On the one hand, the competitions, the medals, the eternal glory that only the Olympics can give to a sportsman. On the other, the Tokyo 2020 of social issues that every day steal part of the attention at the Games. An Olympiad of international rights and causes that has gathered the world in the same village and makes people discuss, on social networks and in the Japanese metropolis.
Terrorism, the air pistol champion accused of belonging to a militia
Today Tokyo stopped on the words of South Korean Jin Jong-oh, Olympic gold in London 2012 and silver in Beijing 2008 in the 10-meter air pistol, who expressed his objection to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) defining the award of the gold in Foroughi a “pure nonsense”. The Iranian Javad Foroughi, champion in the specialty, was accused of belonging to a militia of the Guards Corps of the Islamic Revolution (IRGC), classified as a terrorist organization by the United States in 2019: “How can a terrorist occupy the first place?”. The report also came from the Iranian sports organization for human rights, “United for Navid”, which had declared in a statement, “we consider the award of the Olympic gold medal to the Iranian shooter Javad Foroughi not only a catastrophe for the Iranian sport, but also for the international community, and above all for the reputation of the IOC ».
Woman rights
In Turkey, however, a case broke out after the words of the Muslim theologian Ihsan Senocak who attacked on Twitter the Turkish volleyball players, protagonists of an excellent Olympics in Tokyo, because they are not very chaste in their volleyball suits: “Daughters of Islam – tweeted the religious – you are the sultans of faith, chastity, morality and modesty not of the sports fields ». Senocak’s reference is to the name of the Turkish women’s volleyball team, athletes known as “the sultans of the network”. “You are the daughters of mothers who have refrained from showing their noses out of modesty – he continued – Do not be victims of popular culture. You are our hope and our prayer ». Senocak is followed by nearly one million people. The tweet, shared on the evening of July 25, immediately went viral, amidst criticism and favorable opinions.
A recurring theme in all disciplines in Tokyo 2020, starting with the initiative of the head of Olympic broadcasting who summoned the televisions and for the first time we discuss objectives that do not linger on details and intimacy. In artistic gymnastics, on the other hand, the German athletes have given up on the usual tight-fitting and high-cut leotards to show off tight and comfortable one-piece suits. A topic that is discussed even far from Tokyo, with Olivia Breen, English Paralympic champion, reprimanded by the match official for “Briefs too short” and Norwegian handball athletes in shorts who said “no” to the sexist bikini fined 1500 euros in Bedford and Varna.
Lgbt, the rainbow messages of the champions and the first transgender athlete at the Games
First, the IOC authorized the captain of the German hockey team to wear the rainbow sash symbol of the LGBT movement at the Olympics, as did the captain of the national football team Manuel Neuer at the European Championships. Then the words of the diving champion Tom Daley: «I am very proud to be a gay man and an Olympic champion». The Olympic gold medalist had already revealed his homosexuality eight years ago, but this time from Tokyo his words of Monday, July 26, also bounced back in countries where LGBT communities are often forced to live in the shadows: the British sent to the world his rainbow message sitting at the same table at the press conference with the other two couples on the podium, the Chinese and the Russian Olympic Committee.
“I hope every LGBT person can understand that no matter how lonely they may feel, they are not alone. You can reach any milestone, and the family you choose will be ready to support you, ”said the 27-year-old, who was applauded at home by her husband, director Dustin Lance Black, Oscar-winning director for Milk’s screenplay, and their son Robbie. Now Daley is one of more than 140 LGBTQ athletes competing in Tokyo, but when he made his debut at the Games at the age of 14, the situation was very different: «As a young man I felt alone, it always seemed to me not to be good for society. I was afraid of not being able to get anything for what I was ». Also in Tokyo 2020 the first transgender athlete at the Olympics: Laurel Hubbard, New Zealand weightlifter, selected for the New Zealand women’s weightlifting team. The 43-year-old athlete will compete in the women’s 87 kilogram category.
Discrimination in judo, the withdrawal of the Tunisian athlete “because he was drawn by an Israeli”
The draw did not go as he liked and an Algerian judoka decided to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics. Reason: Fethi Nourine did not want to compete against Israeli Tohar Butbul. “We weren’t lucky with the draw, we have an Israeli opponent and that’s why we had to retire: we made the right decision,” Nourine’s coach Amar Ben Yaklif told Algerian media. The same precedent dates back to 2019 when at the World Cup, the Tunisian judoka retired before facing Butbul. This is not the first time in a case of discrimination in judo at the Olympics. Most recently at the 2016 Games, Egyptian judoka Islam El Shahaby had refused to shake hands with his rival, the Israeli Or Sasson who had beaten him in the first round of the category up to 100 kg.
Black Lives Matter, on your knees during the free body
Back back, fist raised, all in sight. Luciana Alvarado from Costa Rica to Tokyo has decided to bring the symbol of the fight against racism directly into trial, within the routine of her bodyweight exercise. The photos of her kneeling in her blue bodysuit began to circulate after training, but the obviously choreographed move could also have no interpretations, but in the race it was blatant: “We all deserve respect and dignity, staying at the Games without saying it hasn’t sense”.
The Myanmar goalkeeper’s request for political asylum and the escape of the Ugandan weightlifter
Slogans, but also Olympic trips that offer an opportunity to escape from an unsustainable situation at home. Like that of the goalkeeper of the Myanmar national football team who refused to return home from Japan where he is trying to obtain refugee status. The player will join a local Yokohama team on probation after obtaining a six-month visa. During the Japan-Myanmar game in late May, the goalkeeper raised three fingers of his right hand from the bench in the “We need Justice” sign as the Myanmar national anthem was played. The salute is used in Myanmar as a demonstration of resistance to the February 1 military coup. As the team was leaving Japan on June 16 after playing two more World Cup qualifiers, the goalkeeper told immigration authorities at Kansai Airport in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, that he wanted to stay. in the country and applied for refugee status by changing his visa after expressing fears for his life after doing the three-finger salute.
Instead, Julius Ssekitoleko’s escape to Japan lasted just four days, a Ugandan athlete who wanted to stay on the Japanese island because “life is particularly difficult in Uganda”. He had left this sentence written on a note in his hotel room after missing the daily appointment with the Covid test, expressing his desire to be able to work in Japan. The weightlifter has remained untraceable in the pre-Olympic camp in Japan from the moment he learned that due to a question of quotas he would not be able to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, for which he had been so prepared. “He did not qualify” to participate in the Olympics in the 67 kg category “and should have returned home early next week” as the Ugandan website Chimpreports wrote, releasing statements made yesterday to another local media by the president of the Weightlifting federation. of Uganda, Salim Musoke. “He was among the athletes on the waiting list, despite Ssekitoleko having won a bronze medal in the 67 kg category at the African Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, and was one of five confirmed lifters for next year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games. “. Ssekitoleko returned to his homeland after giving explanations both to the Japanese authorities and to those, sporting and not, of his country, while both the five-circle dream and the hope of changing his life went up in smoke.