Olympics
SCANDAL! CORRUPTION CHARGES UNFOLDS IN TOKYO 2020 OLYMPICS
BY LIAM MORGAN AT THE HOTEL ALAGARE IN LAUSANNE
Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) President Tsunekazu Takeda has reportedly been indicted on charges of corruption in France linked to Tokyo’s successful bid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
According to leading French newspaper Le Monde, Takeda, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and who led the Tokyo 2020 bid, is suspected of authorising the payment of bribes in order to help the Japanese capital secure the hosting rights for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The 71-year-old, born the third son of Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda and who is the great-grandson of the Emperor Meiji, who ruled Japan from 1867 until his death in 1912, was indicted by the national financial prosecutor’s office in Paris last month, Reuters reported.
Takeda, however, has denied the report.
“I have not been indicted,” Takeda told Japanese agency Kyodo News.
“No restrictions have been placed upon me.
“We have heard nothing new from the investigative team.
“It is extremely unfortunate if things untrue are reported.”
In a statement, the IOC Ethics Commission, which is holding a meeting here today, had opened a file on Takeda but claimed the Japanese official “continues to enjoy the full presumption of innocence”.
Takeda is being
investigated for “active corruption”, according to Le
Monde, regarding payments worth $2 million (£1.5 million/€1.75
million) made to Singaporean company Black Tidings before Tokyo was awarded the
2020 Olympics and Paralympics at the IOC Session in Buenos Aires in 2013.
The account holder has been closely tied to Papa Massata Diack, son of the disgraced former International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Lamine Diack, currently being held in France and facing corruption charges.
It is alleged the payments were directed to the elder Diack, with authorities in France suspecting corruption or money laundering by an unknown person.
Tokyo, the winner of the first round of the 2020 vote, defeated Istanbul by 60 votes to 36 in the second ballot.
Madrid were eliminated in the first round.
An investigation team, established by the JOC, cleared Tokyo 2020 in September 2016 over the controversial payment, dismissing allegations it was used as a bribe as Lamine Diack was a voting IOC member at the time of the vote.
Takeda was questioned by Japanese prosecutors in 2017 in relation to the payments.
“I cooperated at a hearing with the investigators in charge,” Takeda, who denied allegations money had been linked to bribery, told Kyodo News.
“Such a thing is unthinkable.”
Today’s revelation, however, still represent another considerable blow to the IOC and Tokyo 2020, who have denied any wrongdoing contributed to their triumph.
“The IOC is ‘partie civile’ in this investigation and has been in close contact with the French judicial authorities,” the IOC said in its statement.
“The IOC Ethics Commission has opened a file and will continue to monitor the situation – and is meeting today.
“Mr Takeda continues to enjoy the full presumption of innocence.
“These allegations refer to events before the IOC introduced far reaching reforms.
“With the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020 the IOC reinforced its code of ethics and introduced an approved list of consultants.
“In order to be on the list the consultants have to declare that they respect the strict IOC rules on governance and ethics, and in particular anti-corruption.
“Candidate cities can only hire consultants that are on the list.
“As for the former President of the IAAF, Mr Diack no longer holds any position within the IOC.
“In 2015, the IOC provisionally suspended Mr Diack who then within 24 hours himself resigned as an honorary member.
“We continue to keep close contact with the judiciary authorities and the IOC President has even sent a letter to the President of Senegal to ask him for full cooperation, something to which President Macky Sall agreed.”
Roy Jones Jr has been handed the Olympic gold medal he was controversially denied in 1988 in an extraordinary act of sportsmanship by the South Korean fighter who beat him.
Hall of Fame boxer Jones shared a video on Wednesday from two years ago that showed Park Si-hun visiting the American’s ranch in Pensacola, Florida to present him with the light middleweight gold medal.
“I had the gold medal, but I want to give it back to you. It belongs to you,” Park said in the video through his son, who translated.
Jones, who was overcome with emotion by the gesture, covered his face with his hand before saying: “Wow, that is crazy.”
Their match at the Seoul Olympics remains one of boxing’s most contentious moments as Jones appeared to dominate the fight but lost to Park by a 3-2 decision that drew instant criticism and sparked enduring controversy.
Despite losing the gold medal match, Jones was selected as the Val Barker Trophy winner as the best boxer of the 1988 Olympics.
Jones went on to become a four-division world champion and is regarded as one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighters of all time.
“In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history,” Jones wrote in his Instagram post.
“By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine.
“I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did.”
-Reuters
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U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday creating a White House Olympics task force to handle security and other issues related to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, an administration official told Reuters.
The task force, made up of members from Trump’s cabinet and government agencies, will coordinate federal, state and local government work on transportation, the official said.
It also will “streamline visa processing and credentialing for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media,” the official said in an email.
The United States will host the Olympics in Los Angeles in three years. Trump, a Republican who lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, has expressed pleasure that his second term will coincide with the Olympics and the World Cup.
“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The president considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle in his second term,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Monday.
Last month organizers of the Los Angeles games released the first look at the Olympic competition schedule . The city had also hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984.
“The creation of this task force marks an important step forward in our planning efforts and reflects our shared commitment to delivering not just the biggest, but the greatest Games the world has ever seen in the summer of 2028,” Casey Wasserman, the chair and president of LA28, said in a statement.
–Reuters
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By DAVID LEE
Home is many places for swimmer Adaku Nwandu, who was born in China, lives in Singapore and wears the Nigeria flag on her swimsuit.
And it is at her current home in Singapore that the 17-year-old is making her debut at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH).
In the second heat of the 100m freestyle at the WCH Arena, the teenager, who has a Nigerian father and Chinese mother, led at the turn before finishing third in 1min 0.89sec – she eventually placed 59th out of 82 athletes overall.
After her race, Adaku shared with The Straits Times that she was born and raised in Shanghai, and started swimming when she was eight. Interestingly, it was ice cream that kept her in the sport.
Adaku, who still has the 50m freestyle heats on Aug 2, said: “At a school competition, I didn’t do so well and I asked my dad if we could make a deal. He said if I do better, he would buy me ice cream once every week, and that’s a promise we have kept with each other. And that’s what brought me here.”
In 2023, the family moved to Singapore due to her mother’s work posting. With her fluent Mandarin and love for Asian and spicy food, it did not take long for her to pick up Singlish and enjoy local delights like chicken rice and chilli crab.
She said: “We came here mainly because of my mother’s work, and also because the swimming scene back where I lived in China was a little bit toxic, so she also thought Singapore would be a new experience and better for my swimming.”
By then, she had already committed to representing Nigeria after its aquatics association contacted her after the National Sports Festival in Asaba, where the then 16-year-old was part of the national record-breaking women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.
But Singapore is where she has been honing her swimming skills, as she has set her 50m and 100m freestyle long- and short-course Nigeria national records at meets here.
Noting her improvements, Singapore swimming coach and performance director Gary Tan said: “Adaku has been participating in our system for a while, and we hope it helps her develop as a swimmer and achieve what she wants while training in Singapore with her school (German European School Singapore).”
For someone who is inspired by Olympic champions David Popovici, Caeleb Dressel and Adam Peaty for “their dedication and the way they are able to take breaks for themselves to improve and get back to the water”, qualifying for Paris 2024 on ranking points was a dream come true.
Her Olympic debut was also unforgettable as her swimsuit ripped 20 minutes before her 50m freestyle heat, but she managed to finish second in her heat and 33rd out of 78th overall in 26.62 seconds, just 0.03 of a second off her personal best.
Back in Singapore, Adaku, who is in the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme at her school, realised that she needed more of such resilience to reach her goals.
The swimmer, who also plays for the school’s volleyball team, said: “I had a lot of improvement the first year I came to Singapore. But this past year has been especially hard for me with family problems and also school. The workload in my first year of IB made it hard to balance training and school.
“Especially in the next year, I want to focus more on swimming and try to get some new personal bests because this year I just plateaued. I’m looking forward to training harder and preparing for my next competition and hopefully qualify for the next Olympics.”
-Strait Times, Singapore
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