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Tokyo aftermath
British Olympic silver medalist Chijindu Ujah suspended for allegedly breaching anti-doping rules
Britain’s Olympic 4x100-metre relay silver medalist Chijindu Ujah has been provisionally suspended for allegedly breaching anti-doping rules at the Tokyo Olympics, the Athletics Integrity Unit said today. The sprinter’s relay teammates were Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, whose medals will also be at risk if the positive is confirmed. Canada’s team – Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney – took home bronze. If the British team is disqualified, Canada could be elevated to silver.
Mayor Takashi Kawamura bites the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games gold medal of the softball athlete Miu Goto during a ceremony in Nagoya, Japan, Aug. 4, 2021.KYODO/Reuters
Japanese athlete to get replacement for nibbled gold medal
A member of Japan’s gold-medal-winning softball team will have her medal replaced with a fresh one after the mayor of her hometown chomped down on the original, Tokyo 2020 organizers said today, following an outcry on social media. At an event held last week to celebrate Miu Goto’s achievement at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Nagoya Major Takashi Kawamura pulled down his mask and put her gold medal between his teeth.
“With support from the International Olympic Committee and in line with her own intention, Ms. Goto’s medal is now set to be exchanged for a new one,” Tokyo 2020 organizers said, adding that the IOC will bear the cost of the exchange.
The mayor received a wave of criticism on social media for disregarding coronavirus etiquette and was accused of showing a lack of respect for her feat. There was even a rare rebuke from Toyota, which owns the Red Terriers softball team that Goto plays for. Reuters
Next up, the Paralymics
Canada at the Games
The Tokyo Paralympic Games are set to start Aug. 24 and run through Sept. 5. Here’s a look at the Canadian squad by the numbers:
- 128: Competing, including guides.
- 55: First-time competitors.
- 26: Athletes have won medals in previous games.
- 55.5 per cent: Female athletes – 71, compared with 57 men.
- 18: Sports they will compete in, including wheelchair basketball, para cycling and sitting volleyball.
- 29: Canada’s medal haul from the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio was 29: 8 gold, 10 silver and 11 bronze.
Canada's Patrick Anderson, left, dribbles the ball during the men's wheelchair basketball final game at the 2012 Paralympics in London on Sept. 8, 2012.Lefteris Pitarakis/The Associated Press
Spotlight on wheelchair basketball great Patrick Anderson
Patrick Anderson has captured four Paralympic and four world-championship medals over his stellar wheelchair basketball career. But he says if he and his Canadian teammates can climb the medal podium at the coming Paralympics – amid a global pandemic that pushed back the Tokyo Games by a year – that medal will mean a whole lot more.
“In one sense, there’s a bit of a buffer built in, because just to get there with the team, and for the Games to happen at all and to be back on the court playing and representing Canada is going to feel like a win on some level,” Anderson said.
“[We’re still] going there with that competitive fire to try to win. But it’s almost like playing with house money. I’m really proud of all the success that I’ve been part of with Team Canada, but quite frankly, winning a medal in 2021 will feel tougher than anything that we’ve had to face in the past. That medal would be extra heavy – in a good way.”
But what about spectators?
A key medical adviser to Japan’s prime minister said today that surging infections in the Tokyo area are severely affecting medical systems, and urged the government to take stricter measures to drastically reduce people’s activity. The Japanese capital has been reporting record numbers of new infections, with daily cases tripling during the Olympics, which ended Sunday.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has faced criticism for going forward with the Olympics despite widespread public opposition, but has denied the Games caused Tokyo’s upsurge. Experts say the Paralympics should be held without fans, like the Olympics.
Best of the Games
Andre De Grasse of Canada wins gold in the 200-metre final at the Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 4, 2021.Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail
Andre De Grasse’s golden moment
In the men’s 200-metre final in Tokyo, sprinter Andre De Grasse lived up to Canadian hopes – and his own expectations – to win gold. He notched a personal best – and a Canadian record time – of 19.62 seconds as he freight-trained his way through a stacked field of Americans. By then, he had already taken bronze in the 100-metre event, becoming first Canadian man to win a medal in the Tokyo Games. He closed out the Olympics with another bronze anchoring the 4x100-metre relay team. That haul, combined with one silver and two bronze medals in Rio, means De Grasse has won a medal in every Olympic event he has entered.
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