Latest news with #STEPHENWADE
Japan Today
25-07-2025
- Sport
- Japan Today
Australia's swimming dominance: Small population but big results
The main swimming pool is seen at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, Thursday, July 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) By STEPHEN WADE Australia has a relatively small population. But Australia is a giant when it comes to competitive swimming. Whether it's the Olympics, or as it is this time with the swimming world championships opening in the pool in Singapore on Sunday, Aussie swimmers grace the podium. 'We have swimming in our DNA as a country,' Rohan Taylor, Australia's head coach, told The Associated Press. 'We have to be particular and purposeful in finding the talent,' he added. "And then it's the coaching. We can't get it wrong. We get one crack at the talented athlete.' Australia won seven gold medals and 18 overall at last year's Paris Olympics, second in both categories to the United States. The United States has 340 million people, almost 13 times Australia's population of 27 million. The Americans won eight gold and 28 overall. China, No. 3 with 12 overall, won only two gold medals from a population of 1.4 billion — 52 times Australia's. Australia's women are swimming powers, led by Kaylee McKeown and Mollie O'Callaghan. Add in Moesha Johnson, who has already won the 10- and 5-kilometer open-water races in Singapore and expects to race the 800 and 1,500 in the pool. McKeown won the 100 and 200 backstroke in Paris and in Tokyo in 2021. She also won both races two years ago at the worlds in Fukuoka, Japan. O'Callaghan is the defending 200 freestyle winner for Paris. Then there's men like Kyle Chalmers, who won the 100 free at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and has piled up nine Olympics medals and 12 in world championships. 'They have done so well on the international stage — multiple times,' Taylor said. "So it's another opportunity for them to add to their CVs.' For French star Léon Marchand, the world championships mean easing off. He won four individual Olympic gold medals a year ago in Paris. The Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 are still far off. Time to swim a lighter schedule. None of that for Canadian Summer McIntosh. She won three individual gold medals in Paris, but will go for five in Singapore, a test run for her program in Los Angeles. These worlds, a year after the Olympics, feature swimmers in their prime, older swimmers who want to see if they can make it to LA, and young swimmers making their debut. Another worlds is set for 2027 in Budapest, Hungary — the final proving ground before the 2028 Olympics. Marchand is expected to race only the 200 and 400 individual medley races in Singapore, dropping the 200 breaststroke and 200 butterfly. He won gold in all four in Paris, but wants to be fresh from the two IM races and world-record shots. In Singapore, McIntosh will go in the two IMs, the 200 fly, and the 400 and 800 freestyle. She did not swim the 800 free in Paris. This time she will, which sets up a showdown with American superstar Katie Ledecky — maybe the most anticipated race of the worlds. The eight gold medals that U.S. swimmers won to top the Paris standings was their lowest victory total at the Olympics since the 1988 Seoul Games, when the Americans fell to East Germany. Singapore is the place to regroup and add youth, with the home Los Angeles Olympics in view. The American men had a tough Olympics with the only gold from Bobby Finke in the 1,500. Look for some new faces in Singapore. 'The average age of our men's team is younger than the average age of our women's team,' U.S. coach Greg Meehan told The AP. He said it was 'the first time in recent memory.' He ran off names like freestylers Jack Alexy, Luke Hobson, and Rex Maurer and Luka Urlando in the butterfly. 'I do acknowledge that the rest of the world is getting better. There is no doubt about it,' Meehan said. 'I love a challenge — I'm going to lean into that.' Familiar names stand out on the women's side — Katie Ledecky, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske, Kate Douglass and Regan Smith. Ledecky, of course, is a nine-time Olympic gold medalist and holds world records in the 800 and 1,500 freestyle. Walsh holds the world record in the 100 fly, and Smith in the 100 backstroke. Yes. A 12-year-old swimmer named Yu Zidi from China is competing in the world championships, and her incredible times mean she might win a medal. At 12. Yu has qualified in the 200 and 400 IMs and the 200 fly. Her time of 2:10.63 in the 200 IM was the fastest ever from a 12-year-old swimmer — female or male. Yu has a best in the 200 fly of 2:06.83 and 4:35.53 in the 400 IM. Both times would have been good enough for fourth place in last year's Olympics. The Chinese stars are Pan Zhanle, who set a world record of 46.40 in 100 freestyle in Paris, and Qin Haiyang. Qin holds the world record in the 200 breaststroke in 2:05.48. AP sports: © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Japan Today
02-07-2025
- Sport
- Japan Today
Stadium where Babe Ruth played in Tokyo is at center of disputed park redevelopment plan
A general view of the Jingu stadium in Tokyo on Wednesday By STEPHEN WADE Plans to demolish a historic baseball stadium where Babe Ruth played and an adjacent rugby venue are at the heart of a disputed park redevelopment in Tokyo that critics say trades history and greenery for commercial space. The plan to remake the Jingu Gaien park area was approved 2 1/2 years ago by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Work clearing land has begun but opponents are still trying to stop the project, which could take a decade to complete. A coalition on Wednesday presented an open letter to Toshiko Abe, the minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology, asking the project be reassessed. It's signed by 368 experts — urban planners, architects and environmental scientists — and 1,167 others. The park area was established a century ago through public donations to honor the Meiji Emperor. At the heart of the issue is citizens' control of public space, and a potential conflict of interest with private developers and politicians deciding how valuable parcels are used. The stadium oozes history and critics say building skyscrapers in the park space would never be allowed in Central Park in New York or Hyde Park in London. Ruth and Lou Gehrig played at the stadium on a 1934 barnstorming tour. Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami was inspired to write his first novel while drinking beer and watching a game there in 1978. The stadium is still home to the Yakult Swallows baseball team and hosted a concert this week. Plans call for developers to build a pair of 200-meter (650-feet) towers and a smaller tower. The stadiums are to be rebuilt in the reconfigured space with the baseball stadium going where the rugby stadium now stands. The open letter is critical of so-called private finance schemes that give private developers access to park space. Hibiya Park is Tokyo's oldest public park, another example of this approach. Opposition to the Jingu redevelopment has included novelist Murakami, a conservancy group, and botanists and environmentalists who argue the sprawling project threatens 100-year-old gingko trees that grace the area's main avenue. A global conservancy body ICOMOS, which works with the United Nations body UNESCO, has said the development will lead to 'irreversible destruction of cultural heritage' with trees and green space being lost. Opposition groups are pitted against powerful real-estate developer Mitsui Fudosan, the Shinto religious body, and Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike. 'The problem is that many Japanese citizens are not so much interested in democratically regulating their own city and are used to demolishing buildings,' Kohei Saito, a Japanese political economist at Tokyo University, wrote to The Associated Press. He said 'companies with political power try to maximize their short-term profits without consideration of Tokyo's attractiveness (history, culture), inhabitants' well-being and future generations.' Zoning changes to allow high-rise buildings in the area were made around 2013 by the Tokyo government when the city won the bid for the 2020 Olympics. Many of those changes permitted building the neighboring National Stadium but also applied to the park area. 'The process of rezoning the area lacked transparency and democratic procedure and constitutes an illegal abuse of the governor's discretion in urban planning decisions,' the open letter said. The Jingu district was considered 'common property' until after World War II when the government sold it to Shinto under a promise it would remain a common space. The national government comes into play because the rugby venue is the property of the Japan Sport Council, a national government affiliated body. The rugby venue represents about 30% of the Jingu Gaien area. Opponents hope the timing later this month of a national election might aid their cause with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba heading a minority government. Former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has ties to the rugby venue. In addition to serving two decades ago as prime minister, he is the former president of the Japan Rugby Football Union and also served as the president of the 2020 Olympic organizing committee until he was forced to resign after making sexist comments about women. Opened in 1926, developers argue the baseball stadium is too old to save. However, Fenway Park in Boston dates from 1912 and Wrigley Field in Chicago from 1914. Both have been refurbished and are among the most venerated in the United States. Meiji Kinenkan, a historic reception hall in Jingu Gaien, dates from 1881 and is still widely used with no calls for its demolition. Mitsui Fudosan's headquarters building in Tokyo dates from 1929. Koshien Stadium, located near Osaka, was built in 1924 and has been in use since a refurbishment. The new rugby stadium would be an indoor venue with plastic grass, which players view as the least desirable surface for the sport. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
