Great Britain vs Chile LIVE: Ellen White double earns Team GB victory in Tokyo 2020 opener
Follow all the latest from the Tokyo Games as Team GB kick-off the women’s football against Chile
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Great Britain women begin their campaign at the Tokyo Olympics against Chile with the Games underway in both the football and softball before Friday’s opening ceremony.
The women’s football competition gets under way with Great Britain taking on Chile in Sapporo at 8.30am BST (4.30pm in Japan). Kicking off in Tokyo at 9.30am BST will be the highly anticipated meeting between Sweden, who won silver in Rio losing to Germany in the final, and the reigning world champions USA.
The Games remains on course although the head of the organising committee Toshiro Muto refused to completely rule out a last-minute cancellation amid ongoing concern surrounding Covid-19. “At this point, the coronavirus cases may rise or fall, so we will think about what we should do when the situation arises.”
Follow all the latest news and updates below.
Tokyo 2020: GB pole vaulter takes a whack
Team GB pole vaulter Harry Coppell has posted some footage of him looking impressive as he gets some last-minute training in ahead of Tokyo... that was until he clipped the bar on an attempt and felt the full force of it as it fell and whacked him in the face.
As Harry says, here’s hoping the Olympic Games bubble in Tokyo has a good dentist!
The big question: Why is there controversy on the size of athletes’ shorts?
Before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games opening ceremony has even been held - the tournament having been delayed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic - controversy has already erupted over the kits athletes wear to take part in elite sporting competitions, writes Joe Sommerlad.
“The commotion began when two-time British Paralympian world champion Olivia Breen took to Twitter to report her dismay that a female official had told her the briefs she was wearing as she took part in the English Championships in Bedford on Sunday were “too short and inappropriate”.
Why have athletes’ shorts been attracting controversy ahead of the Olympics?
British Paralympian and Norway’s women’s handball team have both found themselves at the centre of rows over their uniforms in the run up to the Tokyo Games
WHO leader says virus risk inevitable at Tokyo Olympics
The Tokyo Olympics should not be judged by the tally of COVID-19 cases that arise because eliminating risk is impossible, the head of the World Health Organization told sports officials Wednesday as events began in Japan.
How infections are handled is what matters most, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a speech to an International Olympic Committee meeting.
“The mark of success is making sure that any cases are identified, isolated, traced and cared for as quickly as possible and onward transmission is interrupted,” he said.
The number of Games-linked COVID-19 cases in Japan this month was 79 on Wednesday, with more international athletes testing positive at home and unable to travel.
“The mark of success in the coming fortnight is not zero cases,” Tedros said, noting the athletes who already tested positive in Japan, including at the athletes village in Tokyo Bay, where most of the 11,000 competitors will stay. - Associated Press
First Round women’s soccer results
More results are coming in today for the first round of the women’s soccer.
Sweden upset the United States 3-0 in the big surprise result while Australia rolled over New Zealand 2-1 and the Netherlands embarrassed Zamibia 10-3. Japan’s home team tied with Canada in a 1-1 game.
Yesterday Great Britain beat Chile 2-0 while Brazil humbled China 5-0.
The next games will come on Saturday, 24 July with Great Britain facing Japan and the United States facing New Zealand.
Team USA volleyballer Taylor Crabb tests positive for Covid-19
The beach volleyball player is the first American athlete to test positive who was expected to compete at the Tokyo games, according to NBC News.
Taylor Crabb’s diagnosis on the day competition began, before the opening ceremony, follows the positive tests of US gymnastics team backup alternates Kara Eaker and Leanne Wong.
Crabb’s brother, Trevor Crabb, told NBC News the situation was “terrible”
“[He’s] fine and healthy and should be allowed to play, in my personal opinion,” he told NBC.
Watch: Sha’Carri Richardson & Kanye West
The track star banned from the Olympics for taking marijuana looks to have a new endorsement from Beats by Dre.
The runner posted the ad, cut together by Kanye West with music from an upcoming album, to her Instagram before the first day of competition kicked off.
“There will be ups and down in life, but it’s important to remember to RUN YOUR OWN RACE,” she said in the post. “Another commercial and another new Ye song dropping tomorrow!”
The track, “No Child Left Behind” will be on the album Donda releasing on Friday.
Check it out:
Australian removed from games for cocaine
Equestrian show jumper Jamie Kermod was removed from the Australian Olympic team after testing positive for cocaine.
In a statement, Equestrian Australia said the 26 June test resulted in a mandatory provisional suspension under the World Anti-Doping Agency policy.
While awaiting a B-sample to confirm the result, Kermond admitted in a statement the positive result was likely from “a single recreational use of the drug at a social event and had no connection with my sport of equestrian”
Russian swimmer latest to miss games because of Covid
Swimmer Ilya Borodin will miss the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19, the Russian Swimming Federation said on Wednesday.
The 18-year-old, the 2020 European champion in the men’s 400 metre individual medley, tested positive for the coronavirus during a training camp in the city of Vladivostok in the far east of Russia before departing for Japan.
"Ilya Borodin, a European champion and one of the leaders on the Olympic team, tested positive for COVID-19, meaning he will not take part in the Tokyo Olympics," the Russian Swimming Federation said in a statement.
The federation said that all other athletes and training staff had tested negative for the virus. - Reuters
Sue Bird and Eddy Alvarez to carry USA flag at Opening Ceremony
The women’s basketballer and men’s baseballer were announced as the two flag bearers for the Opening Ceremony.
The pair, who were announced during the TODAY show on Wednesday, were chosen by their USA teammates.
Alvarez has the rare accomplishment of representing the US in the winter and summer Olympic Games, first as a speed skater in the 2014 Winter Olympics where he won a silver medal, and this year as a Baseball infielder.
Bird is on the women’s basketball team. As a 40-year-old, she is the oldest American basketball player to compete at the Olympic level and has four gold medals dating back to her 2004 debut at the Athens Games.
Tokyo Games boast equal gender participation for first time
Most of the public attention goes to the big sports — gymnastics, swimming, track and field — but away from the spotlight, women from niche sports are being recognized and given an Olympics chance.
The International Olympic Committee added 18 new events to the Tokyo Games in a push toward gender equity. There are an equal number of women and men for every sport, excluding baseball and softball because of differing roster sizes.
The IOC said women’s participation in Tokyo will be 49%, up from 45% at Rio, a nearly even split with the men. The committee also noted that when women made their Olympic debut at the Paris Games in 1900, there were only 22 females out of 997 total athletes. Those pioneers competed across five sports, among them croquet and equestrian.
“Tokyo 2020 is predicted to be the most gender equal yet with female participation,” the IOC said.
The new opportunities come in several sports and several sizes: Great Britain, for example, is sending more women than men to the Olympics for the first time. In water polo, two additional teams were added, for a total of 10. It’s still two shy of the men’s tournament, but a win for the women’s movement. - Associated Press
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