RIVER QUALITY
Seine training canceled
The Olympics’ triathlon swimming training session scheduled for yesterday was canceled after recent heavy rain in Paris affected pollution levels in the Seine, organizers said in a statement. A lot is riding on Olympic triathletes being cleared to swim in Paris’ central waterway when the competition starts tomorrow, with France investing 1.4 billion euros (US$1.52 billion) in new wastewater infrastructure to cut sewage levels and make the river swimmable for residents as a key legacy of the Games. “We have had some rainfall, but everything that has been put in place has worked, it prevents overflows from occurring, so I think we will reach a satisfying quality of the water very soon, but it will depend on the weather forecast as well,” Pierre Rabadan, the city’s deputy mayor for sports, told a news conference yesterday. Organizers said that, given the forecast for sunshine and higher temperatures over the next 48 hours, they were “confident” water quality would improve again before the triathlon events begin tomorrow with the men’s race.
ACCOMMODATION
Bath leak warps bed
Much has been made about the robustness of the Olympic Village’s cardboard beds, but one did not prove up to the test for top Japanese gymnast Shinnosuke Oka. Oka, who on Saturday produced a solid performance on the first day of the Paris Games in the men’s qualification, said a “water leak” from the bath had caused damage to the cardboard frame of his bed, forcing him to seek a swap. “The cardboard sort of collapsed because of a water leak, from, er, bathwater,” the 20-year-old first-time Olympian said, with an embarrassed smile. Oka said he noticed himself sinking gradually on the bed as he slept, and then realized that the frame was warped. “It kind of messed up my back. Not enough to affect my performance or anything, but I thought: ‘I probably don’t want to sleep this way for the rest of the time.’” The cardboard bed frame was introduced at the Tokyo 2020 Games for sustainability reasons — a central theme for Paris 2024 organizers.
SOCCER
Canada lose points for drone
Canada’s Olympic women’s soccer team have been deducted six points and their coach Beverly Priestman suspended for a year after a staff member used a drone to spy on a rival team at the Paris Games, FIFA said on Saturday. Canada’s soccer association was “responsible for failing to respect the applicable FIFA regulations in connection with ... the prohibition on flying drones over any training sites,” FIFA said. It also handed down a fine of 200,000 Swiss francs (US$226,110). The ruling is a hammer blow to Canada’s hopes of defending the Olympic title they won at the Tokyo Games three years ago. It leaves them on minus-three points in Group A before they played hosts France in Saint-Etienne yesterday. The match started after press time last night. Canada Soccer chief executive Kevin Blue had tried to convince FIFA not to punish the team, saying the players had not seen any footage produced by the drone. “There was a lot of emotion, frustration and humiliation because as a player, it doesn’t reflect our values and what we want to represent as competitors at the Olympics,” defender Vanessa Gilles said.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures