard Jennifer Azzi, in particular, inspired Bird, who called it her first "see it, be it" moment.

"I was like, 'Here's this player who is kind of the same size as me, same build, and she's able to do this,'" Bird said. "And remember, there was no WNBA yet. So for us, in that generation, you were really looking to the Olympics as the ultimate goal."

Bird couldn't have known that 26 years later, she would be celebrating a fifth Olympic gold medal with one of her best friends. Both Bird and Taurasi have been "see it, be it" inspirations for countless kids.

Taurasi jokes that she deals with the weight of history, of her place in the game and all that she and Bird have shared by "Not doing a lot of thinking. I'm very narrow-focused on the things I've got to get done."

What they've gotten done has been remarkable.

So much has changed in the world and in women's basketball over the last two decades. But the bond between Bird and Taurasi has been unchanging, bringing a sense of confidence and purpose to the national team that all who have played with them have appreciated.

"There's certain people in life you just get along with really well, and you have so many shared experiences that you can relate a little more," Taurasi said of her friendship with Bird. "That's what the last 20 years have been like."

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Olympics 2021 - Five-time Olympic gold medalists Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi are 'greatest teammates in history of sports' - ESPN

For the Next Summer Olympics, Paris 2024 Presses On With Plan A, but Studies Tokyo’s Plan B – The New York Times

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TOKYO Tony Estanguet wants to talk about how the next Olympic Games, in Paris in 2024, will be a paradigm-shifting moment for an event that has come under fire for becoming too bloated, too costly, too onerous for the citizens of the places where the quadrennial sporting jamboree lands.

Estanguet wants to talk about sustainability plans, how 95 percent of the venues are already built and how measures are in place to ensure the budget of 7.5 billion euros ($8.8 billion) for the Games will not balloon when the event nears, as Olympic budgets have a tendency to do.

But all of that has to wait. The first task for Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 Olympic organizing committee, is to figure out how to plan an event for which preparations are likely to be affected by a pandemic now well into its second year. Estanguet brought dozens of staff members to Japan to shadow organizers of the Tokyo Games perhaps the most complicated, strangest Olympics in history and to learn how to take a layered plan years in the making and rewrite it on the fly.

Nobody knows what will happen with this pandemic, said Estanguet, a three-time Olympic champion in canoe slalom, so we have to be ready for any kind of scenario.

At the Tokyo Games, he and his colleagues have visited stadiums and arenas where some of the worlds finest athletes have performed without spectators. He has met with some officials to discuss the finer points of biosecurity, and then sat down with others to learn about the successes and failures of bubble environments.

The learnings of here is that its feasible to organize the Games even with this kind of situation, Estanguet said. So we are here to learn.

Estanguet said the Paris officials would remain in Tokyo for further talks after the Games end on Sunday, and then do the same sort of shadowing program with organizers of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where restrictions on movement and health protocols are likely to be even more stringent than they have been in Tokyo.

Yet Estanguet remains hopeful that the coronavirus pandemic will be something for the history books by the time the Summer Games arrive in France.

We will look at all the measures they put in place here, but we are still working on our Plan A, he said. I want my team first to be at the best level with Plan A.

That plan is firmly underway. A sponsorship target of one billion euros has just passed the halfway mark, and the keen interest of both Frances president, Emmanuel Macron, and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has already helped clear administrative hurdles.

Macron, known to be a sports fan, was a visible presence for the first part of the Tokyo Games, hopping from venue to venue. Hidalgo will be Pariss representative at the closing ceremony.

We rely on our ability to have all of them really engaged, Estanguet said.

Estanguet pointed out that the government had adopted a strategy built around the Olympics that for the first time requires every primary school in France to set aside 30 minutes a day for physical activity. That, Estanguet said, was an example of the benefits of the Games, already in place three years before the opening ceremony.

Such legacies have been promised by hosts before, of course, only to fizzle out not long after the Olympic flame goes dark. Instead, the Games have often been followed by recriminations over costs and stories of expensive venues fallen into disuse. Estanguet refused to predict whether Paris would meet its own set of lofty promises, but said the conditions were in place to do so.

I can tell you that we have control of our budget every year from the public authorities, and so far we are still running with the same budget, he said. So I will not guarantee you, but everything is put in place for this new model.

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For the Next Summer Olympics, Paris 2024 Presses On With Plan A, but Studies Tokyo's Plan B - The New York Times

At Tokyo Olympics, Door Slams and Idle Chatter Fill in the Soundtrack – The New York Times

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TOKYO This is the moment Olympic athletes have dreamed about, the one they have trained for relentlessly and rehearsed in their minds repeatedly since they were children. Finally, they are stepping onto the mats and courts and playing fields that together represent the biggest stage in international sports. And when they do, theyre hearing crickets.

Or rather, the drone of Japanese cicadas. And doors opening and closing, and trucks rumbling by on nearby streets, and even the idle murmuring of stadium workers.

Many Olympians bide their time for these moments, the quadrennial chance to compete in rousingly packed stadiums, to show a huge crowd their best, to bathe in its cheers and its applause. Instead, the ban on spectators at the Tokyo Games this summer has left some venues sounding as quiet as libraries. In others, the few people in attendance fellow athletes, team staff members, volunteers, dignitaries have taken on the uphill task of providing some semblance of ambience.

But the resulting soundscapes have been unlike anything in the modern history of the Games. These may be the Olympics, the pinnacle of sports, but they dont quite sound like it.

You go to a major tournament, thats one of the best parts, the buzz that you get, said Megan Rapinoe, a forward for the United States womens soccer team, adding that the quiet stadiums here had sapped some of her energy. It definitely changes the dynamic a lot.

Grunts of exertion echo inside empty halls. Public address announcements, clearly recorded in anticipation of packed stands, blare out pointlessly across a sea of empty seats. But at least that is a familiar stadium sound.

At the Ariake Tennis Park, the most unusual aural phenomenon has been the steady hum of cicadas a fixture of Japanese summers, but typically not of major sports championships.

They were actually kind of annoying, Paula Badosa, 23, a tennis player from Spain, said about the noisy insects. I want to talk to my coach about them. (It was unclear what Badosa thought her coach might be able to do about the persistent buzzing.)

For athletes who once envisioned themselves performing for hordes of buzzing fans, the hushed vibe has been a bummer.

Caroline Dubois, 20, a boxer from London, arrived in Tokyo with the sounds of the 2012 Games in her hometown still ringing in her ears. She recalled being dumbstruck by the ambience at a boxing match there featuring Katie Taylor of Ireland and Natasha Jonas of Britain.

They walked out and the crowd went absolutely mental, Dubois said on Tuesday, after a bout in a mostly empty arena where the sounds of punches were repeatedly supplemented by that of a hallway door slamming shut. The noise was unreal. I was just blown away by it.

The atmosphere aint really here, she added.

Still, some have been trying, in small ways, to create it. Matthew Deane, a television host from Bangkok who is producing content for the sports authority of Thailand, stood in an otherwise empty stand in the boxing arena on Tuesday waving the countrys flag. He wanted to make his presence felt, he said, but the fact that there were no other fans made him feel awkward about actually yelling or making too much noise.

Its so quiet, so youre actually a bit hesitant to go all out, because you dont want to throw them off, he said of the athletes. But you want to let them know theres at least a few people supporting them.

Aug. 8, 2021, 11:50 a.m. ET

Others privileged enough to be watching events expressed similar feelings of responsibility. At the basketball game this week between Nigeria and Australia, Olukemi Dare, the wife of the Nigerian sports minister, sat a dozen rows up from the floor, wearing a green track jacket and green shirt, waving a Nigerian flag with each hand.

After she spent the game as the only one cheering in the mostly empty 40,000-seat arena, she was asked if she thought the players noticed her.

I dont know, she said, laughing. but Im trying to cheer them up.

The sounds of these Olympics could not contrast more with those of the previous Summer Games, in Rio de Janeiro, where uniformly cacophonous crowds led officials and athletes in some sports to beg for a moments peace.

Athletes in Tokyo speak longingly of that hubbub.

In Rio, we had a full hall and it was really loud, said Liu Jia, an Austrian table tennis player, adding that she could hear someone coughing while she was playing this week. (Oh, that was me, a nearby team official said, with a smile.)

How does a lack of fans, and in some cases the absence of noise, affect athletes? It depends, experts say.

Fabian Otte, a sports scientist and goalkeeper coach for the German soccer club Borussia Mnchengladbach, mused that silence could benefit athletes in some ways, allowing them, for example, to better hear their coaches and teammates. On the other hand, he said, emotion plays a major role in performance, and athletes often say loud fans can inspire them to push past their normal limits.

Regardless, any major changes in auditory environments, Otte said, can have a huge impact on the big picture, and it can change performance in quite a drastic way.

The most vibrant arena a relative concept in these Games might be the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, thanks to the large volume of swimmers seemingly always on hand. Since they are allowed to attend while not competing, athletes and team staff members there have been organizing themselves into makeshift cheering sections, spouting off chants and using inflatable noise makers, even as huge swaths of the stands remained empty.

Some events have featured vestigial entertainment programming from prepandemic times, creating another sort of discordant soundtrack. At the convention hall where the taekwondo events were held, for example, an announcer animatedly invited crowd members to pantomime playing drums on the giant video screen. The only people in the crowd, though, were journalists and staff members of various national Olympic committees. (A few gamely obliged.)

In others arenas, organizers have been implementing simulated crowd noise to add a layer of auditory texture to the games. But these attempts have been notable mostly for their lack of sophistication.

On the opening day of mens basketball games at Saitama Super Arena, for example, there was ambient noise of some sort coming out of the speakers. But it did not sound much like a basketball crowd, more like the din of a restaurant at lunch time service. Some in the stands wondered, then, whether a hot microphone was broadcasting noise from somewhere else in the building.

Rapinoe sounded more distracted than energized by the fake, oddly soft crowd noise used for the soccer games.

I think there was noise on like level-1 volume, Rapinoe said after a game at Tokyo stadium, laughing. I was like, is that a fan, an actual fan, there?

Like Rapinoe, the biggest names at the Games have played in silence that belied their global standing. When Naomi Osaka one of the most famous athletes in the world and one of Japans biggest sports stars won her opening round match on Sunday in a 10,000-seat arena, five people clapped. All were seated in her player box. One was her coach.

It is hard not to imagine what a moment like that a national hero, notching a big victory only days after lighting the Olympic torch could have sounded like in a parallel, noisy universe.

Matthew Futterman, James Wagner and Tariq Panja contributed reporting.

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At Tokyo Olympics, Door Slams and Idle Chatter Fill in the Soundtrack - The New York Times

Guide to New Sports at the Tokyo Olympics – NBC Connecticut

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The Tokyo Olympics look like no other Summer Games before and that's partially because this year's competition will feature several brand-new sports: 3x3 basketball, skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing and karate.

Baseball and softball will also make a one-time return, as baseball is wildly popular in Japan and the International Olympic Committee now allows host countries to propose additions to the program.

Heres everything you need to know about all the new sports in Tokyo:

Sport climbing is essentially indoor rock climbing on an inverted wall with holds placed that athletes use to make their way to the top. There are three different disciplines that will all be combined into one event at the Tokyo Olympics, taking place Aug. 3-6. Since the three disciplines are usually contested separately, the Olympics will pose a unique challenge to the 20 men and 20 women who have qualified.

In lead climbing, the wall is also 15 meters high, but the holds are placed in different locations so it's more challenging to reach the top. At the Olympics, climbers will have one chance to get as far up the wall as they can within the six-minute time limit.

Bouldering takes place on a wall only four meters (13 feet) tall, so athletes don't use a safety rope. They score points for the difficulty of the routes that they follow to the top.

Watch all the action from the Tokyo Olympics live on NBC

In speed climbing, two climbers go head-to-head to scramble up a 15-meter (49-foot) wall. Blink and you'll miss it -- men usually complete the challenge in five seconds, and women in seven seconds. All speed walls have holds in the same place so that records are comparable across different competitions.

Sport climbing will be making its Olympic debut in Tokyo this year. Rutledge Wood previews the new Olympic sport alongside Olympian Brooke Raboutou.

Skateboarding will showcase two different disciplines in the Olympics, street and park, with 80 athletes representing 26 different countries in all. Three athletes from the United States will compete in each of the four events (mens street on July 24, womens street on July 25, mens park on Aug. 4, womens park on Aug. 3). All events will be whittled down to eight-person finals after the preliminary heats.

Street skateboarding takes place on a course that mimics obstacles in the real world, like stairs and rails. Nyjah Huston of the United States, who had won three straight world championships before finishing second in this years competition, is one of the favorites for mens street. Each skater will take two 45-second runs and perform five tricks, each of which will receive a score out of 10.00 from the judges. Out of those seven performances, the skaters top four scores will count.

In park skateboarding, skaters complete their tricks within a dome-shaped bowl. In the Olympics, each skater takes three runs, but only the best score counts. Five judges will grade the skaters on a 100-point scale, with the highest and lowest scores getting thrown out.

Street Skateboarder Nyjah Huston shows off his tattoos and explains his skate style.

Surfing at the Tokyo Olympics will take place on Tsurigasaki Beach, 45 miles southeast of Tokyo on the Pacific Coast. The event is scheduled for July 24-28 but will depend on the weather conditions.

The 40 surfers will compete in different heats and catch as many waves as they can during the allotted time. Judges will give them scores out of 10.00 on each wave, with each surfers top two scores counting.

Surfer Kalohe Andino catches a big lego wave as he explains his sport using the iconic plastic bricks.

Like baseball and softball, karate was added to the Olympic program for the Tokyo Games because of its popularity in Japan. It will not be on the slate of events in 2024.

Karate normally has five weight classes for kumite (sparring head-to-head), but the IOC condensed it to three weight classes for the Olympics. As a result, there will be eight medal events: three mens kumite, three womens kumite and kuma (solo demonstration of moves, or forms) for both men and women. Forty athletes will compete from Aug. 4-7, with no more than one representative from each country in each event.

The smaller, faster cousin of traditional five-on-five basketball, 3x3 basketball will also make its Olympic debut in Tokyo. Played on a half-court, games end after one team scores 21 points or go to overtime if neither team has 21 points after 10 minutes. Each team has only four players in total, and baskets are worth one point, two points if they come from beyond the arc.

Eight mens and eight womens teams will compete in the tournaments, taking place July 23-28. The U.S. women secured their spot at the Olympic qualifying tournament and will look to challenge the favored French team. Serbia and Latvia are favored in the mens tournament, which doesnt include the United States after it failed to qualify.

At the Tokyo Olympics, there will be six teams competing for a gold medal. Each team will play two opening round games followed by a knockout stage. Then there will be semifinals to determine who plays in the medal games on Aug. 6-7. The six teams competing are Japan, South Korea, Israel, Mexico, the United States and the Dominican Republic.

The Olympic softball tournament in Tokyo will also feature only six teams each. The United States, Japan, Australia, Italy, Mexico and Canada will play a round-robin tournament culminating in the bronze medal game and gold medal game Tuesday, July 27.

Breakdancing, or breaking, will not take place in Tokyo, but the IOC approved it for inclusion at the 2024 Paris Games.

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Guide to New Sports at the Tokyo Olympics - NBC Connecticut

Olympics Synchronised swimming-Evil dolls and rap music, the new face of synchro – Reuters

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Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Artistic Swimming - Women's Duet Free Routine - Final - Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Tokyo, Japan - August 4, 2021. Anna Maria Alexandri of Austria and Eirini Alexandri of Austria during their performance. REUTERS/Antonio Bronic

TOKYO, Aug 8 (Reuters) - The alluring voice of an evil doll invites people to "come out and play". Witches, spiders and snakes cavort in edgy routines. Teams spin and twist to hip-hop and rap in the water.

It is the new face of synchronised swimming, aimed at changing the image of a sport long derided as flailing limbs, splashing water and fluffy water ballet done to florid classical music, and it dominated the Tokyo Games competition.

"Until 2019, we just swam classical music," said Eirini Alexandri, who with her identical twin sister performed the chilling evil doll duet routine for Austria, their suits bearing a threatening face.

"So we said OK, we have to change style."

The sport's official name was also changed to "artistic swimming" in 2017 by international swimming organisation FINA as part of a rebranding attempt.

The sport is a blend of muscle and grace. Swimmers have to hold their breath for extended periods underwater, swim in tight, intricate patterns in synchronisation with music, make eye contact with judges - and have it all look easy.

There are costs, with swimmers known to faint.

U.S. athlete Anita Alvarez briefly lost consciousness at the end of her routine at a qualifier in Barcelona this summer and had to be pulled from the water. She and her duet partner appeared at Tokyo but did not make it to the finals.

Swimmers collide in practice, leading to bruises, bloody noses and worse. The sport also sees high rates of concussion.

Though the results were predictable - Russian athletes continued a golden sweep unbroken since Sydney 2000, with China close behind - other changes were notable.

Music ranged from a scattering of classical to hip-hop, rap and a tune from a virtual singer, while routines went from light-hearted to edgy.

On Saturday, Spain's routine was "evolution," complete with dinosaur-like spines on the back of the team's suits, while other teams expressed international unity or the relationship between mankind and nature.

"We changed our tech team music to something really upbeat," Australian swimmer Emily Rogers said after scoring a team technical best with a routine to "Tokyo Drift," by the Japanese hip-hop group "Teriyaki Boyz."

"So maybe that was another reason why it's been our best score yet - because it's so much fun."

Reporting by Elaine Lies and Mayu Sakoda; Editing by Peter Rutherford

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Olympics Synchronised swimming-Evil dolls and rap music, the new face of synchro - Reuters

Extraordinary moments from the Tokyo Olympics that outshined the competition – CBS News

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With no fans in the stands due to the pandemic, the Olympics look a little different this year but the lack of spectators does not mean a lack of enthusiasm. Here are some of the inspiring moments that outshined the competition.

Lydia Jacoby was the first American woman to win a gold medal in the swimming events in Tokyo. The high school student dominated the women's 100-meter breaststroke, completing it in 1 minute, 4.95 seconds and when she did, her hometown went wild.

Footage from a watch party in Seward, Alaska shows friends and family jumping for joy after Jacoby, the first Alaskan to make the U.S. swim team, earned gold.

Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus beat Team USA's Katie Ledecky in the 400-meter freestyle by two-thirds of a second Monday.

Titmus' coach Dean Boxall went wild after she won. Cameras caught Boxall hard to miss in a neon yellow shirt punching the air, shouting and pacing back and forth in sheer excitement. His celebration quickly went viral on social media.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, several athletes began posting "tours" of the Olympic Village on social media some, including Team USA skateboarder Nyjah Huston and Team USA track and field runner Paul Chelimo, showed off the odd cardboard beds.

The cardboard beds are made sustainably, out of "highly durable cardboard materials," according to the Tokyo Organizing Committee's pre-game report. "These will be turned into recycled paper after the Games."

Still, many athletes seized the opportunity to use the beds in fun social media posts, with the Team USA rugby women posting a tongue-in-cheek TikTok video about the seemingly stiff beds that has gone viral.

British diver Tom Daley made his Olympics debut at the 2008 Beijing games when he was just 14 years old. Fast forward to 2021, Daley is now a father and husband, and after years of trying, he finally brought home the gold.

Daley's husband Dustin Lance Black, and mom, Debbie, were watching together at home and their ecstatic reaction to the win melted hearts on social media.

Ukrainian gymnast Oksana Chusovitina has competed in eight Olympic games and recently announced that at 46 years old, Tokyo would be her last.

Chusovitina competed in the vault event on Sunday and after competing, the stadium gave her a standing ovation, honoring the history-making gymnast for decades of work in the sport.

Caeleb Dressel won a gold medal for Team USA in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay on Monday, and immediately tossed the medal to Brooks Curry, his teammate seated in the bleachers.

Curry helped Dressel earn the medal, as he was the swimmer who competed in the preliminary round. Dressel swam for the final and shared his win with the teammate who helped get him there.

Suni Lee became the fifth straight American woman to win gold in the women'sOlympicgymnastics all-around at the Olympics on Thursday.

When Lee, thefirstHmong-American Olympian, cinched the gold, 18-year-old's friends and family watching at home in Minnesota erupted in cheers including her dad, John Lee, who was paralyzed in an accident in 2019. "All the hard work all the broken bones, all the time you missed vacationing with us, it paid off," he said after his daughter's win.

South African swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker looked astonished after she won gold in the 200m breaststroke, breaking a world record. Not only did her teammate Kaylene Corbett embrace her, so did Team USA's Lilly King and Annie Lazor.

Despite being on opposing teams, all four women had a group hug the pool, celebrating Schoenmaker's win.

As Team Colombia's Melissa Gonzalez ran in the qualifying race for the 400-meter hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics, she had a fan watching in the U.S.

Her husband, David Blough, a quarterback for the Detroit Lions, looked on with bated breath at a watch party with some of his teammates. The Lions set up a camera to catch the supportive husband's reaction.

About a week after Tom Daley won a gold medal for diving at the Tokyo Olympics and knit his medal a little homemade cozy he was seen watching other events in the stands, knitting.

Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi proved to be the top high jumpers at the Tokyo Olympics. The two tied in the event, and instead of having a jump-off to decide who scored higher, they agreed to share the gold medal.

Their epic celebration together after both winning gold went viral, showing the world what sportsmanship is all about.

Japanese-American surfer Kanoa Igarashi, who competed for Japan, lost to Brazilian Italo Ferreira in the sport's first Olympic appearance. He lost his shot at gold, but not his sportsmanship.

Igarashi, who knows Portuguese, translated a press conference question for Ferreira, who is learning English, the Associated Press reports. "Yes, thank you, Kanoa," Ferreira said in English after the silver medalist helped him.

Team USA's Isaiah Jewett and Botswana's Nijel Amos were competing in the 800-meter semifinals when they got tangled up and fell. The runners didn't get angry at the ruined race. Instead, they got up, wrapped their arms around each other and walked to the finish line together.

Team USA's Ryan Crouser won his second gold medal in the shot put competition at the Olympics on Wednesday. After breaking his own previous record, Crouser became emotional as he held up a piece of paper with a message on it.

"Grandpa, we did it," the sign read. "2020 Olympic champion." Crouser cried as he held the sign up for cameras to capture while family members watched from home.

Team USA's Allyson Felix and Quanera Hayes are fierce competitors in the 400-meter hurdles. In fact, Hayes who has called Felix her "idol" defeated her earlier this year at the Olympic trials. But there didn't seem to be bad blood between the competitors.

The two ended the trials by introducing their children, Demetrius and Camryn, both 2, on the track. The adorable moment of the toddlers hugging was shared during Olympics coverage as their moms competed together again.

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Extraordinary moments from the Tokyo Olympics that outshined the competition - CBS News

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Where to Survive the End of the World? Head to New Zealand – The Daily Beast

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New Zealand is already envied for its secluded nature and, more recently, its early management of COVID-19. It may also be the best place to survive the end of the world as we know it, according to a new study. Researchers found the Kiwi home to be the best place to survive a global collapse of society, citing its reasonable climate, ability to control its borders, and grow food. We werent surprised New Zealand was on our list, Prof. Aled Jones at the Global Sustainability Institute, which conducted the study, told The Guardian. The study, published in the journal Sustainability, found human civilization to be on the brink of collapse, citing its hyper-focus on interconnectivity and its impact on the environment. This left it unprepared to handle potential shocks, including an unprecedented financial crisis or a pandemic much deadlier than COVID-19. With hindsight, its quite obvious that large islands with complex societies on them already [make up the list], Jones said.

Other countries to make up the list include the United Kingdom, Iceland, Tasmania, and Ireland.

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New Zealand is not the world’s post-Covid future – Stuff.co.nz

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OPINION: About a year ago, North American friends started looking to New Zealand as an early glimpse of their own potential post-Covid world.

They were still stuck in lockdowns; we had emerged from ours. They wanted to know what their future might look like. Would working from home prove sticky? Or would everyone go back to their offices?

The answers mattered for thinking about whether firms might relocate to places where rents were lower, with obvious consequences for real estate prices.

The geographic time-vortex has since changed direction.

READ MORE:* Mixed fortunes for Kiwis seeking to get back from Australia * Covid 19: Vulnerable Kiwis still waiting as next vaccine stage begins * Tourism businesses can no longer afford to ignore Kiwis

New Zealand is not the worlds post-Covid future. Covid now seems globally endemic, with no prospect of the rest of the world eliminating it as much as we desperately hope they would.

North America instead provides visions of what a post-vaccination world may look like. If our luck holds, New Zealand will join the post-vaccination world without ever having to endure any real Covid outbreak like Australias. If our luck does not hold, New Zealand will get there the harder way.

Canadas vaccination rates are now among the best in the world. As of last week, 52 per cent of Canadas population was fully vaccinated and a further 18 per cent had had their first shot.

Cameron Burnell/Stuff

Dr Eric Crampton is chief economist with The New Zealand Initiative.

Those who are not vaccinated still impose risk. Vaccines sharply reduce the likelihood of serious illness with Covid, but some risk remains. Canadians support measures helping them to stay safe, and to avoid passing the virus on to others who are vulnerable, by staying clear of those who are unvaccinated.

Majorities of Canadians surveyed in late May, when only 54 per cent of Canadians had had at least a first vaccination dose, and again in July, supported proof-of-vaccination requirements to board commercial airline flights; to travel internationally; to attend public events or large gatherings; to visit public places like restaurants, movie theatres and churches; and, to attend ones own place of work.

Quebec will be requiring proof of vaccination for entry into high-risk places like gyms, concerts, and festivals in any fourth wave. And, last week, the University of British Columbias alumni association urged the university to require vaccination for students in the residence halls a measure supported by 82 per cent of students.

Across the US border, vaccination rates have plateaued at about 56 per cent and the costs of low vaccination rates are more obvious.

Americas National Football League last week set a new policy. If a vaccinated player returns a positive test, without symptoms, he can return to play after two negative tests a day apart; unvaccinated players must quarantine for 10 days.

If a game is cancelled due to a Covid outbreak among unvaccinated players, the team with unvaccinated players does not just forfeit the game. It also bears responsibility for any resulting financial losses.

The leagues policy does not mandate vaccination. It simply ensures that the costs of not being vaccinated fall where they should.

Some American universities are requiring that their students be vaccinated. Indiana Universitys mandate survived a court challenge last week.

Looking ahead to New Zealands post-vaccination future, we might expect similar preferences here if New Zealand has taken the hard road and endured the kind of real outbreak that makes the risk of the unvaccinated more tangible.

Some businesses and employers might cater to the more risk-averse who, like me, would strongly prefer shopping, eating, commuting and working in places where there are no unvaccinated people around. Other venues could cater to the less risk-averse, like restaurants that were once allowed to cater to smokers.

Lukas/Unsplash

Might our vaccine passport be ready in time for our post-vaccination future?

Canadas vaccine passport enabling reliable checking of vaccination status might only be ready by December. Might ours be ready in time for our post-vaccination future?

On the other side, some measures that make sense in a pre-vaccination world prove sticky afterwards.

Last week, economist Josh Gans excellent newsletter on Covid and economics highlighted University of Toronto rules restricting people against sharing offices, and mandating mask wearing indoors, even for vaccinated faculty alone in their offices.

Borders can also prove sticky.

Canada aimed to reopen the border when Canadian vaccination rates hit 75 per cent. The re-opening of the Canadian land border to vaccinated and tested travellers from the United States is scheduled for August 9, but Americas land border is remaining closed to Canadians despite Canadas much higher vaccination rates.

If New Zealand luckily avoids outbreaks before we reach the post-vaccination world, our border may prove stickier than it needs to be.

The Government has signalled that border policy will change in the post-vaccination world. But, quietly around the edges, we hear signals that nobody should really be able to expect to travel for another year.

New Zealand needs to be able to join the rest of the post-vaccination world in 2022. If the Government believes that world still to be too risky, then improving border quarantine now, so it will be able to accommodate a lot more vaccinated travellers for much shorter stays, will be important.

Dr Eric Crampton is chief economist with The New Zealand Initiative. The NZ Initiative is a research group funded by a range of corporates, universities and other organisations. You can view the full list of its supporters here.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this column said that Quebec already required proof of vaccination. (Updated 26/7, 9.49am)

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New Zealand is not the world's post-Covid future - Stuff.co.nz

Winston Reid’s New Zealand edged out by Honduras in Olympics – West Ham United F.C.

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Winston Reid's New Zealand suffered a late 3-2 defeat to Honduras in their second group stage game at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Sunday.

The Oly Whites captain and West Ham United defender was forced out of the action early in the first half due to injury, and had to watch on as his teamlooked on course to take a major step towards the quarter-finals when they twice led thanks to goals from Liberato Cacace and Burnley's Chris Wood, only to be thwarted by Honduras.

Goals in the final twelve minutes byJuan Carlos Obregn Jr and Rigoberto Rivas were enough to overcome the deficit and hand their side a dramatic 3-2 victory.

The defeat leaves New Zealand with three points from their opening two Group B games, but they know progression is still in their own hands.

Should they defeat Romania in their final match, in Sapporo on Wednesday, they will make the tournament's last eight for the first time at an Olympics.

Meanwhile, Reid was sent for a scan on the knee problemand will now face await to see if he will be able to return to help his team's bid for Olympics glory.

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Winston Reid's New Zealand edged out by Honduras in Olympics - West Ham United F.C.

Tokyo Olympics 2020: Live updates – New Zealand athletes and events in action, how to watch in NZ, live streaming – New Zealand Herald

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Sport

29 Jul, 2021 11:00 AM4 minutes to read

Two more medals for New Zealand as NZ Herald Focus Sport's Cheree Kinnear wraps day six, and rowing legend Eric Murray reviews all the action on the water. Video / NZ Herald / Sky Sport

All of today's action from the Tokyo Olympics.

After two close calls yesterday, New Zealand have their best chance yet to claim their first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Here's all you need to know about today's action (Thursday, 29 July).

Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast set a world record time in their semifinal to progress to the final of the women's pair, and, as you'd expect after a performance like that, the world champion crew have been inserted a $1.45 favourite to win gold early this afternoon.

Their closest rivals are deemed to be the Canadian crew, followed by Great Britain and Greece, who broke the world record previously held by Gowler and Prendergast in the first semifinal, only for the Kiwi pair to amusingly/cruelly immediately take it right back from them in the following semifinal.

While Gowler and Prendergast are gold medal favourites, another Kiwi rower in the medal mix is Emma Twigg, who competes in her semifinal this afternoon, looking to progress to a third consecutive Olympic final.

The biggest of New Zealand's gold medal favourites are also in action today, but the Black Ferns Sevens are only beginning their campaign, while fellow Rio silver medallist Luuka Jones has a chance at a medal in the C1 canoe slalom event, but after qualifying 11th for the semifinals it would be a surprise for her to medal in her less-favoured event.

Also participating in his less-favoured event is Lewis Clareburt, who has a chance to qualify for the 200m Individual Medley final after another storming personal best in his heat last night saw him qualify third-fastest for the semifinals. However, a tough turnaround will see him again have to battle with the "morning blues", and it would be a harsh ask to expect a better time than what he produced last night.

Finally, golfer Ryan Fox tees off in his first round this morning, and in a sport with plenty of variance, and a field not containing as many stars as some of the big events he usually plays in, he can't be ruled out as a medal prospect.

Check the "who's competing" interactive above to see the full list of Kiwis in action, and when they begin their events.

28 Jul, 2021 10:00 PMQuick Read

29 Jul, 2021 03:30 AMQuick Read

29 Jul, 2021 05:16 AMQuick Read

29 Jul, 2021 04:34 PMQuick Read

Archery (Individual Round of 32 and 16 matches)Artistic Gymnastics (Women's all-round final)Badminton (Knockouts)Baseball (Pool Play)Basketball (Pool Play)Beach Volleyball (Pool Play)Boxing (Round of 16)Canoe Slalom (Women's canoe final)Cycling BMX racing (Quarter-finals)Fencing (Women's Foil Team Matches)Golf (Men's Round 1)Handball (Women's Pool Play)Hockey (Pool Play)Judo (Women's 78kg and Men's 100kg medal matches)Rowing (Four finals)Rugby Sevens (Women's Pool Play)Sailing (Classification Races)Shooting (Trap finals)Swimming (Five finals)Table Tennis (Women's singles medal matches, men's semifinals)Tennis (Quarter-finals and semifinals)Volleyball (Women's Pool play)Water Polo (Men's Pool play)

The Herald will have live updates running from 10am, while you can catch all the action on Sky Sport. Every event on Sky can also be watched via streaming on Sky Sport Now or Sky Go.

Archery (Women's individual medal matches)Athletics (Heaps)Badminton (Knockouts)Baseball (Pool Play)Basketball (Women's Pool Play)Beach Volleyball (Pool Play)Boxing (Round of 16, quarter-finals)Canoe Slalom (Men's kayak final)Cycling BMX racing (Finals)Diving (Women's 3m Springboard Preliminary)Equestrian (Eventing Dressage)Fencing (Men's Epee Team finals)Football (Women's quarter-finals)Golf (Men's Round 2)Handball (Men's Pool Play)Hockey (Pool Play)Judo (Women's 78kg+ and Men's 100kg+ medal matches)Rowing (Four finals)Rugby Sevens (Women's Pool Play and quarter-finals)Sailing (Classification Races)Shooting (25m Women's Pistol Final)Swimming (Four finals)Table Tennis (Men's singles medal matches)Tennis (TBC)Trampoline Gymnastics (Women's final)Volleyball (Men's Pool play)Water Polo (Women's Pool play)

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Covid-19: The cost of keeping New Zealand safe – Stuff.co.nz

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Bevan Hurley/Stuff

While the border remains shut, the tourism sector struggles to remain solvent and fill core roles to provide a premium service to New Zealand and, when the time is right, the world. (File photo)

OPINION: While we deal with the challenges of Covid-19, there is no doubting the political wisdom of a closed border to help manage the threat of the virus getting into and running rampant in New Zealand.

The management of Covid propelled the Government to become the first post-MMP majority Government, and it must feel comforted that a recent UMR poll found around 66 per cent of New Zealanders remain supportive of this policy and will probably continue to feel that way until a much greater proportion of the population is vaccinated.

We have low unemployment, most people are in some way connected to work, and the economy has rebounded remarkably strongly after a couple of stuttering quarters.

Right now New Zealand, along with the rest of the world, is trying to figure out how to get the lights back on safely after lockdowns, and how to get production under way to meet continued strong demand for our goods and services.

READ MORE:* Record number of job opportunities as employers struggle to find qualified staff* What's next for interest rates?* New Zealanders rate economy as among world's strongest* There is still plenty of Covid pain to come

So far this is good news.

But the pain of living with a closed border persists. While the border remains shut, the tourism sector struggles to remain solvent and fill core roles to provide a premium service to New Zealand and, when the time is right, the world.

SUPPLIED

BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope.

While tourists arent flying here, taxpayers are having to subsidise the exports flown out of the country. And until the planes are full of passengers again, that will remain the case.

The exports that travel on those planes have been reduced since Covid hit exports overall are down some 25 per cent but that isnt related to demand for the products, its because we simply dont have people to pick the fruit, or tourists to populate the planes that carry the fruit, or workers that used to holiday here, or students that used to study and work here.

Despite the best efforts of the industries concerned doing all they can to find, train and pay locals, there are still critical skills shortages in almost all parts of the economy. Employers in primary industries in regional New Zealand are now thinking about what the next season might look like. Similarly, the designers, architects, engineers and constructors of new infrastructure are thinking twice about whether to compete for contracts when they dont know if there will be the skills available to complete projects.

The theme overwhelmingly coming through key business surveys is that businesses are having to constrain their output because of lack of staff to do the work.

The implications of continued labour shortages on future inflation could be substantial, with increased costs passed on to households as higher prices for everyday goods and services. There will be increased pressure on the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates, and with high levels of household debt, those higher interest rates will eat away at households disposable income.

Probably the biggest pain right now is at the personal level. We have a workforce that is working at full capacity, businesses report high level of stress among owners, staff, suppliers and customers, and the mental health of the workforce operating at this pace is at risk.

Helpfully, there are signs they are listening and have already taken some steps. Many temporary visa holders have had their visas extended for two years. These people work in critical and essential industries such as our aged care sector, and in our productive sectors, and it is good that they now have some certainty over their future and the value New Zealand places on their skills.

The Government also pushed back the timing of the overly bureaucratic employer-assisted visa programme as they work with industries to more thoroughly assess the balance between the skills that are available and what will be needed to ensure our people dont burn out.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Minister of Immigration Kris Faafoi. The government recently announced they had extended many visas for temporary visa holders. (File photo)

Here are seven suggestions that could shift the dial in the short term while borders are shut, and in the medium term when hopefully the borders are open:

Allow family reunifications and pathways to residency, acknowledging that for those already here, this will not significantly increase housing and infrastructure pressures.

Look at immigration in terms of workforce priorities and integrate these with education and welfare needs. Improve the capacity of the health and education workforce to cope.

Improve the capacity of the essential services workforce allow more critical workers to come here.

Keep as many businesses and workers operating as possible reduce the number of unhelpful regulations and provide government services more efficiently.

Help growth industries lead the recovery primary industries, construction, infrastructure and technology companies.

Open up investor category visas for border exemptions to allow more foreign investment into the country, to build the infrastructure thats so badly needed.

Make a plan for business travel to be able to safely resume, as a priority export and other businesses need this urgently.

Our prospects for continued health, prosperity, and the sustainability of our workforce depend a great deal on the good work the Government has done in keeping us Covid-free, but these prospects also require the Government to listen to business to help reduce the ongoing pain of our closed border and ensure New Zealand can remain internationally competitive.

Kirk Hope is Chief Executive at BusinessNZ.

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New Zealand likely to have ‘record high imports’ of coal in 2021 – officials – RNZ

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New Zealand is likely to import more coal this year than it has in any other year, in the midst of a government-declared climate emergency.

Photo: 123RF

Last year the country's main coal users imported more than they had in 14 years, and this year government officials expect even more to come in. Most of this coal is burned to power our homes and businesses.

The government expects an additional 150,000 tonnes of coal will arrive here, a 14 percent increase on last year's total which was already over 1 million tonnes.

Forest and Bird chief executive Kevin Hague said this was unacceptable.

"What we're seeing is the result of years of failure to put in place alternative arrangements. And in consequence, we're faced with this disaster," said Hague, a former Green Party MP.

Coal accounted for more than 10 percent of the country's electricity in the first three months of this year.

Five years ago it was 2 percent; the proportion has steadily increased since. Coal is the most carbon intensive fossil fuel in the world, around twice as much as natural gas.

Two main problems have caused the immediate issue.

Lower than normal rainfall in recent years has hampered hydropower generation, which is by far the country's largest source of renewable electricity. In 2019 hydro contributed 58 percent of the country's total electricity supply, and the first quarter of this year was down to 52.5 percent.

The hydro storage lakes are relatively shallow, and need regular inflows of water to produce electricity at capacity.

The second problem is unexpectedly low natural gas supply, which has dropped from 13 percent of the total supply in 2019 to 11 percent in the first quarter of this year.

About a third of coal imported is burnt at Huntly Power Station for electricity Photo: GENESIS ENERGY

RNZ has reported a greater use of coal over the last few years.

Officials from Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment advised Minister of Energy and Resources Megan Woods in June that this was projected to get worse.

"It is likely 2021 will have record high imports of coal," MBIE officials wrote.

"Coal imported during 2020 was approximately one million tonnes, with approximately 800,000 tonnes used to generate electricity in 2020.

"Coal imports for the first quarter of 2021 were 299,300 tonnes, with 427,000 tonnes consumed for electricity generation."

So more than half of the coal used in 2020 for electricity - already the most in 14 years - was used in the first three months of 2021.

Climate change professor Dave Frame says the rise in coal use means New Zealand will have to do more to cut back future emissions Photo: RNZ / Chris Bramwell

Climate Change Research Institute director professor Dave Frame said the unexpected increase in the use of coal meant the country would have to cut back future emissions even more than projected if New Zealand was to meet its climate targets.

"It just builds up in the system, creating more and more warming every year. So the longer we delay on this problem, the worse it gets. And when you finally get around to stopping emitting carbon dioxide from these fossil sources, we'll have caused a certain amount of warming, and that warming will persist for thousands of years."

The Climate Change Commission recommends this: "the Government must take action to ensure that coal is phased out as soon as possible."

ACT Party MP Simon Court said the gas shortage was the result of the government banning offshore gas exploration in 2018. The government rejects this.

Court said the companies that own the gas fields were not bringing their drill rigs here to refresh the currently producing fields - an expensive task - because they could not look for new gas sources on the same trip.

"There's been a great reluctance to bring any of that gear, because the people that own the gas fields, and who might want to develop new ones, don't see a future for gas - that's because the government's told them there's no future for gas," Court said.

The share of renewably-sourced electricity is high in New Zealand, at about 80 percent. It has been around that level since the mid-1970s. No big dams have been built since the Clyde in 1993.

Wind and geothermal generation have increased from 7 percent to 23 percent of the country's total electricity generation in the last two decades, but the overall share of renewably-sourced electricity has not increased in decades.

Professor Frame said climate change policy had been overly politicised to the detriment of a clear long term plan.

"We have had a pretty good electricity sector from a carbon emissions perspective for a very long time. And it probably has contributed to us taking our eye off the ball a little bit.

"What I was hoping for with the Climate [Change] Commission and recent attention given to climate change policy would be that we'd treat it more like... inflation, and do it away from the political arena, and not make it quite so political. If you could get broad, multi-partisan agreement on how to phase out coal, then you would head off these sorts of problems occurring as they will every few years probably," Frame said.

About a third of the coal we import is used at the Glenbrook Steel Mill south of Auckland, and at Golden Bay Cement in Whangrei.

The rest is burned at the Huntly Power Station for electricity. There is also domestically produced coal which is used in a variety of small and larger scale operations, but most of it is not a suitable grade or quality for Huntly to use, so it imports.

There has been a reduction in domestic coal production over the last 20 years, but production has been stable over the last five years, during a time imports have skyrocketed.

Forest and Bird chief executive Kevin Hague says the need to stop mining and burning coal "is not a subject for negotiation" Photo: RNZ / Rachel Thomas

Forest and Bird's Kevin Hague said regardless of the justification, there just cannot continue to be this level of carbon put into the atmosphere with accessible, clean alternatives available.

"The need to stop mining and burning coal is not a subject for negotiation - you can't negotiate with physics and chemistry. Climate change is happening now because we've left it so late to do anything at all. We have shut off all the gradual change options," Hague said.

The industry says this coal is needed to keep the lights on, and is a last resort. Genesis Energy, which runs the Huntly Power Station, declined to comment for this story but has previously had said it will stop using coal "under normal hydrological conditions" by 2025, with the "intention" to phase coal out completely by 2030.

The company said it was in late stage negotiations for a number of new renewable projects, and a large wind farm, Waipipi in South Taranaki, started operating earlier this year, generating enough clean electricity for 65,000 homes a year.

Hague said companies must also build more renewables, but that takes time.

In the interim, Hague said consumers need to cut back electricity use, to reduce the amount of coal burned, and the government somehow incentivise demand-side reductions in electricity use.

Hague also wanted the government to more strictly regulate the energy companies.

"It is not okay for government to say 'we don't like interfering with markets' and therefore stand back. The moral imperative here... is for the government to act to protect New Zealanders from the effects of climate change, and that trumps everything else."

Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods would not be interviewed for this story, but a spokesperson from her office sent through a statement.

She said the use of this much coal was not acceptable, and was exactly why the government was investigating alternatives, including a large, pumped hydro scheme at Lake Onslow in the South Island.

If the government chose to go with the scheme, it would be finished by 2030 at the earliest. A feasibility study is due back next year and, if chosen, construction would only start in 2024, and take four to five years. It would take another two years to fill the upper reservoir with water before it could operate.

Dr Woods said it was "unfortunate" that fossil fuels played such a role in our electricity security.

However she said the energy sector had committed more than $1 billion to renewable projects just this year, including geothermal and wind sources.

One of each has already opened this year, and the country's biggest solar farm in Taranaki - Kapuni - is also now operating.

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New Zealand likely to have 'record high imports' of coal in 2021 - officials - RNZ

Tokyo Olympics: New Zealand go two from two on opening day of men’s sevens – Stuff.co.nz

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Shuji Kajiyama/AP

New Zealand's William Warbrick goes in for the try against Argentina in pool play at the Tokyo Olympics.

Korea crushed. Argentina dispatched. It's so far so good for the All Blacks Sevens in their quest for Olympic gold in Tokyo.

Clairk Laidlaw's men opened the Olympic tournament at Tokyo Stadium on Monday with a degree of style, running away from the outmatched Republic of Korea 50-5 in the early session, and then returning to clinically dismantle a dangerous Argentina side 35-14 in the second stanza.

The Argentina effort, after a somewhat shaky start, was a definite step up from the New Zealanders as they put away a side fresh off a 29-19 upset of the Australians to dash to the top of Pool A, with just the Aussies to come to complete the group phase on Tuesday.

Argentina looked well in the race early on after scoring the opening try via Marcos Moneta (on a tackle miss from Regan Ware), and would still have been feeling good about themselves when they went into the halftime break down 14-7 after Ngarohi McGarvey-Black and Sione Molia worked their magic for the Kiwis.

Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Tone Ng Shiu looks for the gap against Argentina as New Zealand won both matches to open pool play at the Olympic sevens.

Luciano Gonzalez exposed Molia's defence to put the South Americans back on terms early in the second spell, but from there it was all New Zealand. Joe Webber opened the defence up on halfway after a long period of possession, veteran Tim Mikkelson made it 28-14 when he broke through a weak tackle and William Warbrick sealed the deal when he dashed on to Andrew Knewstubb's perfectly weighted grubber.

Laidlaw will no doubt have something to say about a couple of tackle misses, but would otherwise be happy about an opening day that has set the table nicely for a side desperate to atone for their Olympic failure on debut in 2016.

The Kiwis are desperate to add Olympic gold to their world series, World Cup and Commonwealth Games triumphs. They were beaten by eventual gold medallists Fiji in the quarterfinals in Rio after losing twice in pool play.

Earlier they had little trouble dealing with the inexperienced Koreans who paid the price for being on the wrong end of two yellow cards in the second half.

The New Zealanders ran in eight tries in total, including a penalty try, after leading just 14-5 at halftime as the feisty part-timers marked their first half of Olympic sevens action with a couple of bright moments and a surprise five-pointer.

Kenji Demura/Photosport

Tim Mikkelson breaches the Korea defence in New Zealand's impressive Olympic sevens opener in Tokyo.

But normal service was restored after the break as the Koreans were knocked off their stride when Chang Yong Heung and Park Wanyong were both carded for illegal plays at the ball on defence. That allowed the Kiwis to cut loose with six tries over the run home as they made the most of their numerical advantage.

Knewstubb and Mikkelson crossed for the New Zealanders in the first spell, while Mikkelson, Warbrick (twice), Etene Nanai-Seturo and Ngarohi McGarvey-Black completed the scoring action, along with a penalty try.

Argentina had earlier held off a furious finish to stun the Australians 29-19 and take a major stride towards a spot in the quarterfinals.

The Argentines had raced away to a 24-0 halftime lead on the back of tries to Lucio Cinti, Matias Osadczuk, Moneta and Ignacio Mendy in the opening stanza.

Shuji Kajiyama/AP

Members of Team Fiji hold the ball before the start of their men's rugby sevens match against Japan at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 26, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

But the Aussies gave themselves a sniff when they ran in two tries to super-sub Josh Turner and a blockbusting solo effort to Samu Kerevi to close to 24-19 with time still on the clock.

However they could only bat the restart loose, allowing Argentina's Lautaro Bazan Velez to scoop up the ball and race away for the match-clincher after the final hooter.

Australia kept themselves in the quarterfinal hunt with a 42-5 runaway victory over Korea to wrap up the opening day.

Defending gold medallists Fiji had a mixed day in Pool B, pushed to the limit before grinding out a 24-19 comeback victory over hosts Japan (after trailing 19-12 early in the second spell), and then rolling past Canada 30-14 to go 2-0 for opening day.

Much more impressive were group rivals Great Britain who shut out Canada 24-0, and then returned to crush hosts Japan 34-0 to set up their Tuesday pool decider against the Fijians splendidly.

Rio bronze medallists South Africa kicked off pool C with a 33-14 victory over Ireland, while the US won a thriller, 19-14 over Kenya, in the group's other match of the opening session. The Kenyans looked to have snatched victory at the death when Willy Ambaka raced on to a kick-through with just over a minute remaining but a brilliant defensive play by Mata Leuta dislodged the ball and a Madison Hughes try at the death snatched the win for the Americans.

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Air New Zealand ‘willing and able’ to increase flights from Australia – RNZ

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The clock is ticking and New Zealanders have until 11.59pm on 30 July to get on a quarantine-free flight back home from Australia. However, travellers from New South Wales must go through managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ).

Air New Zealand aircraft. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon

The trans-Tasman travel bubble is paused for at least eight weeks as the Delta variant continues to spread.

Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran told Morning Report the airline would do everything to help New Zealanders wanting to return this week from Australia.

"Trust us," he said.

"We have seen plenty of people reach out over the weekend. We've got about 7500 people booked to return to New Zealand through to midnight this Friday."

The prime minister this morning said it was not known how many of the 21,000 New Zealanders in Australia would want to come home but there would be space for them on return flights.

There were still about 2000 seats available, and about 4500 people were booked to go back to Australia, Foran said.

"We've put on now four extra flights and had put on some planes that have got some more seats on as well so at this stage things are looking very much in control and ... we're going to do everything we can to ensure that friends and whnau get back home."

He said the airline could increase the number of flights if need be.

"At this stage, the people who want to get back have already taken some action. I'm not saying it won't continue to be a little bit busy this week.

"But we're ready, willing and able to get people home at later notice if we need to."

Foran said the team was now working towards a drop in the number of flights over the next eight weeks when the travel bubble is suspended.

"Demand is going to fall away pretty quickly across the Tasman both ways. So we'll make the adjustments there and ... we're putting on some extra activity domestically.

"Domestic is continuing to perform well, we're now actually running above pre-Covid levels, we're running at about 104 percent."

He said about 250,000 seats had gone on sale today for under $100 around the country.

And Rarotonga flights were also running about four times than usual.

He could not say how the travel pause would affect finances but was sure "the length of this will have a bearing on it".

"This is not a situation that has caught us completely by surprise."

He said the Delta variant of Covid-19 had "changed the game in terms of how not just here in New Zealand, but any airline is regarding travel".

"We're committed to vaccinations. I can tell you that in Air New Zealand over 80 percent of our frontline workers are now vaccinated."

Travel Agents Association president Brent Thomas told First Up travel booking portals had been busy.

"There's been a rush ... people trying to get home through this situation.

"But it does highlight that the government needs to continue with this process of getting vaccinations, hopefully 60-65 percent by September, 80 percent by November, and then they can tell us what the plan [is] so people can travel safely when they are fully vaccinated."

He said it was a "mad scramble" with people trying to book flights, and travel agents were being sought after as travel became more complex.

"Time is of the essence and there's only so many seats and so many flights. Air New Zealand and Qantas have been looking at that ... can they put on more because there's certainly demand there."

It was not an easy operation for an airline, he said.

Thomas said it was possible not everyone wanting to return would make it back on flights this week.

He urged the government to open emergency MIQ spots.

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The best New Zealand airport to fly into, according to Air New Zealand’s chief pilot – Stuff.co.nz

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Queenstown is the most spectacular place in New Zealand to fly into, a Boeing 787 takes off at between 260km and 300km an hour, and you need to return to your assigned seat before landing so the planes centre of gravity isnt out of whack.

So said Air New Zealand chief pilot, Captain David Morgan, in a question and answer session with members of the public on the airlines Facebook page this week.

SUPPLIED

Morgan said flying into Queenstown Airport on a nice day is spectacular.

Asked which route is his favourite, Morgan said that was a tough one as hes flown the airlines entire network since he started with it in 1985.

Still, he conceded: The most spectacular flight Id say is flying into Queenstown on a beautiful day.

READ MORE:* Miss or Ms? Airline's serious stuff-up on passengers' weight * What causes in-flight turbulence and should passengers be worried?* Upgrades, doors and toilets: The nine biggest myths about air travel

Several people asked which New Zealand airport was the most difficult to fly into, but Morgan refused to be drawn, saying all airports can be challenging in bad weather.

However, he acknowledged that some have a unique set of challenges, such as windy Wellington and Queenstown when there are crosswinds.

Air New Zealand flight attendant Nicole Astle chipped in, saying her roughest-ever landing was in Dunedin followed by Queenstown and Wellington respectively.

Ross Giblin/Stuff

Morgan said windy Wellington presents a unique set of challenges for pilots.

To the question of why passengers are distributed to balance smaller planes, Morgan said aircraft are loaded so the pivot point (the central point at which the plane balances or turns) falls within its centre of gravity range.

That pivot point moves during the course of the flight. Because we calculate this before we depart, we ask passengers to return to their original seat prior to landing so that the centre of gravity is where it should be.

Morgan also explained that the window blinds need to be up for landing so cabin crew can see out the window if there is an emergency.

If youre travelling on an Airbus A320, look out for a small back triangle on the sidewall. It marks the spot crew stand to look outside if necessary.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Morgan said Queenstowns crosswinds can make it tricky to fly into.

Air New Zealand flight attendant Paige Valentine added that open window blinds also enable crew to see if there is fire or smoke outside in the event of an emergency evacuation.

Fire = dont open that emergency exit!

Morgan handled a lot of questions about turbulence, with many asking whether it posed a real danger.

His standard answer was No. The atmosphere is energetic, so its always moving. Its the moving of air layers that cause turbulence. Our aircraft are designed to fly through it and our pilots use our flight simulator to practice flying through turbulence.

A self-described terrible flyer asked whether it was true that pilots decide to cancel flights in bad weather because of the discomfort it would cause passengers rather than the planes capabilities.

Morgan gave his standard turbulence response, but Kiwi pilot Matt Wilcock said it was not.

(W)e cancel for unsuitable weather conditions normally at the destination airport or if any alternate airports are also unsuitable. Passenger comfort isnt a consideration as everyones comfort levels are different.

One person wanted to know how pilots remember which button does what in the cockpit when there are so many, asking whether they ever forget and press a button at random to see what happens.

Morgan said pilots use only about 10 per cent of the buttons on a Boeing 787 in-flight.

Most switches concern aircraft systems, which are used at the start and end of flights, he said.

During the flight, most switches are associated with the flight management computer and the autopilot of the aircraft I fly.

Spirit Airlines pilot Chris Reopelle said its a myth that planes can practically fly themselves on autopilot.

We utilise the autopilot to manage workload when things get busy. Its more a tool to help us manage an incredibly complex and diverse environment.

Morgan said the best seat on a plane is the captains, but passengers after a smoother ride should select a seat somewhere near the centre of gravity, which is typically over the wing.

Asked whether it was strange not being able to see out the windscreen when flying through cloud, Morgan admitted it was at first.

Ricky Wilson/Stuff

Air New Zealand has apologised for the way the situation was handled.

It was quite unusual actually because when you learn to fly, you learn by flying with reference to the ground.

However, he said pilots are trained to be able to fly using their instruments alone. When a plane flies through cloud, their eyes are solely on their instruments.

To the question of why a plane can feel like it is losing power after take off, Morgan said levelling off at low altitude can give the illusion that the aircraft is descending.

I tend to raise this in my pre-departure PA to ease any concerns.

As for whether planes can speed up if a flight is delayed to make up the time, Morgan said they can to a degree.

Matty McLean/Twitter

Cookies will continue to be offered on domestic flights.

However, its the same as a car if you speed up, you burn more fuel more quickly. We very rarely do this.

A couple of people enquired about pilots stamina on long-haul flights, asking whether they flew the whole journey or put the plane on autopilot for some of it.

Morgan explained that there are four pilots on long-haul flights who work in pairs.

We rotate regularly and take breaks, he said.

Many questions went unanswered. Among them: Do you ever get bored on a long-haul flight?, Do you avoid the fish?, and How is it that plane manufacturers can make a plane fly yet they cant make the announcements from the cockpit clear and legible a matter of metres back?

With the post generating more than 520 comments, you cant really blame him though. And, to be fair, he did take the time to answer arguably the most burning question of all: Whether the cookie or the chips are the best in-flight snack.

Morgan declared himself a cookie man, but said hes looking forward to the alternatives being trialled.

Original post:

The best New Zealand airport to fly into, according to Air New Zealand's chief pilot - Stuff.co.nz