Simon Denyer

TOKYO — A day after the Tokyo Olympics concluded, social media posts in Japan showed photos and videos of a man believed to be Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee’s president, strolling through Ginza, a popular shopping district in Tokyo.

Those posts went viral. And not as kudos for helping finally pull off the Tokyo Games. Instead, many in Japan view Bachas complicit in pushingJapan to host the Olympics despite the public health risks and the financial toll on taxpayers.

To those critics, Bach personifies the costly hangover from a party Tokyo wasn’t even invited to.

Every Olympics is expensive for the host city or nation. But those hosts typically have gains to show in return, including global recognition and millions of tourists who spend money at local businesses.

But those benefits won’t materialize for Tokyo, host of the most expensive Olympics to date and the first to hold Games with mostly empty venues — and hardly any domestic revenue — because of a pandemic.

“If you’re just looking at those spreadsheets, you know, there was no reason for this game to go on, at least from Tokyo’s perspective,” said Victor Matheson, who studies sports economics at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.

By conservative estimates, the Tokyo Olympics cost $15.4 billion — a tab largely borne by Japanese taxpayers and more than double the forecast when the city bid for the Games. Japanese government auditors have estimated that the true cost is at least $25 billion, which includes projects related to the Games.

The official $15.4 billion tab is on par with the past two Summer Games: in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 ($13.7 billion) and in London in 2012 ($15 billion).

Every Olympics since 1960 in Rome has run over budget, according to a 2020 study co-authored by Bent Flyvbjerg, a professor at the University of Oxford who studies the economics of the Olympics.

“This is like having a tiger by the tail, you know, when you say yes to hosting the Games. You actually have very limited possibilities of stripping down cost” because the majority of the business decisions are made by the IOC and international athletics organizations, Flyvbjerg said. “Even under the best circumstances, putting on the Olympics is quite a burden financially. … Covid-19 definitely hasn’t made it easier for Tokyo.”

To be sure, even the most expensive estimate comes out to less than 1 percent of Japan’s gross domestic product — one of the world’s largest economies.

Still, experts say the unique realities of these Games were sure to put an unprecedented burden on Tokyo and the Japanese government, which is facing a ballooning national debt that is worsening because of the pandemic.

By effectively banning spectators and closing the Games to outside visitors, Japanese officials forfeited nearly $800 million in revenue that they had expected. Rather than an influx of up to 10 million tourists, as some optimistic projections had held, fewer than 100,000 official Olympics-related travelers were approved, which included athletes, team personnel and journalists. These visitors were sequestered in the Olympic “bubble” — the approved official Games venues, hotels and other special sites — for the vast majority of their stay in Japan.

“The bulk of this is going to have to come from people’s taxes … and the government will try to further borrow money from the public. So it’s going to be, at the end of the day, a huge burden on taxpayers,” said Noriko Hama, economics professor at Doshisha Business School in Kyoto.

That loss of revenue comes on top of the economic struggles already created by the pandemic and the state of emergency declared in Tokyo and other parts of the country, which limits how late businesses can stay open and has largely shut down borders to tourists.

The postponement of this year’s Olympics added $2.8 billion to the tab, according to organizers, who had to extend contracts and keep temporary venues longer than planned. And then there were other costs associated with the pandemic, such as the daily processing of tens of thousands of coronavirus tests from inside the Olympic bubble.

Tokyo secured a record $3 billion in domestic sponsorships, an impressive feat, Matheson said. But it’s unclear how much of that will come through in the end, he said. For example, Toyota pulled its domestic advertisements from the Olympics in the days leading up to the Opening Ceremonies.

Hosting the Olympics can often lead to long-term benefits. Investment in infrastructure will last well beyond the Games. Cities also can rebrand or introduce themselves to the world as travel destinations. But Tokyo is already a global draw, and the infrastructure benefits will probably be minimal, Matheson said. And Foreign journalists were largely limited to the Olympic venues, restricting their ability to showcase Japan’s culture, he said.

“The reporters couldn’t go out to do their special-interest story of people, of, you know, people walking in the Imperial Gardens, and they couldn’t go to their story of ‘We’re down in the Ginza district, the most spectacular commercial street in the world,’ “ he said. “All you could see is the inside of the gym rather than … all the sort of things that would make a fun trip to Tokyo.”

On the other hand, the IOC secured about $4 billion in revenue from broadcast media rights and international sponsorships, Matheson said.

Yuji Nakamura, a professor of public administration at Japan’s Utsonomiya University who has studied the Tokyo Olympics since 2013, said he expects Tokyo will be left in a similar situation as Montreal, which hosted the Summer Games in 1976 and experienced the largest cost overrun to date: 720 percent. It took 30 years to pay down that debt, according to Flyvbjerg’s study.

“Both the Tokyo government and central government couldn’t get their money’s worth. … In the end, the price has to be paid by the taxpayers and future generations,” Nakamura said.

If the cost reaches $25 billion to $30 billion, that could amount to about $940 per Tokyo resident, according to Naofumi Masumoto, visiting professor of Olympic studies at Tokyo Metropolitan University and Musashino University. That is money that could go toward other needs of the metropolitan government, such as providing hospital beds for coronavirus patients and purchasing vaccines, Masumoto said.

These Japanese experts expect that the Olympic spending will probably require special government bonds or taxes, or a cost-sharing deal with private companies.

“Without something along those lines … they will never get financial houses in order,” said Hama, of Doshisha Business School.

It is unclear if there will be any significant political fallout for Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is facing an election this fall and is lagging in opinion polls. Despite fears that the Games could become a global superspreader event and strong public opposition leading up to them, sentiment appeared to shift once they began, and Olympics-related coronavirus cases were largely contained to the bubble.

“I think the political costs at this point, because there were no evident disasters during the Olympics themselves, are probably going to be limited,” said David Leheny, professor in the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies at Waseda University in Tokyo.

“Because there was so much apprehension about it, the fact that there weren’t any disasters, mixed with the fact that there were so many Japanese winners, many of them who were charming, appealing figures in many ways, people are going to be primed into thinking that the Olympics had gone as well as possible,” Leheny added.

Originally published at https://www.washingtonpost.com on August 15, 2021.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has emerged as a spokeswoman for the regime in Pyongyang. (Felipe Dana/AP)

SEOUL — The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned Tuesday that Pyongyang could move to bolster its nuclear and conventional weapons program in response to a major joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea set for this month.

“The dangerous war exercises pushed ahead by the U.S. and the South Korean side disregardful of our repeated warnings will surely make them face a more serious security threat,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency.

North Korea has complained for decades about the twice yearly joint exercises between South Korea and the United States, calling them a war rehearsal. The two democracies say their actions are defensive in nature.

Pyongyang’s latest warning, however, comes amid signs that relations between the two Koreas could be improving. Last month, both North and South Korea agreed to boost ties and restore a key communications line after a hiatus of 13 months.

North and South Korea agree to talk again, restore cross-border hotline

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has staked significant political capital on improving ties with the North, and Kim’s warning comes as some officials in Seoul argue that the drills should be postponed to rekindle relations between the rival Koreas.

In her statement, Kim accused South Korea of “perfidious behavior” — an apparent reference to Seoul’s decision to proceed with the drills weeks after moving to get closer to Pyongyang.

“We will put more spur to further increasing the deterrent of absolute capacity to cope with the ever-growing military threats from the U.S.,” she said.

Ankit Panda, an Asia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the phrase “deterrent of absolute capacity” probably referred to North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, among other military capabilities.

“I would likely interpret it — in the broader context — to be the overall nuclear deterrent and posture,” said Vipin Narang, an MIT professor who specializes in nuclear strategy. Pyongyang last carried out a nuclear test in 2017, but it has tested ballistic missiles as recently as March.

“We will not jump to conclusions and keep an eye on North Korea’s attitude while preparing for all possible options,” the South’s Unification Ministry said in a Tuesday statement.

“Nothing’s changed about our need for readiness on the Korean peninsula and our desire to work in lock-step with our ROK allies on [a] training regimen that improves that readiness and keeps that readiness strong,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a Monday briefing, ahead of Kim’s statement.

At a congress of the ruling Workers’ Party earlier this year, Kim Jong Un called the country’s nuclear weapons program one of the nation’s greatest achievements and vowed to further strengthen it.

About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea, an important ally that is technically still at war with the North. But in recent years, the joint drills have been postponed or scaled back because of the coronavirus pandemic and in an effort to support diplomacy with Pyongyang. This month’s exercises will primarily involve computer simulations rather than field drills because of virus concerns, South Korea’s semiofficial Yonhap News Agency reported.

Talks between Pyongyang and Washington have been dormant since a 2019 nuclear summit broke down over a disagreement about how much sanction relief the United States would offer. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told North Korea that it needed to decide whether it wanted to persist with negotiations.

Originally published at https://www.washingtonpost.com on August 10, 2021.

A closing ceremony at Japan’s National Stadium in Tokyo on Aug. 8 capped off an Olympics that unfolded with few spectators amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Reuters)

TOKYO — The flame that burned throughout one of history’s most controversial Games was extinguished Sunday as Japan brought the curtain down on the Tokyo Olympics with Closing Ceremonies that were as unusual as the event itself.

Most of the athletes weren’t present; they were sent home within 48 hours of competing as part of the strict rules meant to contain the coronavirus pandemic. For those who attended, organizers offered a show of music, juggling and dance that was supposed to replicate the experience of visiting a grassy Tokyo park — an experience that had been off-limits to athletes during the Games.

“In these difficult times, you gave the world the most precious of gifts: hope,” International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach told the athletes. “For the first time since the pandemic began, the entire world came together, sport returned to center stage, billions of people around the globe were united by emotion, sharing moments of joy and inspiration.”

It was a fitting, bittersweet end to a complicated Games. While the ban on spectators meant the Games looked and felt nothing like the electric showcase of Japan that organizers had hoped for, the Olympics nonetheless provided a much-needed respite, a burst of joy and human wonder, for viewers around the world exhausted by the pandemic.

Day after day over two weeks, the magic of Olympic competition cut through the gloom and isolation of the pandemic. Hour after hour, athletes emerged after years of sacrifice, self-discipline and adversity to enter the global spotlight and light up the world’s hearts with their modesty, grace and joy.

“Life seems very divisive just now. Everybody’s in polarized positions, and there’s so much just controversy and frustration in life,” British Olympic cyclist Chris Hoy told the BBC. “It’s just wonderful to see the power of sport and the way it’s brought us all together and reminded us about the Olympic Games and the wonderful role that it plays in all our lives.”

Former U.S. Olympic sprint champion Michael Johnson agreed.

“This Games, even though it was a struggle getting it to start and getting it going, I think ultimately it was the relief that a lot of people needed,” he said.

Washington Post reporters and a photojournalist recall favorite moments from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and what it was like to cover the games during a pandemic. (Allie Caren, Joshua Carroll/The Washington Post)

New sports brought new audiences and new subcultures to the Games. The obvious camaraderie of the BMX riders, skateboarders and sports climbers shone brightly — and never more so than when 15-year-old Misugu Okamoto from Japan was carried off the skateboarding park on the shoulders of her fellow competitors after falling on her final run.

For Team USA, there were uncountable moments of enchantment, from 17-year-old Lydia Jacobs’s shocking victory in the 100-meter breaststroke to Allyson Felix’s bronze in the 400 meters at her fifth Olympics, and her first as a mother, as she became the most decorated female track and field athlete in Olympic history.

There was Sunisa Lee’s emergence from the shadow of Simone Biles to win the women’s all-around gymnastics title and the joy and relief for Biles when she won bronze on the balance beam after returning to competition.

There were Japan’s judo brother and sister Hifumi and Uta Abe, who won gold medals within an hour of each other, and Jason Kenny’s seventh gold in track cycling on the final day to become Britain’s most successful Olympian ever, beautifully capped by his fellow medalists lifting him on their shoulders on the podium.

For host country Japan, which suffered 18 months of anguish and anger over the pandemic-delayed event, there was a welcome burst of national pride as it recorded easily its greatest haul of 58 medals including 27 golds.

An Okinawa native wins gold in karate, making history for his sport and its birthplace

Japan proved to the world that, despite all of the criticism, it could hold an Olympic Games in the midst of a global pandemic. Some of the rules, including forcing athletes to wear masks on the podium and put medals around their own necks, might have seemed suffocating, but the thick web of restrictions proved effective in allowing the competition to go ahead.

Public opinion, so long skeptical or in some cases downright hostile, appeared to turn around, at least in part, with crowds turning out on the streets of Sapporo to cheer on the marathon runners in the Games’ final days.

Yet there was still an emptiness, a sense of loneliness and even a bitterness that the joy and achievement couldn’t wash entirely away.

The feeling that the IOC forced these Games on an unwilling public left an impression of arrogance and materialism, critics said, and the sexist and discriminatory attitudes of Japan’s conservative and elderly male elite in the run-up to the event was exposed to global scrutiny and caused national embarrassment.

There were signs of incremental progress: These were the most gender-balanced Games and the most diverse in terms of openly LGBTQ participation. The choice of Naomi Osaka to light the Olympic cauldron at the Opening Ceremonies was a well-received nod to Japan’s marginalized mixed-race population.

Japan boasted that it had used the Games to boost its citizens’ participation in sports and exercise, sailing into a global head wind of rising inactivity, and significantly improved disabled access to everything from venues to rail stations. On television, commentators talked more respectfully about mixed-race or transgender participants, even if intolerance and cruelty still raised its head on social media.

Yet there were also wounds, the biggest of which was partly self-inflicted.

Japan inexplicably dragged its feet over its coronavirus vaccination campaign, forcing it first to ban overseas fans and then even domestic spectators.

Olympians clustered in the empty stands to cheer their teammates, but this made-for-television Games was deprived of the communal passion, the fervor and the fun that come with a hyped-up crowd.

Athletes clutching medals gamely waved at their far-off families on video screens, but the absence of their families and friends was palpable.

Bach boasted that 1 out of 10 Japanese people had seen some part of the Games, but outside the fenced-off and policed competition venues, it sometimes felt as if Tokyo had turned its back on the Olympics.

It’s true there were some moments of enthusiasm: More than an hour before the Closing Ceremonies began, Tokyo residents lined up outside the stadium to get the best views of the fireworks. But there was no trace of the festival atmosphere that the Games usually bring to their host cities.

Instead of welcoming foreigners with open arms and showing Japan’s famous hospitality, the mood toward outsiders seemed at times to crystallize into silent mistrust of the tens of thousands of strangers who might be bringing in new strains of the coronavirus. Outward-facing Japan seemed to turn its face inward.

And all the while, in Tokyo and across Japan, the pandemic worsened, setting records with regularity. Daily cases rose by nearly four times during the two weeks of the Olympics.

The IOC and Tokyo 2020 organizers boasted every day of their extensive testing setup and how few people involved in the Games had tested positive — 430 since the beginning of July.

On Sunday, Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said there was no “medical or scientific” proof that cases had spread from the Olympic bubble to the general public.

But many public health experts were not persuaded. They argued the Games undermined the government’s already unconvincing calls for self-restraint and suggested the Olympic bubble was far more porous than organizers had claimed.

“I thought of the legacy of this Olympics,” said Kenji Shibuya, the former founding director of the Institute for Population Health at King’s College London who recently moved back to Japan to help with mass vaccination efforts. “First, it clearly showed that unless the pandemic is tackled, a safe and secure Olympics is a fantasy.”

Shibuya said the Games have “left a scar on Japanese society,” causing division and distrust as well as a “health and economic debt.”

The IOC will walk away from these Games with its broadcast revenue intact and its finances in good shape. The Japanese taxpayers, though, will be left footing a multibillion-dollar bill — a huge hangover without having been invited to the party.

“The athletes should be the focus of the Games, and they have gone a long way in rescuing the extravaganza from the venal and feckless global sports aristocracy and Japan’s political elite,” said Jeff Kingston, a professor of political science at Temple University Japan.

But “the stories of resilience and indomitable spirits overcoming adversity” couldn’t mask the unpalatable truths the Games exposed, he said.

“The pandemic Olympics featured some glorious performances, but the empty venues made them an eerie rather than epic experience, a brief diversion from the surging delta curse.”

Updated August 9, 2021

More about the Tokyo Olympics

The Tokyo Olympics have come to a close.

• The Closing Ceremonies brought the Olympics to an official end much the same way the international spectacle began: in a near-empty stadium. It was a fitting end to a complicated Games.
• Up next: The Beijing Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 4, 2022. Here’s an early look at the next Games.
• Fewer and fewer cities want to host the Olympics, columnist Barry Svrluga writes. That should tell the IOC something.
• The United States finished the Tokyo Olympics with 113 total medals, including 39 gold. China was next best with 88 total and 38 gold. Here’s the complete medal count.

Today’s Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

Originally published at https://www.washingtonpost.com on August 8, 2021.

The Russian Olympic Committee artistic swimmers won gold in Saturday’s team event. (Dmitri Lovetsky/AP)

TOKYO — As Tokyo Aquatics Centre emptied Saturday after its last event of the Olympic Games, the strains of Abba’s “Dancing Queen” played over the sound system.

It was a fitting tribute to the greatest underwater dancing queen, Russian artistic swimmer Svetlana Romashina, who at her fourth Olympics won her seventh gold medal, this one in the eight-woman team event. It was her second gold medal of these Games; she also claimed the duet crown.

But this was her last dance.

Romashina took time off after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games to have a daughter, and she said it’s now time to be with her family.

“I was crying on duet and I was crying on team, because it was a long way back; it was a very difficult way,” she said. “ I’m very happy that now, with these two medals, I will return home to my daughter, and of course, I understand that I will cry when I see her.”

Romashina said Tokyo would be her last Games as an athlete but that she might return one day as a coach. At 31 years old and a 21-time world champion, she said it’s time to make way for a younger generation.

“I just want to be with my family now. I want to have my second baby,” she said. “It was very difficult to be a mother and an athlete at one moment.”

Her husband and her 3-year-old daughter were watching at home on television, even if it’s sometimes tough to work out who is who in the flurry of legs, arms and identically coiffured bobbing heads that is artistic swimming.

“I told her to try to find me in team because, of course, it’s very difficult to find me on TV,” she said. “ ‘Where is Mother?’ ‘Oh, I don’t know.’ Of course, my husband tried to show her.”

She had spoken to her daughter Thursday, she said, after her first gold of these Games.

“She told me: ‘Mama, you will bring me two medals?’ “ Romashina recalled. “I said, ‘Yes, I will try.’ “

Artistic swimming, which used to be known as synchronized swimming, looks almost impossible to contemplate, let alone perform.

It’s a mixture of swimming, diving, acrobatics and ballet; performed mostly underwater, often upside down, in perfect unison; while wearing clips across your nose. When you do come up for air, a constant smile must adorn your face. It demands complete mastery of your body, of your position in the water, of your teammates’ positions and actions, of rhythm, strength and poise.

There are countless positions that have to be mastered: the Ballet Leg, the Fishtail, the Front Pike, the Knight, the Dolphin and the Catalina Reverse Rotation. Then there are the moves: the Flamingo Twirl, the Porpoise Spin, the Swan, the Albatross, the Butterfly, the Heron and the Manta Ray. Not forgetting of course, the Eiffel Tower Twist Spin and the Helicopter.

For the uninitiated, it’s a twirling, churning forest of legs and feet; of women suddenly appearing out of the water to perform somersaults and then disappearing again; of upside-down competitors dancing under the surface as their legs swirl around one another above it, all set to dramatic music.

It’s as though the Hindu goddess Durga transformed herself into a mermaid, or Simone Biles coached the world’s smartest octopus.

“In my country, people usually say that synchronized swimming is too easy,” Romashina said. “We don’t like these words because only we understand how difficult it is, how many hours we train.”

“In my country, also, our press usually says: ‘Oh, synchro will also get the gold,’ “ she said. “No! We don’t like [being taken for granted]. … We work for 10 hours a day, just in the water: five hours in the morning and five hours in the evening. And, of course, it’s very difficult,” she said.

“At the Olympic Games anything can happen. So we just try to do our job in the best way, then to get our scores, and only then to think about our win, not before, because it’s not the right way.”

Her daughter, she said, had told her she also wants to be a synchronized swimmer but is also keen on ballet and figure skating.

“I don’t want her to be a synchronized swimmer because maybe I can see that it would be difficult to be after me, because everyone will compare us,” Romashina said. “I just want to choose her way. Maybe it will not be professional sport, I don’t know. It must be her way.”

Updated August 9, 2021

Originally published at https://www.washingtonpost.com on August 7, 2021.

TOKYO — British diver Tom Daley says he is proud to be able to inspire other people as an openly gay athlete, but he is quick to add that global sports still has a long way to go to achieve acceptance and embrace diversity.

At least 182 openly LGBTQ athletes are competing at the Games, according to outsports.com, and Daley said there had been progress since he first competed at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 at 14.

“Of course it’s come a long way, but there’s still a lot further to go,” he said after winning bronze in Saturday’s individual 10-meter platform men’s final. “I mean, there are 10 countries that are competing at these Olympic Games where being LGBT is punishable by death.”

In 2013, Daley first announced on his YouTube channel that he was in a relationship with a man. He married American screenwriter, film director and producer Dustin Lance Black in 2017, and the pair had a son by a surrogate the following year.

“I feel extremely lucky to be representing Team GB, to be able to stand on the diving board with myself, with a husband and a son, and not worry about any ramifications,” Daley said. “But I know that I’m very fortunate to have that and that there are lots of people that grow up around the world with less fortunate situations.”

The challenges still facing many athletes in talking openly about their sexual orientation was dramatically underlined at these Games after Russian state television used extremely offensive language in questioning LGBTQ athletes’ participation.

Daley and transgender woman weightlifter Laurel Hubbard from New Zealand particularly were targeted for abuse on Rossiya 1, according to the BBC.

In response, the IOC said, “Discrimination has absolutely no place at the Olympic Games,” and told the BBC it had been in touch with its broadcasting partner in Russia to underline that principle.

Washington Post reporters and a photojournalist recall favorite moments from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and what it was like to cover the games during a pandemic. (Allie Caren, Joshua Carroll/The Washington Post)

Daley said he wasn’t aware of those comments, as he was living “in a bubble” while competing at the Games, but he spoke about the need for greater “understanding.”

He said society historically has been “dictated from a straight White male perspective” but needed to embrace different perspectives, whether from the point of view of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation “or whatever it is.”

Daley said he hoped seeing more LGBTQ people in sports and other prominent roles would help people “feel less alone, like they are valued and they can achieve something.”

“When I was growing up, I always knew I was different. And I always heard people … saying bad things,” he said. “And you never feel like you can say anything, and you kind of swallow yourself up, and you feel like you’re never going to be anyone.

“It takes a lot to come out and speak openly. And it can be quite daunting and scary for people, especially in sports, where the fan bases might not be as accepting.”

Daley, who won his first Olympic gold in the men’s 10-meter synchronized platform diving last week, said he was “extremely happy” with his medal haul in Tokyo, especially after an uncharacteristically error-strewn performance had seen him miss out on the individual final in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

“You know, my husband said to me after Rio, obviously I was extremely disappointed, and he said to me that ‘Maybe you weren’t meant to win gold this time because your son was meant to watch you win an Olympic gold medal,’ “ Daley said.

“When you feel so extremely loved and supported at home, and you know that it doesn’t matter how you do in the pool, they’re going to love you regardless, it just takes so much pressure and weight off your shoulders. And they’ve allowed me to fly higher than I ever thought I’d be able to fly.”

• The Closing Ceremonies brought the Olympics to an official end much the same way the international spectacle began: in a near-empty stadium. It was a fitting end to a complicated Games.
• Up next: The Beijing Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 4, 2022. Here’s an early look at the next Games.
• Fewer and fewer cities want to host the Olympics, columnist Barry Svrluga writes. That should tell the IOC something.
• The United States finished the Tokyo Olympics with 113 total medals, including 39 gold. China was next best with 88 total and 38 gold. Here’s the complete medal count.

Originally published at https://www.washingtonpost.com on August 7, 2021.

Ryo Kiyuna of Japan poses with the gold medal and a photo of his mother, who died two years ago. (Harry How/Getty Images)

TOKYO — Roughly eight centuries ago, a new martial art called karate came into being on a subtropical island now known as Okinawa. On Friday, an Okinawan won the first Olympic gold medal in men’s kata, one of the modern sport’s premier events.

“I’m very happy that I was able to make a mark in history,” said three-time world champion and now Olympic champion Ryo Kiyuna, speaking about his pride of bringing an Okinawan tradition to the wider world.

He was the first Olympic gold medalist ever from the southwestern island chain known for its sparkling blue seas and sandy beaches. But for the 31-year-old Kiyuna, there was no dramatic celebration after he won his gold medal contest. There was a quiet moment of contemplation, kneeling with his face down in a gesture of thanks.

Later, as he accepted his gold medal and stood for the national anthem, he clutched a framed photograph of his mother, who died two years ago at 57.

“After I won, I first wanted to tell my mom and also share my appreciation to everyone who helped me get here,” he said. “I wanted to tell my mom that I kept our promise.”

There are two forms of karate competition as the sport debuts at the Tokyo Games. Kumite is a one-on-one sparring contest that followers of judo, taekwondo and even boxing might find familiar. Kata is a completely different affair with elements of theater, dance and control over one’s body that is slightly reminiscent of diving. In a display of supreme self-discipline, contestants stand alone on the mat as they perform a choreographed routine of poses, chops and kicks.

Judges score them for their technical ability (including their stance, their transitions between moves, their breathing and their accuracy) and on their athletic prowess (their strength, speed and balance). The idea is that one might be able to picture the imaginary opponent.

Kiyuna began his routine with a chilling scream before moving in slow motion through an initial set of poses. Then came the power and speed, steely determination and controlled aggression radiating from his eyes.

Karate’s journey to the Olympics has been a long one. It was refused three times by the International Olympic Committee and only made it here after lobbying from Yoshihide Suga, then chief cabinet secretary and now prime minister.

Its future as an Olympic sport is uncertain — it won’t be included in the Paris Games despite an estimated 100 million practitioners worldwide.

Yet at the famous Nippon Budokan stadium, built for the judo contest at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and the scene of many iconic rock and pop concerts — from the Beatles to Abba, Bob Dylan to Deep Purple — there was a new moment of Olympic magic as Kiyuna took the title, beating out Spaniard Damian Quintero in the gold medal faceoff. American Ariel Torres, 23, won one of the two bronze medals awarded, as did Turkey’s Ali Sofuoglu.

Karate traces its origins to the 14th century and the arrival of the first Chinese martial arts practitioners into what was then the independent Ryukyu kingdom. When samurai from Japan turned the kingdom into a puppet state in the 17th century and prohibited Okinawans from carrying swords, the martial art became an underground form of combat favored by young aristocrats as a form of secret resistance, known as “kara-te” or “Chinese hand.”

But as it developed, training soon focused on self-discipline, on restraint and on avoiding confrontation with a philosophy of “no first strike.” Later, the kanji characters for “kara-te” were changed to spell the phrase “empty hand.”

Karate only made its way onto mainland Japan in the 20th century and was transformed there, adopting the white robes and belts of the more popular discipline of judo and eventually turning an art form into a competition.

But its emergence as a global sport owes something to the American occupation of Japan after World War II. While Allied commander Gen. Douglas MacArthur swiftly banned military education and most martial arts in Japan, he left the less popular and lesser-known karate alone, giving it room to flourish.

Even more important was the extended occupation of Okinawa, which lasted until 1972; thousands of American military personnel and civilians developed a fascination with this exotic new form of self-defense and brought it into the global cultural mainstream.

Films such as “The Karate Kid” and “Kill Bill” and comedy-drama series “Cobra Kai” helped embed the sport in the global consciousness and inspired many people to seek it out. But in Okinawa it is a sacred tradition — not a sport but a way of training yourself and developing self-discipline as well as physical and mental strength.

“Okinawan karate is something that is traditional that hasn’t and shouldn’t be changed, kind of like classical music,” said Kunio Uehara, general secretary of the Association for the Promotion of Traditional Okinawan Karate. “But sports karate is more based on appealing to the judge, so the ‘form’ often changes. Okinawan karate is all about inner dialogue and strengthening your own mentality and not about others.”

While some experts in Okinawa are wary of what they see as Japanese colonization of their traditions, Uehera said the inclusion of sports karate in the Olympics may help traditional Okinawan karate’s bid to be designated an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

Indeed, Kiyuna started out practicing traditional Okinawan karate and today draws inspiration in his routine from Okinawan dance.

“I think sports karate and traditional Okinawan karate all share the same feeling at its core,” said Kiyuna’s master, Tsuguo Sakumoto, who is 75 and once won seven straight world titles. “I was a torch runner at 17 in the 1964 Olympics, and all these years later today Kiyuna gave me a huge gift. Now I can return to Okinawa without any regrets. What Kiyuna has done today is really important for the karate industry and for future kids.”

But an ecstatic Sakumoto also gave a hint of the expectations this martial art places on its practitioners.

“Moving forward, he will need to continue practicing to understand the core of karate. So for Kiyuna to really understand what karate is, I think it will probably be when he’s past 70,” he said. “Right now it can be about winning and losing, but I hope he continues to keep learning mentally and technically.”

Julia Mio Inuma contributed to this report.

Updated August 9, 2021

Originally published at https://www.washingtonpost.com on August 6, 2021.

TOKYO — Japan’s capital logged a record number of coronavirus cases this week, burdening the hospital system amid a slow vaccine rollout, an increasingly apathetic public and the government’s unsuccessful efforts to restrict the rapid spread of the delta variant.

On Thursday, Tokyo reported 5,042 new coronavirus cases, its highest daily count and nearly double the record set nine days before. The virus is spreading quickly beyond the Olympic host city: Japan’s positive daily cases exceeded 15,000 for the first time Thursday.

While the case count is far below that of some countries that are registering tens of thousands of infections per day, the surge in Japan is probably an undercount of positive cases because of a lack of widespread testing availability, public health experts say.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga last week extended a state of emergency throughout Tokyo and surrounding prefectures. And Thursday, the government’s coronavirus advisory panel extended a “quasi” state of emergency to more prefectures through the end of the month. But Suga said a more strictly enforced lockdown wouldn’t “really suit Japan,” and it was not under consideration.

Many experts say the government’s appeals for self-restraint are falling on deaf ears, especially among young people, and warn it may be running out of ideas on how to contain the surge in cases.

Under the latest measures, the government is asking people in and around Tokyo to stay home and refrain from gathering in large groups, and urging restaurants and bars to stop serving alcohol after 8 p.m. to deter crowds.

But after having such an emergency declaration in place for most of the year so far, the sense of urgency around the warning has drastically waned, public health experts say.

“People are so tired of the repeated state of emergency declarations,” said Kenji Shibuya, the former founding director of the Institute for Population Health at King’s College London who recently moved back to Japan and is helping with mass vaccination efforts here. He warned that transmission may increase with Japanese summer holidays next week.

The government’s request has been ignored in many parts of Tokyo, with large numbers of people going out to bars and restaurants beyond the suggested end time. Although spectators are not allowed in most Olympic venues, droves of people have gathered nonetheless to catch a glimpse, taking photos at the Olympic rings and the Olympic torch, and watching competitions from afar.

This week, Suga asked those with moderate coronavirus symptoms to isolate at home rather than go to the hospital, because medical staff are overwhelmed. Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike then made the same request to residents of the capital.

“We decided on the policy to protect people’s lives and health amid rapidly surging infections from the delta variant strain,” Suga said in a briefing on Wednesday. “The policy is meant to respond to emergency cases by reserving a certain number of hospital beds.”

Japanese lawmakers and voters have sharply criticized efforts to restrict hospitalizations, and members of the ruling party on Thursday called on the government to retract the policy. At least eight people, all aged between 30 and 50, have died in their homes this month without being taken to a hospital, according to media reports.

One man in his 50s who had difficulty breathing was reported to have been refused help by 100 medical institutions in Tokyo last week, with an ambulance crew only finding a hospital to help him after eight hours of searching. In the southwestern island of Okinawa, a shortage of test kits meant some people were told they would need to wait a month before they could learn whether they had been infected, local media reported.

Officials “are throwing away the responsibility of taking care of people. That is really shocking,” Shibuya said of the government’s policy. “It’s serious, because they increasingly acknowledge that the health system has started to collapse.”

After a slow start, Japan’s vaccination program finally ramped up in May. So far, just over 40 million people, or 31.7 percent of the population, have received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine, most of them over age 65.

Inside the Olympic bubble, the situation has remained largely under control, even as the number of positive cases rose over the past three weeks. Since July 1, there have been a total of 380 positive Games-related cases.

Some public health experts say the messaging and atmosphere around the Olympics have undermined public understanding of the severity of the virus.

“When you turn on the TV, many athletes are actively participating in the Games and the announcers and commentators are smiling and celebrating … while we are sweating and accepting new infected people right now,” said Kentaro Iwata, a physician and infectious-disease expert at Kobe University. “We can see the gap between the euphoric atmosphere inside the TV and the very pessimistic real world inside the hospital.”

“I can’t see whatever happening inside the TV is occurring in Japan. It feels like it’s occurring somewhere outside of this country,” Iwata added.

Japan would almost certainly be experiencing a surge in cases even without the Olympics, but some experts still question the wisdom of holding the event during a health crisis.

The International Olympic Committee has maintained that it is not aware of any cases of direct transmission from inside the bubble affecting the general Japanese public. Still, it acknowledges that half of the Games-related positive cases are reported by Tokyo Games contractors who are local residents of Japan.

Tokyo Olympics spokesman Masa Takaya said in a briefing this week that one Games-related person had been hospitalized among the people who came from abroad. But he had no data on how many Japanese residents connected with the Games had been hospitalized or whether any had died.

“You’ll see not only when they become positive for covid-19, they will most likely be isolated at home. If that person’s conditions worsens and becomes hospitalized, the reports to the organizing committee would not actually come,” Takaya said. “Therefore, when you ask how many hospitalization [cases are] happening for those who are living in Japan, I would say it’s very hard to answer that question.”

Between 80 and 85 percent of Olympic Village residents, and 70 to 80 percent of media and officials from abroad, have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. But Takaya said he had no data on how many Japanese residents connected with the Games have been inoculated.

A study by Hiroshi Nishiura, an epidemiology professor at Kyoto University, released this week predicted the number of new cases in Tokyo could top 32,000 by Aug. 26, two days after the Paralympic Games start.

But Olympic officials say they are committed to ensuring the Paralympics go ahead. IOC spokesman Mark Adams said Games officials will continue to “have a very, very clear process” for how to respond to positive cases and test all visitors and personnel regularly.

“We’ll continue to do that and work with the local health authorities, whichever Games we’re talking about, to make sure that we deliver safe and secure Games because they have to be safe and secure, not just for the athletes, but for everyone involved,” Adams said in a briefing Thursday.

Julia Mio Inuma contributed to this report.

• The Closing Ceremonies brought the Olympics to an official end much the same way the international spectacle began: in a near-empty stadium. It was a fitting end to a complicated Games.
• Up next: The Beijing Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 4, 2022. Here’s an early look at the next Games.
• Fewer and fewer cities want to host the Olympics, columnist Barry Svrluga writes. That should tell the IOC something.
• The United States finished the Tokyo Olympics with 113 total medals, including 39 gold. China was next best with 88 total and 38 gold. Here’s the complete medal count.

Originally published at https://www.washingtonpost.com on August 6, 2021.

TOKYO — Two Belarusian Olympic officials accused of attempting to force sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya to return home early from the Tokyo Games have been stripped of their accreditation and will be leaving Japan, organizers said on Friday.

The International Olympic Committee launched disciplinary commission hearings to look into the allegations against the Belarusian pair, Artur Shumak, deputy director of the national track-and-field training center, and Yuri Moisevich, the national team’s head coach.

While that commission continues to consider the case and “to clarify the circumstances around the incident,” the IOC said the pair would be sent home.

“In the interest of the wellbeing of the athletes of the National Olympic Committee of Belarus who are still in Tokyo and as a provisional measure, the IOC cancelled and removed last night the accreditations of the two coaches, Mr A. Shumak and Mr Y. Moisevich,” the International Olympic Committee said in a statement.

“The two coaches were requested to leave the Olympic Village immediately and have done so. They will be offered an opportunity to be heard.”

Yoshida Tomoyuki, press secretary for Japan’s Foreign Ministry, denounced Belarus’s treatment of Tsimanouskaya. “The fact that Ms. Tsimanouskaya, an athlete participating in the Olympic Games, which is a festival of peace, had to face forcible return to her country against her will under pressure from the authorities of Belarus due to expression of her personal views on the competition, is wrong and unacceptable,” the statement said.

Tsimanouskaya arrived in Poland on Wednesday to seek asylum after refusing to return to her homeland amid fears of reprisals from the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko as it wages sweeping crackdowns on dissent.

Tsimanouskaya, who runs the 100- and 200-meter races, had criticized Belarusian Olympic officials in an Instagram video from the Tokyo Games after they tried to force her to run in a relay that she had not trained for. She said those comments led to an attempt to forcibly send her home Sunday.

The 24-year-old asked Japanese police for protection at Haneda Airport in Tokyo and pleaded for help from the International Olympic Committee. Poland and the Czech Republic both offered her asylum.

In an interview with the BBC, Tsimanouskaya said she was on her way to the airport last week when her grandmother warned her it was not safe to return, after watching local news reports on the situation.

She insisted she is “not a political girl” and just wants to focus on her sporting career.

“I don’t know anything about politics. I never was in politics,” she said, telling the BBC she wanted to return to Belarus but felt it was too dangerous at the moment.

Belarusian security forces have arrested dozens of activists and journalists in recent weeks, part of continuing crackdowns since mass protests over the August 2020 presidential election, which was rejected by the opposition as rigged in favor of Lukashenko.

After Tsimanouskaya refused to fly back to Belarus on Sunday out of fear for her safety, Arseniy Zdanevich, her husband, fled to Ukraine. He has now been given a visa to join her in Poland, but her other relatives remain in her home country.

The Belarus Olympic Committee is run by Lukashenko’s eldest son, Viktor Lukashenko. The IOC has refused to recognize Viktor Lukashenko’s election to the post.

The Belarus Olympic Committee had said coaches withdrew Tsimanouskaya from the Games on doctors’ advice about her emotional and psychological state, a claim she denied.

• The Closing Ceremonies brought the Olympics to an official end much the same way the international spectacle began: in a near-empty stadium. It was a fitting end to a complicated Games.
• Up next: The Beijing Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 4, 2022. Here’s an early look at the next Games.
• Fewer and fewer cities want to host the Olympics, columnist Barry Svrluga writes. That should tell the IOC something.
• The United States finished the Tokyo Olympics with 113 total medals, including 39 gold. China was next best with 88 total and 38 gold. Here’s the complete medal count.

Originally published at https://www.washingtonpost.com on August 6, 2021.

After the Japanese table tennis team mounted an upset against the Chinese in the mixed doubles Olympic final, they found themselves facing a barrage of online hate. Even before the competitors took to the podium, death threats and messages to “go to hell” and “disappear” flooded their social media accounts.

They weren’t the only ones.

A Taiwanese badminton player was slammed for dedicating his gold medal to “my country, Taiwan.” A Japanese gymnast who beat a Chinese favorite was accused of winning on unfair grounds. A Chinese sports shooter was bullied into deleting a selfie after failing to qualify for her final.

Throughout the Tokyo Olympics, online nationalists in China have scrutinized the behavior of Chinese athletes and their competitors, pouncing on perceived insults and extolling symbolic shows of strength.

In a news conference, Japanese table tennis player Jun Mizutani condemned the online abuse that he and his partner, Mima Ito, have received.

“I’ve been attacked probably more than others, so I have more immunity than others,” Mizutani said. “But that doesn’t mean that I can forgive them, and if I do, they will just move to the next target, so it needs to be dealt with properly.”

It isn’t unusual for nationalist sentiment in China to surge during the Olympics, especially Games held in historic foe Japan, experts say. But the unrelenting fervor of Chinese Internet trolls seems to have hit a fever pitch in Tokyo, a symptom of a state-backed rise in nationalism that is showing signs of spiraling out of control.

“This variant of nationalism — it’s more intense, more uncompromising and more unabashed,” said Ali Wyne, a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group who studies China. Keyboard warriors do not represent most everyday Chinese people, he emphasized, but they nonetheless reflect a citizenry that feels more powerful — and more eager to flex that power — than in years past.

Under Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party has sought to strategically stoke national pride, declaring at the party’s recent centenary that China’s rise is unstoppable. This has served to strengthen the government’s — and Xi’s — grip on power, but it has fueled intense anti-foreigner sentiment that has erupted in unexpected ways during the Olympics, including backlash against some Chinese athletes for losing and attacks against their victorious rivals.

The online abuse has garnered attention at a time when high-profile athletes have made public statements on the importance of mental health. In China, state-run media outlets and pockets of community members have tried to tamp down anger toward Olympians, with limited success.

“Nationalism — once that genie is out of that bottle, it can be hard to contain,” Wyne said.

This is especially true in a country where 1 billion people have ready access to the Internet — albeit one that is tightly controlled, said Baogang He, a professor of international relations at Deakin University in Australia. Like Facebook and Twitter in the United States, China’s widely used social media platforms have become environments where polarizing and extremist posts thrive. Government censorship has erased much of the nuance in online discourse, he added, leaving zealotry to take center stage.

A 23-year-old Chinese sports shooter deleted a post apologizing for not making her Olympics final after she got a deluge of comments saying that a selfie was “inappropriate” given her loss.

When Chinese table tennis players Liu Shiwen and Xu Xin lost the mixed doubles final to Mizutani and Ito, they both made public apologies as nationalist users criticized their performance on the microblogging site Weibo.

“I feel like I’ve failed the team,” Liu said to reporters after the match, tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, everyone.”

“The whole country was looking forward to this final,” Xu said. “I think the entire Chinese team cannot accept this result.”

The Olympic Games hold strong symbolic resonance in China, said Suisheng Zhao, executive director of the Center for China-U.S. Cooperation at the University of Denver. If the 2008 Beijing Olympics marked China’s reentry onto the world stage, this year’s Games, held amid intensifying competition between China and other world powers, are seen as a chance to show that the country is no longer rising but has reached the top.

“The message is that they have regained their position,” Zhao said. “It’s a very unique sense of Chinese national rejuvenation.”

Athletes who contribute to the gold medal tally — considered the most important metric to China — have been rewarded in the public sphere.

Sprinter Su Bingtian, a 31-year-old Guangdong native who has been lionized in state media as a national star, was anointed the “ miracle of the yellow race “ on Weibo after becoming the first Asian athlete since the 1930s to qualify for the men’s 100-meter final. Tang Xijing, an 18-year-old gymnast who clinched silver on the balance beam, was lauded by nationalists for using songs from a pro-China, anti-Japanese film during her floor routine.

This week, two Chinese cyclists wore pins of former communist leader Mao Zedong during their medal ceremony — a gesture praised by branches of the Communist Party but flagged by Olympic officials as a potential violation of rules that bar political propaganda.

“We are in contact with the Chinese Olympic Committee, who have assured us that we will receive a full formal answer soon,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said. “But they’ve also assured us already that this will not happen again.”

Even when athletes win, they’re not always safe from scrutiny.

Yang Qian, a shooter who clinched China’s first gold at these Games, was briefly attacked for an old Weibo post showing off her collection of shoes from Nike — a brand that nationalists have sought to boycott for expressing concerns over forced-labor practices in Xinjiang.

Taiwanese badminton duo Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin, who beat the Chinese team in the men’s doubles final, have been scorned for comments that nationalists see as undermining the Communist Party’s one-China policy. A Taiwanese celebrity lost sponsorship deals in China after showing support for Taiwanese players as “national athletes,” without specifying which nation she was referring to. An agent for Lee and Wang declined to comment on the issue, saying that it was “too sensitive.”

“In Taiwan, no athlete needs to apologize for losing a competition and not winning a gold medal, and no entertainer needs to apologize for supporting his or her country’s athlete,” Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture said in a pointed Facebook post Tuesday.

Nationalist fervor has become a “dangerous driving force” in China, Zhao said, constraining the government’s foreign policy approach and limiting options for how to improve ties with the United States, Japan, Taiwan and others. And with just six months until the Beijing Winter Olympics, hypernationalists in the country could continue to expand their influence.

“Can this type of emotional and irrational sentiment really serve China’s interest?” Zhao asked. “How far will Xi let this go on? We have to wait and see.”

Lyric Li in Seoul, Alicia Chen in Taipei and Julia Mio Inuma in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Xi’s China is preparing for a new world order

A lion or a porcupine? Insecurity drives China’s Xi to take on the world.

China thinks ‘patriotic education’ built a loyal generation. But in Hong Kong? Not so fast.

Originally published at https://www.washingtonpost.com on August 5, 2021.

MOSCOW — Belarusian Olympic runner Krystsina Tsimanouskaya arrived Wednesday in Poland to seek asylum after refusing to return to her homeland amid fears of reprisals from the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko as it wages sweeping crackdowns on dissent.

Tsimanouskaya, who runs the 100- and 200-meter races, had criticized Belarusian Olympic officials in an Instagram video from the Tokyo Games after they tried to force her to run in a relay that she had not trained for. She said those comments led to an attempt to forcibly send her home Sunday.

The 24-year-old asked Japanese police for protection at Haneda Airport in Tokyo and pleaded for help from the International Olympic Committee. Poland and the Czech Republic both offered her asylum.

“I want to thank all Polish consular and diplomatic staff involved, who flawlessly planned and secured her safe journey,” said Poland’s deputy foreign minister, Marcin Przydacz. “Poland continues to show its solidarity and support.”

Tsimanouskaya initially landed in Vienna before boarding a flight to Warsaw, according to Austria’s Foreign Ministry. In Warsaw, Tsimanouskaya was to be reunited with her husband, Arseniy Zdanevich, who fled Belarus.

Tsimanouskaya was under police protection in a VIP section at Vienna’s airport during her layover.

“The top priority for us is that Krystsina Tsimanouskaya is safe now. That is the bottom line,” Austrian Foreign Minster Alexander Schallenberg said in a statement.

Belarusian security forces have arrested dozens of activists and journalists in recent weeks, part of continuing crackdowns since mass protests over the August 2020 presidential election, which was rejected by the opposition as rigged in favor of Lukashenko.

Leading opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova, who led peaceful protests last year calling on Lukashenko to step down, faced a closed trial Wednesday with opposition colleague Maxim Znak over claims they tried to seize power. Kolesnikova appeared in court smiling and wearing a black dress, making her trademark heart signal with both hands.

Kolesnikova and Znak were members of a coordinating council set up by exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya to try to negotiate a peaceful transfer of power. Several more opposition figures were arrested Wednesday, according to the rights group Viasna.

After Belarusian activist Vitaly Shishov was found dead in a park in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky instructed security services to examine any security threats faced by Belarusian exiles in Ukraine, pledging to ensure their protection. Ukrainian police were investigating whether Shishov’s hanging was a murder staged to look like suicide, but few details of the probe have been disclosed.

Tsimanouskaya received a humanitarian visa from Poland on Monday and had been in the care of the Polish Embassy in Tokyo since then. She had been expected to be on a direct flight to Warsaw on Wednesday but boarded a flight to Vienna at the last minute.

Alexander Opeikin, executive director of the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation, a group that opposes the Belarusian government, said Poland’s embassy decided to change the plan for “security reasons.”

Belarus said Tsimanouskaya was removed from the national team because of her emotional state, but she told the BBC she did not suffer from any mental health issues and had not had any conversations with physicians at the Olympic Village.

She told the BBC she was surprised to be told she had to leave because she “didn’t say anything political.” She would like to return to Belarus “when I know that it’s safe,” she said. “Maybe I’ll only be able to return after five or 10 years.”

The IOC launched a formal investigation into the case Tuesday. Spokesman Mark Adams said it has received a written response from the Belarus Olympic Committee, “which will obviously now be evaluated.”

Adams said the IOC opened a disciplinary commission “to establish the facts in this case” and to question two Belarusian Olympic officials — Artur Shumak, deputy director of the national track-and-field training center, and Yuri Moisevich, the national team’s head coach — “who have been allegedly involved in this incident.”

European Union airlines have been banned from flying over Belarus since May, when Lukashenko sent a MiG-29 fighter jet to force a civilian plane to land as it was flying from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania. Belarusian authorities then arrested one of its passengers, Roman Protasevich, the founder of an opposition media outlet.

After Tsimanouskaya refused to fly back to Belarus on Sunday out of fear for her safety, Zdanevich, her husband, fled to Ukraine. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter that the country is “ready to provide necessary help during his stay in Ukraine and make him feel safe despite shocking news.”

The Belarus Olympic Committee is run by Lukashenko’s eldest son, Viktor Lukashenko. The IOC has refused to recognize Viktor Lukashenko’s election to the post.

No mention of Tsimanouskaya’s flight was made on Belarusian official media, which instead focused on the return of Belarusian Olympic high jumper and bronze medalist Maxim Nedosekov to Minsk on Wednesday.

Denyer reported from Tokyo. Robyn Dixon in Moscow contributed to this report.

Belarusian Olympic sprinter who sought protection in Japan granted Polish visa

• The Closing Ceremonies brought the Olympics to an official end much the same way the international spectacle began: in a near-empty stadium. It was a fitting end to a complicated Games.
• Up next: The Beijing Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 4, 2022. Here’s an early look at the next Games.
• Fewer and fewer cities want to host the Olympics, columnist Barry Svrluga writes. That should tell the IOC something.
• The United States finished the Tokyo Olympics with 113 total medals, including 39 gold. China was next best with 88 total and 38 gold. Here’s the complete medal count.

Originally published at https://www.washingtonpost.com on August 4, 2021.