Record-setting Armand Duplantis expects 'super-sick' worlds in Tokyo
The U.S.-born Swede has been in electric form, setting a 13th world record of 6.29 meters in Budapest on Tuesday to further seal his claim as one of the best track and field athletes in history.
But Duplantis shies away from the bravado often shown by sprinters, reiterating that he is not bothered by the numbers game.
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Yomiuri Shimbun
4 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Can Japan's Once-Strong Olympic Spirit Be Restored?; New JOC President Hashimoto Faces a Challenge
In June, the Japan Olympic Committee selected Seiko Hashimoto, 60, as its new president. Hashimoto is a member of the House of Councillors and a former president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. She became the first female president of the JOC not long after the International Olympic Committee elected its own first female president, Kirsty Coventry, in March of this year. How Hashimoto will revitalize the Olympic movement in Japan is a topic of great interest. The JOC presidential election was held on June 26, following the resignation of President Yasuhiro Yamashita. Since the JOC became independent from the Japan Sports Association (now the Japan Sport Association) in 1989, it has been customary for candidates to be narrowed down to a single choice behind the scenes. But this time, the selection was made by a vote for the first time in history. The three candidates were Hashimoto plus former Japan Football Association President Kozo Tashima, 67, and Japan Basketball Association President Yuko Mitsuya, 66. During a closed-door board meeting, each candidate stated their goals. Hashimoto won a majority of the votes in a secret ballot by the board members. Hashimoto participated in a total of seven Summer and Winter Olympics in speed skating and cycling. At the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, she won a bronze medal in the women's 1,500-meter speed skating event. She has also served as a member of the House of Councillors since 1995 and is currently in her sixth term. During that time, she has served as minister for the Olympics and Paralympics, as well as president of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Within domestic sports organizations, she has served as president of the Japan Skating Federation, and vice president of the JOC. She is currently also president of the Japan Rifle Shooting Association and the Japan Cycling Federation. At a press conference after her election, Hashimoto said: 'As the first female president of the JOC, I feel a great sense of responsibility. The JOC is in crisis. I want to propose reform plans. It is our mission to demonstrate Japan's ability to host the Olympics again and prepare for it.' The Olympic movement in Japan certainly is in crisis. Following the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021, corruption and collusion scandals surrounding the Games were exposed, tarnishing the Olympic brand. In the aftermath of this, Sapporo, which had been bidding to host the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, announced in October 2023 that it was withdrawing its bid. In December of the same year, the city also announced the 'suspension' of future bid activities. Considering this situation, three Japanese companies — Toyota Motor Corp., Panasonic Holdings Corp. and Bridgestone Corp. — withdrew from the IOC's top-tier sponsorship program, allowing their contracts to expire last year. This marks the first time that there are no Japanese companies as top-tier sponsors. Japan's presence in the international Olympic movement has never been weaker. Traditionally, Japan has been the non-Western country that best understands, participates in, and supports the Olympic movement. Jigoro Kano, the founding father of judo, was elected the first Asian member of the IOC in May 1909. Japan made its Olympic debut at the fifth edition of the Games, the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Furthermore, Japan hosted the first Olympics ever held in Asia in Tokyo in 1964, followed by a second Tokyo Olympics in 2021. It also hosted the Winter Olympics in Sapporo in 1972 and in Nagano in 1998. With a total of four Summer and Winter Olympics, Japan ranks third in the world in terms of the number of times it has hosted the Games. Only the United States, with eight Games, and France, with six, have been Olympic hosts more often. The latest Tokyo Olympics were particularly challenging, as they were postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were held mostly without spectators. In May of this year, Thomas Bach, the former president of the IOC, visited Japan to attend a ceremony at which he received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun. He praised the Tokyo Olympics, saying: 'The fact that the Games could be held was largely due to Japan's values of strength in the face of adversity and a sense of responsibility. In that time of crisis, we delivered the most precious gift of hope to the world.' He also expressed his gratitude in Japanese, saying, 'Thank you very much, everyone.' However, even though the Tokyo Games were highly praised around the world, they became a catalyst for dampening the Olympic movement in Japan due to corruption scandals. Bach was among the people who encouraged Hashimoto to run for JOC president. During his May visit, he told her: 'The president of the JOC should be an Olympian. Seiko must run for the presidency.' One reason Sapporo's bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics failed was a lack of coordination between the JOC and the IOC. This strong encouragement from the IOC leadership must have motivated Hashimoto to run for president. Upon taking office, Hashimoto wasted no time in taking action. On Aug. 6, she and other JOC executives attended the Peace Memorial Ceremony at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, held on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of that city. The purpose was to reflect on the Olympics' role in promoting a peaceful society through sports. It was the first time the JOC had participated in such an event. Hashimoto took part in a moment of silence at 8:15 a.m., the time the atomic bomb was dropped, and offered a prayer at the memorial cenotaph. She stated: 'The IOC is committed to promoting lasting world peace. As an organization that walks alongside the IOC, the JOC is dedicated to contributing to peace, and it is with this mindset that we attended the ceremony.' Hashimoto was born on Oct. 5, 1964, five days before the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics that year. Her given name, Seiko, is said to have been chosen in reference to the Olympic flame, called 'seika' in Japanese. Having participated in seven Summer and Winter Olympics, Hashimoto has been called the 'child of the Olympics.' In a sense, she is poised to be a key figure in the revival of the Olympic movement in Japan. As the first female president of the JOC, and someone who is deeply connected to the Olympics, will she be able to spark a movement to bring the Olympics and Paralympics back to Japan? We look forward to seeing what she will accomplish. Political Pulse appears every Saturday. Yuji Kondo Yuji Kondo is a senior writer in the Sports Department of The Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan Times
5 hours ago
- Japan Times
A seaside hotel built on competitive Japanese cycling
Despite a persistent rain off the Seto Inland Sea in early June, nine keirin bikers in brightly colored Lycra are lining up on a track in the coastal town of Tamano, their rear wheels held in a starting block so they're ready to take off as soon as the pistol fires. With the course banked to 30 degrees in places to accommodate speeds approaching 70 kilometers per hour, a wet track seems like a risky prospect. 'Nothing short of a major typhoon will make them cancel a race,' says Eiji Kosaka, reception manager of Keirin Hotel 10 . Opened in 2022, the hotel was the first in Japan to be integrated into a sports stadium — in this case, the Tamano Keirin velodrome. Most of its rooms look directly over the track, allowing guests to watch races from the comfort of a private balcony. I've come to get an up-close taste of keirin, a competitive biking discipline that started in Kyushu in 1948 to boost the postwar economy and has risen to the ranks of Olympic competition. In keirin's lapped races, cyclists initially follow a pacer, using the slipstream to get up to breakneck speeds. They remain in a predetermined order until the final laps, when the pacer exits and the racers sprint for the finish line, jostling for position. Japanese-style competitive cycling is just one of a few examples of legalized sports betting in the country. | ONKO CHISHIN I've heard the Japanese version can get fairly rough and tumble, with headbutting, thrown elbows and no brakes to soften collisions. To my relief, the soggy race I'm watching never gets ugly. The riders just zip over the line, trailing fantails of water and coasting amiably back to the locker rooms. Perhaps because of the rain, there are only a handful of spectators, so I've no crowd reaction to gauge the result. Was it the outcome expected or an upset? I'm not sure, but since punters can place bets at a track or off-site facility, by phone and even online, I know somebody somewhere is ripping up a betting slip in frustration. Keirin is big business. Alongside motorcycle, boat and horse racing, it is one of only four sports with legalized gambling in Japan. Races take place nearly every day at 43 velodromes across the country, and in fiscal 2024, the Japan Keirin Association reported over ¥1.3 trillion in betting slip turnover. Rooms at Keirin Hotel 10 offers views of both the velodrome track below and the Seto Inland Sea beyond. | ONKO CHISHIN The historic Tamano velodrome, which was established in 1951, has been there throughout most of keirin's rise to popularity. When the operators decided to renovate in 2020, they wanted to preserve the track's 70-year history while getting more use out of the facility. They settled on the idea of a hotel. 'Typically, keirin venues have athlete accommodation facilities, but these are only used during races — just a few dozen days per year,' says Tomoki Matsuyama, CEO of Keirin Hotel 10 operator Onko Chishin. 'The project team thought: 'Why not transform it into a hotel and open it to the general public?' 'We're introducing the appeal of keirin culture not only to traditional fans but also to people who know nothing about keirin, younger generations and international visitors.' The erstwhile athlete dormitory was converted into Keirin Hotel 10, an eight-floor, 149-room hotel that opened in 2022. The facilities include a restaurant, Japanese-style bath, event spaces and even a small gallery with a keirin exhibit. The athletes still stay here on race days but on floors sequestered from regular guests. Races at the Tamano Velodrome take place a few dozen days per year. | ONKO CHISHIN The DNA of the historic stadium is alive in the hotel's decor, with salvaged seats turned into rocking chairs, lap timers into colorful objets d'art and even parts of the stadium mascot, Guts Tamachan, repurposed as art in the lobby bathroom. Bike frames become chandeliers and flower vases. Hangers are halved tire rims. The bold color scheme comes from the racers' uniforms. It's a kitschy-fun immersion in the world of keirin and a ready-made chance for the cycling-loving staff to connect with guests by explaining the finer points of the sport to the uninitiated. With a location near Uno Port and rental bikes that can be taken on the ferry, the hotel makes for a convenient base for exploring Naoshima and the art islands of the Seto Inland Sea on two wheels. Meanwhile, a range of rooms from suites with semi-open-air baths and spacious balconies (¥48,450 per person per night) to budget-priced singles (¥8,580 per night) accommodates most budgets.
Japan Times
17 hours ago
- Japan Times
Record-setting Armand Duplantis expects 'super-sick' worlds in Tokyo
Record-breaking Armand "Mondo" Duplantis has predicted a "super-sick" world championships in Tokyo, where he won his first Olympic medal at the Summer Games that were delayed to 2021 due to COVID-19, but insisted statistics were unimportant to him. The U.S.-born Swede has been in electric form, setting a 13th world record of 6.29 meters in Budapest on Tuesday to further seal his claim as one of the best track and field athletes in history. But Duplantis shies away from the bravado often shown by sprinters, reiterating that he is not bothered by the numbers game.
