The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games (OG) of “Tokyo 2020”, Friday July 23, was like the Olympiads maintained in the midst of a pandemic and in opposition to the majority of the Japanese population. In the new 68,000-seat national stadium, in front of barely a thousand official guests, including French President Emmanuel Macron, the only head of state of the G7 member countries present, Emperor Naruhito announced that the Games of the XXXIIe Olympiad were open.
The interminable ceremony, lacking in rhythm and conviction – except for a beautiful image of the Earth drawn by a swarm of drones on the night of the capital and the lighting of the flame by the popular tennis player Naomi Osaka -, was only enlivened by the parades of delegations which, for the first time, gave a little gaiety to an event trapped in its bubble. The volume of sound and fireworks, which punctuated the evening, did not cover the “Stop the Olympics” tirelessly chanted by opponents, gathered at different entrances to the stadium access area and surrounded by an impressive deployment of police forces and soldiers.
During the day, hot and humid in Tokyo, as usual in this season, warning messages had regularly appeared, as every day, on the screens of cell phones. “Risk of heat stroke, let’s avoid physical activities. “
These messages, as the Games begin, are indicative of the two parallel worlds in which Japan lives today: on the one hand, the media drumbeat of the “Olympic family”, which has ignored this seasonal fact to please others. American televisions, such as NBC, which did not want to change the American football or basketball seasons that begin in the fall; on the other, the daily feeling of the inhabitants of the archipelago. The majority of Japanese are worried about an event held in the midst of the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, in a city under a state of emergency.
WHO puts a damper on the enthusiasm forged by the media
The capital records nearly 2,000 new cases of contagion every day. This assessment could, according to the medical expert with the government, Shigeru Omi, pass to 3,000 at the beginning of August, while the hospital system is already on the verge of saturation.
The organizers of the Olympics and the agency Dentsu – the advertising giant, a big shadow partner of the Liberal Democratic Party, the conservative PLD in power, and with enormous power of influence – are counting on the first medals obtained by Japanese athletes to defuse the anxiety-provoking runaway.
You have 59.87% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games (OG) of “Tokyo 2020”, Friday July 23, was like the Olympiads maintained in the midst of a pandemic and in opposition to the majority of the Japanese population. In the new 68,000-seat national stadium, in front of barely a thousand official guests, including French President Emmanuel Macron, the only head of state of the G7 member countries present, Emperor Naruhito announced that the Games of the XXXIIe Olympiad were open.
The interminable ceremony, lacking in rhythm and conviction – except for a beautiful image of the Earth drawn by a swarm of drones on the night of the capital and the lighting of the flame by the popular tennis player Naomi Osaka -, was only enlivened by the parades of delegations which, for the first time, gave a little gaiety to an event trapped in its bubble. The volume of sound and fireworks, which punctuated the evening, did not cover the “Stop the Olympics” tirelessly chanted by opponents, gathered at different entrances to the stadium access area and surrounded by an impressive deployment of police forces and soldiers.
During the day, hot and humid in Tokyo, as usual in this season, warning messages had regularly appeared, as every day, on the screens of cell phones. “Risk of heat stroke, let’s avoid physical activities. “
These messages, as the Games begin, are indicative of the two parallel worlds in which Japan lives today: on the one hand, the media drumbeat of the “Olympic family”, which has ignored this seasonal fact to please others. American televisions, such as NBC, which did not want to change the American football or basketball seasons that begin in the fall; on the other, the daily feeling of the inhabitants of the archipelago. The majority of Japanese are worried about an event held in the midst of the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, in a city under a state of emergency.
WHO puts a damper on the enthusiasm forged by the media
The capital records nearly 2,000 new cases of contagion every day. This assessment could, according to the medical expert with the government, Shigeru Omi, pass to 3,000 at the beginning of August, while the hospital system is already on the verge of saturation.
The organizers of the Olympics and the agency Dentsu – the advertising giant, a big shadow partner of the Liberal Democratic Party, the conservative PLD in power, and with enormous power of influence – are counting on the first medals obtained by Japanese athletes to defuse the anxiety-provoking runaway.
You have 59.87% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
She embodies the “2024 generation”, supposed to date for the future Olympic Games in Paris.. The course of the table tennis player Prithika Pavade offers the support of a beautiful story to the communicators, who repeat over and over that the event should benefit not only the capital, but also the youth of Seine-Saint-Denis. Born in Villepinte, and still dismissed in Saint-Denis, the high school student has taken the lead: here she is already at the Tokyo 2021 Games. First round scheduled for Saturday July 24, nine days before her 17th birthday, against the Russian Yana Noskova (59e world), which she beat in the Olympic qualifying tournament in April in Portugal.
“It was not until February that I began to believe in this participation, explains the Francilienne. As soon as I knew that I was going to be able to compete in the qualifying tournaments, I said to myself: “If this chance is given to me, I can try to qualify”. ” It’s done.
“She is very amazing”
The French Table Tennis Federation knows it, it has a player with great potential. So far, only 390e global, of course. But European champion under 21, in 2020, at 16 years old. And constantly outclassed since its beginnings at the age of 7, then at Le Bourget.
“She is very amazing », Confirms Patrick Chila. 2000 Games bronze medalist, now men’s coach, discovers sportswoman “Very early, improving day by day”. As well as a teenage girl “Attentive, respectful, without a big head”.
Quiet voice, easy smile, the table tennis player begins to master the exercise of the interview. As on this June morning devoted to journalists, during a gathering of the French team in Chantilly (Oise). After about fifteen minutes of maintenance, this little federal reminder: “Sorry, but Prithika has to follow up with a video interview. “ Not the first, nor the last, since qualifying for Tokyo.
At the time of the Parisian bid for the 2024 Games, television cameras had filmed the family living room. At the time, in the Le Bourget building, trophies everywhere. Seventy-seven, according to the maternal count from four years ago.
“My family supports me very much. My parents made a lot of sacrifices. For example, when they could take me somewhere in a car to facilitate my rest, they would. ” The champion also owes a lot to his former trainer, Nicolas Greiner, who died of cardiac arrest in October 2020.
You have 36.41% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
She embodies the “2024 generation”, supposed to date for the future Olympic Games in Paris.. The course of the table tennis player Prithika Pavade offers the support of a beautiful story to the communicators, who repeat over and over that the event should benefit not only the capital, but also the youth of Seine-Saint-Denis. Born in Villepinte, and still dismissed in Saint-Denis, the high school student has taken the lead: here she is already at the Tokyo 2021 Games. First round scheduled for Saturday July 24, nine days before her 17th birthday, against the Russian Yana Noskova (59e world), which she beat in the Olympic qualifying tournament in April in Portugal.
“It was not until February that I began to believe in this participation, explains the Francilienne. As soon as I knew that I was going to be able to compete in the qualifying tournaments, I said to myself: “If this chance is given to me, I can try to qualify”. ” It’s done.
“She is very amazing”
The French Table Tennis Federation knows it, it has a player with great potential. So far, only 390e global, of course. But European champion under 21, in 2020, at 16 years old. And constantly outclassed since its beginnings at the age of 7, then at Le Bourget.
“She is very amazing », Confirms Patrick Chila. 2000 Games bronze medalist, now men’s coach, discovers sportswoman “Very early, improving day by day”. As well as a teenage girl “Attentive, respectful, without a big head”.
Quiet voice, easy smile, the table tennis player begins to master the exercise of the interview. As on this June morning devoted to journalists, during a gathering of the French team in Chantilly (Oise). After about fifteen minutes of maintenance, this little federal reminder: “Sorry, but Prithika has to follow up with a video interview. “ Not the first, nor the last, since qualifying for Tokyo.
At the time of the Parisian bid for the 2024 Games, television cameras had filmed the family living room. At the time, in the Le Bourget building, trophies everywhere. Seventy-seven, according to the maternal count from four years ago.
“My family supports me very much. My parents made a lot of sacrifices. For example, when they could take me somewhere in a car to facilitate my rest, they would. ” The champion also owes a lot to his former trainer, Nicolas Greiner, who died of cardiac arrest in October 2020.
You have 36.41% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
Factual“The other Japan” (2/6). Among its many vulnerabilities, aging Japanese society is seeing the generational gap widening.
The heavy buildings of the Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine impose their austerity in the evening falling on the ancient Japanese capital. Opposite, behind a row of trees, wooden panels covered with calls in Japanese and Russian to demonstrate or to break one’s chains, reminiscent of the dazibaos of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, frame the entrance to the Yoshida dormitory.
Built in 1913, this dark wood building sits at the end of an overgrown alley. Inside reigns a mess of books, boxes, tired armchairs. The walls are covered with posters, some from the 1970s against the Vietnam War. Windows are broken.
The Yoshida dormitory is threatened with destruction by the prestigious university, owner of the site, which sees it only as an island of insalubrity. A trial is underway but its 150 occupants, supported by teachers and former students, are doing everything to preserve Japan’s last self-managed university dormitory, apolitical and proud of its ideal of total freedom, promoted since the 1960s.
“Here, we can say everything and write everything”, appreciates Sho Sasaki, a sociology student who, from high school, wanted to come, while others, like Ryosuke Hanzawa, an agricultural engineering student, discovered it when reading Yojohan Shinwa Taikei (The mythical Chronicles on four and a half tatami mats, Kadokawa, 2004) novel by Tomihiko Morimi adapted into an animated series. In this book, the author, formerly of the university, makes the dormitory a mythical place. “He convinced me to move there. “
Such a movement remains rare in Japan. According to sociologist Kyoko Tominaga of Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, the motivation of young Japanese to protest is now the lowest among democracies around the world. The muffled clamor of the violent clashes between students and riot police in the 1960s and 1970s is seen as radical and ineffective: barely 10% of the younger generation have a positive image of this period, she estimates.
“The feeling of being neglected”
The new generation grew up in a country in deflation following the bursting in 1991 of the “speculative bubble”. After the consumerist frenzy of an era of all excess: from sushi with a gold glitter to nightclubs where thousands of girls look bodycon (contraction of body conscious, ultra-tight and ultrashort dress) danced entire nights with their hair unfurled, the Archipelago brutalized by globalization has never again experienced the outbreaks of elders’ protest or their extravagance. In contrast, Japan is seeing the generational gap widening. “For politicians, priority goes to the elderly”, deplores Yuma Kato, student of Taisho University, who criticizes his elders “Clinging to power”.
You have 64.82% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
Factual“The other Japan” (2/6). Among its many vulnerabilities, aging Japanese society is seeing the generational gap widening.
The heavy buildings of the Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine impose their austerity in the evening falling on the ancient Japanese capital. Opposite, behind a row of trees, wooden panels covered with calls in Japanese and Russian to demonstrate or to break one’s chains, reminiscent of the dazibaos of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, frame the entrance to the Yoshida dormitory.
Built in 1913, this dark wood building sits at the end of an overgrown alley. Inside reigns a mess of books, boxes, tired armchairs. The walls are covered with posters, some from the 1970s against the Vietnam War. Windows are broken.
The Yoshida dormitory is threatened with destruction by the prestigious university, owner of the site, which sees it only as an island of insalubrity. A trial is underway but its 150 occupants, supported by teachers and former students, are doing everything to preserve Japan’s last self-managed university dormitory, apolitical and proud of its ideal of total freedom, promoted since the 1960s.
“Here, we can say everything and write everything”, appreciates Sho Sasaki, a sociology student who, from high school, wanted to come, while others, like Ryosuke Hanzawa, an agricultural engineering student, discovered it when reading Yojohan Shinwa Taikei (The mythical Chronicles on four and a half tatami mats, Kadokawa, 2004) novel by Tomihiko Morimi adapted into an animated series. In this book, the author, formerly of the university, makes the dormitory a mythical place. “He convinced me to move there. “
Such a movement remains rare in Japan. According to sociologist Kyoko Tominaga of Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, the motivation of young Japanese to protest is now the lowest among democracies around the world. The muffled clamor of the violent clashes between students and riot police in the 1960s and 1970s is seen as radical and ineffective: barely 10% of the younger generation have a positive image of this period, she estimates.
“The feeling of being neglected”
The new generation grew up in a country in deflation following the bursting in 1991 of the “speculative bubble”. After the consumerist frenzy of an era of all excess: from sushi with a gold glitter to nightclubs where thousands of girls look bodycon (contraction of body conscious, ultra-tight and ultrashort dress) danced entire nights with their hair unfurled, the Archipelago brutalized by globalization has never again experienced the outbreaks of elders’ protest or their extravagance. In contrast, Japan is seeing the generational gap widening. “For politicians, priority goes to the elderly”, deplores Yuma Kato, student of Taisho University, who criticizes his elders “Clinging to power”.
You have 64.82% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
The Nanterre Commercial Court on Friday 23 July authorized Canal + to suspend the sublicense contract with BeIN Sports and to interrupt its payments for the broadcasting of two Ligue 1 matches, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has learned from sources close to broadcasters.
Two weeks before the resumption of the championship, the court said, however, that these payments were to resume if the Qatari channel sued the Professional Football League (LFP), which Canal + had requested in vain, said one of the sources.
BeIN Sports acquired in 2018, for 332 million euros from the LFP, the broadcasting rights for these two matches per day, lot 3, which it sublicensed for the same amount to Canal +, which is supposed to disseminate them. But since mid-June and the attribution of 80% of Ligue 1 matches to Amazon for 250 million euros, Canal +, which refuses to pay 332 million euros for only two matches per day, wants to withdraw from the broadcast of the French championship.
“The chaos continues”
After sending a letter to BeIN Sports on July 13 explaining to it that it wanted to suspend its sub-license contract, Canal + at the same time refused to pay the first draft of the season of nearly 500,000 euros for the contract with BeIN. A sprain that the latter channel did not let pass by assigning Canal + two days later in summary before the commercial court of Nanterre.
But justice therefore considered that BeIN should initiate proceedings against the LFP, as requested by Canal +. “This is something the group [BeIN] think “, assured one of these sources. “Because if BeIN attacks the LFP, Canal + will be obliged to pay and broadcast the matches”, she explains, before concluding: “The chaos continues. “
The Nanterre Commercial Court on Friday 23 July authorized Canal + to suspend the sublicense contract with BeIN Sports and to interrupt its payments for the broadcasting of two Ligue 1 matches, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has learned from sources close to broadcasters.
Two weeks before the resumption of the championship, the court said, however, that these payments were to resume if the Qatari channel sued the Professional Football League (LFP), which Canal + had requested in vain, said one of the sources.
BeIN Sports acquired in 2018, for 332 million euros from the LFP, the broadcasting rights for these two matches per day, lot 3, which it sublicensed for the same amount to Canal +, which is supposed to disseminate them. But since mid-June and the attribution of 80% of Ligue 1 matches to Amazon for 250 million euros, Canal +, which refuses to pay 332 million euros for only two matches per day, wants to withdraw from the broadcast of the French championship.
“The chaos continues”
After sending a letter to BeIN Sports on July 13 explaining to it that it wanted to suspend its sub-license contract, Canal + at the same time refused to pay the first draft of the season of nearly 500,000 euros for the contract with BeIN. A sprain that the latter channel did not let pass by assigning Canal + two days later in summary before the commercial court of Nanterre.
But justice therefore considered that BeIN should initiate proceedings against the LFP, as requested by Canal +. “This is something the group [BeIN] think “, assured one of these sources. “Because if BeIN attacks the LFP, Canal + will be obliged to pay and broadcast the matches”, she explains, before concluding: “The chaos continues. “
Back to the events of the day.
Not everyone was able to participate in the big opening ceremony party on Friday July 23 at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. Some athletes were, in fact, excused, their events having started. Thus, in rowing, the Frenchmen Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias finished first in their series in the first qualifying round in a pair, even setting the best time of all the teams combined.
Archery qualifying also started on Friday, with one eye-catching image: Russian archer Svetlana Gombova passed out from the sweltering heat. The athlete was able to get up and finished 45e of the qualifying event, with a score of 630.
Discover the menu of tomorrow.
The Olympics are (really) on. If some events have already started since the middle of the week, such as football or softball (women’s version of baseball), the first medals will be distributed on Saturday, with several French chances. At just 18 years old, Océane Muller could be the first French medalist in 10 meters air rifle, category in which the Alsatian won the gold medal at the end of May at the European Championships (final from 3:45 a.m., Paris time). Another chance for a medal on Saturday: judoka Shirine Boukli, European champion in 2020, in the under 48 kg category.
The men’s road race of cycling will also take place on Saturday on rough terrain (departure at 4 am), just six days after the end of the Tour de France. France will have to do without Julian Alaphilippe, Thibaut Pinot, or even Romain Bardet. Rémi Cavagna, Benoît Cosnefroy, Kenny Elissonde, David Gaudu, Guillaume Martin will wear the tricolor jersey, for an expected finish around 9:30 am One of the big favorites of this race will be the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel, who wore the jersey yellow for six days on the Tour de France this year and then gave up to be ready for these Olympics. Or the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, for the double after his victory obtained on the Big Loop.
And also… Also on the program for this second day (the full program), the rowing pursuit and the beginning of the trials of speakers, of Artistic Gymnastics, of field hockey, of taekwondo, of basket 3×3, of judo, of badminton… as well as the first match of the French team of handball of Nikola Karabatic against Argentina (4 hours).
Follow all the events live on Lemonde.fr from 2 hours.
The Games in an animated shot.
The French delegation marching for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games! Clarisse Agbegnenou… https://t.co/X6mospeRXa
Flag bearer of the French delegation alongside judoka Clarisse Agbegnenou, gymnast Samir Aït Saïd performed on Friday when the blue athletes entered during the opening ceremony, performing a back salto. This rings specialist is living a beautiful story and a sporting resurrection with these Tokyo Olympics.
Five years ago, he finished the Rio Games in hospital, having broken his left leg after landing a jump. Four years before, in London, he had not been able to participate in the Olympics due to an injury. But Aït Saïd will not have much time to recover from his emotions after this ceremony, since he starts qualifying on Saturday.
The Olympians at the microphone.
“We worked hard to qualify for the Games, but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all that”
Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine has decided to forfeit Tokyo so as not to have to face an Israeli opponent in his table game, he announced on Algerian television Thursday evening. Nourine was due to face Sudanese Mohamed Abdalrasool first on Monday in the first round, before fighting Israeli Tohar Butbul in the next round.
This is not the first time that Nourine has withdrawn from a competition for this reason. He had already done this during the 2019 Worlds in Tokyo.
Snapshots from our special envoys.
On your marks, get set, take the elevator. Any new arrival on Japanese soil must first respect three days of quarantine – now behind us – but he can still stretch his legs as much as he wants during his first seventy-two hours. Yes, as long as you check in every fifteen minutes, and therefore avoid an excursion to Mount Fuji.
Starting and finishing point for our time trials: a small table on the fourth floor of the hotel, which logically acts as a reception hall. A signature is requested when leaving, another when returning.
So much for the precise prophylaxis at the time of Covid-19, more or less respected here and there, we will not name names. Even the honest citizen can sometimes be caught up in reality. A take-out order of sushi that is desired, and it is the tragedy: three minutes late. Without consequence, rest assured.
Not a day goes by without the emergence of cases of athletes in Tokyo infected with SARS-CoV-2. On Friday, the organizers of the Olympics announced that three new athletes had been diagnosed positive. If their nationality and discipline have not been revealed, the Portuguese surfer, Frederico Morais, announced on his Instagram account that he had just caught the Covid-19 and that he could therefore not participate in the events.
“This is probably the saddest video I have ever had to post. In 2019, I qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which were postponed due to Covid-19. And now, because of the virus, I will not be able to compete or represent my country ”, lamented in his video the one who was considered the best European surfer of the Olympic tournament, until his retirement. Another notable package, that of the German cyclist Simon Geschke. Tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, he will not be able to participate in the test scheduled for Saturday.
Our selection of articles on the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games
Back to the events of the day.
Not everyone was able to participate in the big opening ceremony party on Friday July 23 at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. Some athletes were, in fact, excused, their events having started. Thus, in rowing, the Frenchmen Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias finished first in their series in the first qualifying round in a pair, even setting the best time of all the teams combined.
Archery qualifying also started on Friday, with one eye-catching image: Russian archer Svetlana Gombova passed out from the sweltering heat. The athlete was able to get up and finished 45e of the qualifying event, with a score of 630.
Discover the menu of tomorrow.
The Olympics are (really) on. If some events have already started since the middle of the week, such as football or softball (women’s version of baseball), the first medals will be distributed on Saturday, with several French chances. At just 18 years old, Océane Muller could be the first French medalist in 10 meters air rifle, category in which the Alsatian won the gold medal at the end of May at the European Championships (final from 3:45 a.m., Paris time). Another chance for a medal on Saturday: judoka Shirine Boukli, European champion in 2020, in the under 48 kg category.
The men’s road race of cycling will also take place on Saturday on rough terrain (departure at 4 am), just six days after the end of the Tour de France. France will have to do without Julian Alaphilippe, Thibaut Pinot, or even Romain Bardet. Rémi Cavagna, Benoît Cosnefroy, Kenny Elissonde, David Gaudu, Guillaume Martin will wear the tricolor jersey, for an expected finish around 9:30 am One of the big favorites of this race will be the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel, who wore the jersey yellow for six days on the Tour de France this year and then gave up to be ready for these Olympics. Or the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, for the double after his victory obtained on the Big Loop.
And also… Also on the program for this second day (the full program), the rowing pursuit and the beginning of the trials of speakers, of Artistic Gymnastics, of field hockey, of taekwondo, of basket 3×3, of judo, of badminton… as well as the first match of the French team of handball of Nikola Karabatic against Argentina (4 hours).
Follow all the events live on Lemonde.fr from 2 hours.
The Games in an animated shot.
The French delegation marching for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games! Clarisse Agbegnenou… https://t.co/X6mospeRXa
Flag bearer of the French delegation alongside judoka Clarisse Agbegnenou, gymnast Samir Aït Saïd performed on Friday when the blue athletes entered during the opening ceremony, performing a back salto. This rings specialist is living a beautiful story and a sporting resurrection with these Tokyo Olympics.
Five years ago, he finished the Rio Games in hospital, having broken his left leg after landing a jump. Four years before, in London, he had not been able to participate in the Olympics due to an injury. But Aït Saïd will not have much time to recover from his emotions after this ceremony, since he starts qualifying on Saturday.
The Olympians at the microphone.
“We worked hard to qualify for the Games, but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all that”
Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine has decided to forfeit Tokyo so as not to have to face an Israeli opponent in his table game, he announced on Algerian television Thursday evening. Nourine was due to face Sudanese Mohamed Abdalrasool first on Monday in the first round, before fighting Israeli Tohar Butbul in the next round.
This is not the first time that Nourine has withdrawn from a competition for this reason. He had already done this during the 2019 Worlds in Tokyo.
Snapshots from our special envoys.
On your marks, get set, take the elevator. Any new arrival on Japanese soil must first respect three days of quarantine – now behind us – but he can still stretch his legs as much as he wants during his first seventy-two hours. Yes, as long as you check in every fifteen minutes, and therefore avoid an excursion to Mount Fuji.
Starting and finishing point for our time trials: a small table on the fourth floor of the hotel, which logically acts as a reception hall. A signature is requested when leaving, another when returning.
So much for the precise prophylaxis at the time of Covid-19, more or less respected here and there, we will not name names. Even the honest citizen can sometimes be caught up in reality. A take-out order of sushi that is desired, and it is the tragedy: three minutes late. Without consequence, rest assured.
Not a day goes by without the emergence of cases of athletes in Tokyo infected with SARS-CoV-2. On Friday, the organizers of the Olympics announced that three new athletes had been diagnosed positive. If their nationality and discipline have not been revealed, the Portuguese surfer, Frederico Morais, announced on his Instagram account that he had just caught the Covid-19 and that he could therefore not participate in the events.
“This is probably the saddest video I have ever had to post. In 2019, I qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which were postponed due to Covid-19. And now, because of the virus, I will not be able to compete or represent my country ”, lamented in his video the one who was considered the best European surfer of the Olympic tournament, until his retirement. Another notable package, that of the German cyclist Simon Geschke. Tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, he will not be able to participate in the test scheduled for Saturday.
Our selection of articles on the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games
They are seven judokas, they are not mercenaries but intend to conquer Japan during the first Olympic week. From Saturday July 24 to Saturday July 31, the seven French women qualified for the Tokyo Games have the ambition – with more or less certainty – to stand on a podium.
Never has a French women’s team seemed so strong. And because it is impressive, we have to go through the list (in order of appearance), which already gives cold sweats to tough Japanese fighters: Shirine Boukli (- 48 kg), Amandine Buchard (- 52 kg), Sarah -Léonie Cysique (- 57 kg), Clarisse Agbegnenou (- 63 kg), Margaux Pinot (- 70 kg), Madeleine Malonga (- 78 kg) and Romane Dicko (+ 78 kg).
To shake the mythical Bundokan hall, already the scene of the 1964 edition at a time when women were excluded from the Olympic tatami, the French women are in battle order behind the one who was elected flag bearer of the French delegation. At 28, the five-time world champion Clarisse Agbegnenou is the only one of the gang to have already taken part in the Games. And she is determined to make people forget her (relative) Brazilian failure, in Rio, in 2016: a silver medal. “I am convinced that if we are all well, we can bring back a medal in each category”, she predicts.
His lieutenant – Madeleine Malonga and Amandine Buchard – share the same mission order. “I think we’re the best. We are very, very strong. We will be expected by our results. Our adversaries will have the knives very sharp to beat us. But we are ready ”, says Malonga. And Buchard to outbid: “I think it’s a first that we can claim a grand slam. Afterwards, we are not immune to a surprise or two. “
“Winning is contagious”
When Teddy Riner hides the crossing of the male judo desert on his own, Clarisse Agbegnenou has found a group of friends to go on an adventure. “We women mature at a younger age. We are diligent, we created a group, she explains. Some are competing in their category. We are going into entrenchments that we would not have reached on our own. ”
In the midst of this history of women, the head coach, Larbi Benboudaoud, has a long experience behind him. Former world champion in 1999, he first took care of an Olympic champion, Lucie Décosse, before taking the helm of the French women’s team after the 2016 Olympics. “We have always had very successful women’s teams, there we have an even more substantial team. We relied a lot on the dynamic of group. You can’t be the best on the planet and train with low level people, he insists. I always say “winning is contagious”. We are trying to contaminate them… ”
You have 52.59% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
They are seven judokas, they are not mercenaries but intend to conquer Japan during the first Olympic week. From Saturday July 24 to Saturday July 31, the seven French women qualified for the Tokyo Games have the ambition – with more or less certainty – to stand on a podium.
Never has a French women’s team seemed so strong. And because it is impressive, we have to go through the list (in order of appearance), which already gives cold sweats to tough Japanese fighters: Shirine Boukli (- 48 kg), Amandine Buchard (- 52 kg), Sarah -Léonie Cysique (- 57 kg), Clarisse Agbegnenou (- 63 kg), Margaux Pinot (- 70 kg), Madeleine Malonga (- 78 kg) and Romane Dicko (+ 78 kg).
To shake the mythical Bundokan hall, already the scene of the 1964 edition at a time when women were excluded from the Olympic tatami, the French women are in battle order behind the one who was elected flag bearer of the French delegation. At 28, the five-time world champion Clarisse Agbegnenou is the only one of the gang to have already taken part in the Games. And she is determined to make people forget her (relative) Brazilian failure, in Rio, in 2016: a silver medal. “I am convinced that if we are all well, we can bring back a medal in each category”, she predicts.
His lieutenant – Madeleine Malonga and Amandine Buchard – share the same mission order. “I think we’re the best. We are very, very strong. We will be expected by our results. Our adversaries will have the knives very sharp to beat us. But we are ready ”, says Malonga. And Buchard to outbid: “I think it’s a first that we can claim a grand slam. Afterwards, we are not immune to a surprise or two. “
“Winning is contagious”
When Teddy Riner hides the crossing of the male judo desert on his own, Clarisse Agbegnenou has found a group of friends to go on an adventure. “We women mature at a younger age. We are diligent, we created a group, she explains. Some are competing in their category. We are going into entrenchments that we would not have reached on our own. ”
In the midst of this history of women, the head coach, Larbi Benboudaoud, has a long experience behind him. Former world champion in 1999, he first took care of an Olympic champion, Lucie Décosse, before taking the helm of the French women’s team after the 2016 Olympics. “We have always had very successful women’s teams, there we have an even more substantial team. We relied a lot on the dynamic of group. You can’t be the best on the planet and train with low level people, he insists. I always say “winning is contagious”. We are trying to contaminate them… ”
You have 52.59% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
Are you around 20 today? So, it would be a question of starting to prepare, as of now, the Olympic Games of… 2064 – assuming that the event remains as it is in four decades. Be careful, this good advice applies to a particular sport. In Tokyo, the oldest sportswoman of this 2021 edition practices horseback riding. At the height of her 66 years and her horse, the Australian Mary Hanna will compete in the individual and team dressage events from Saturday 24 July. His sixth participation. “Every time I finish the Games, I think these are my last”, already explained the rider in Rio de Janeiro, in 2016.
The most experienced, in Brazil, was another rider involved in the dressage event: New Zealander Julie Brougham (62 years old). Same specialty, again, for the “senior record” at the Beijing Games in 2008 and London in 2012: when he competed in the United Kingdom, the Japanese Hiroshi Hoketsu was 71 years old. Only one year less than Oscar Swahn, absolute record holder: in 1920, this Swede took part in the event, now over, of running (and metallic) deer shooting.
Experience bonus
Why is horse riding so often? Even if “It seems obvious to say it”, Emmanuelle Schramm specifies it anyway: “The athletic load is shared between the horse and the rider”, recalls the Deputy National Technical Director, specialized in dressage events within the French Equestrian Federation (FFE). “Our sport allows us to have an enormous longevity”, appreciates another participant, Maxime Collard. The Frenchwoman is 34 years old: almost half less than her Oceanian competitor Mary Hanna. “Unlike some sports for which people say that at my age, it’s the end of the day, I am lucky to be still a baby at this level. “
Since she is only 60 years old, Nicole Favereau had hoped to be on the trip to Tokyo. Preselected with the France team, she ultimately did not succeed. “The experience helps to have a better technique, to slightly reduce the physical investment, she explained shortly before the summer. Whereas you can have a young rider crippled with muscle soreness after two turns if he is spending a lot of energy on little. ” The rider also specializes in dressage. “But in show jumping too, there can be dinosaurs like me shortlisted for the Olympics! ” The probability decreases however for the third event of the summer: that of the eventing, which brings together dressage, show jumping and cross. A sequence “A little more physical”, she concedes.
Another bonus to experience: “Training a horse takes a lot of time and the shortcut of buying a ready-made one for the Olympics doesn’t necessarily work”, recalls Maxime Collard. “The youngest often ride horses trained by someone else, adds Nicole Favereau. Now, when you have trained your horse yourself, you know it by heart. “
“Proprioception and physical condition”
As much, too, to avoid a misunderstanding: “Some will tell you that horseback riding is not really a sport. But yes, it really is! “, claims Maxime Collard. “I have a very physical mare, I have to be in great shape to be able to ride her well and express my technique, I have to be very sheathed”, recalls Nicole Favereau, emphasizing the importance of the abdominals and back muscles.
The technician Emmanuelle Schramm comes in support: “The rider does not only accompany the movement of the horse, he creates it. You also need proprioception qualities [sensibilité, consciente et inconsciente, du système nerveux aux informations provenant du corps], ability to communicate with the horse. This requires having a good physical condition. Because you have to be able to have this feeling, this bodily acuity. ” All the more so with such a sensitive animal: “A horse can weigh 600 kg, but it only takes a fly on it for its skin to tremble. “
Also listen Olympics 2021: these Games that the Japanese do not want
Since ” ten years “, the leader of the FFE notes a change among the new generations. “Athletes are more concerned with their physical condition, their weight. The young people run, they go to the ice baths. “ In short, they oblige themselves to a physical preparation. For now, says Mme Schramm, the federation is content to be “Incentive, but not directive”. “Our sport initially tended to pay attention to the well-being and physical condition of our horses rather than that of the riders”, recognizes Maxime Collard.
So much for the high level. Because the mass practice recalls another reality. For 2019, the National Institute of Youth and Popular Education listed some 617,000 licenses at the FFE. Of these, 76% were owned by people aged 29 or younger. Bodes well for the 2064 Games, and beyond.
Our selection of articles on the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games
Are you around 20 today? So, it would be a question of starting to prepare, as of now, the Olympic Games of… 2064 – assuming that the event remains as it is in four decades. Be careful, this good advice applies to a particular sport. In Tokyo, the oldest sportswoman of this 2021 edition practices horseback riding. At the height of her 66 years and her horse, the Australian Mary Hanna will compete in the individual and team dressage events from Saturday 24 July. His sixth participation. “Every time I finish the Games, I think these are my last”, already explained the rider in Rio de Janeiro, in 2016.
The most experienced, in Brazil, was another rider involved in the dressage event: New Zealander Julie Brougham (62 years old). Same specialty, again, for the “senior record” at the Beijing Games in 2008 and London in 2012: when he competed in the United Kingdom, the Japanese Hiroshi Hoketsu was 71 years old. Only one year less than Oscar Swahn, absolute record holder: in 1920, this Swede took part in the event, now over, of running (and metallic) deer shooting.
Experience bonus
Why is horse riding so often? Even if “It seems obvious to say it”, Emmanuelle Schramm specifies it anyway: “The athletic load is shared between the horse and the rider”, recalls the Deputy National Technical Director, specialized in dressage events within the French Equestrian Federation (FFE). “Our sport allows us to have an enormous longevity”, appreciates another participant, Maxime Collard. The Frenchwoman is 34 years old: almost half less than her Oceanian competitor Mary Hanna. “Unlike some sports for which people say that at my age, it’s the end of the day, I am lucky to be still a baby at this level. “
Since she is only 60 years old, Nicole Favereau had hoped to be on the trip to Tokyo. Preselected with the France team, she ultimately did not succeed. “The experience helps to have a better technique, to slightly reduce the physical investment, she explained shortly before the summer. Whereas you can have a young rider crippled with muscle soreness after two turns if he is spending a lot of energy on little. ” The rider also specializes in dressage. “But in show jumping too, there can be dinosaurs like me shortlisted for the Olympics! ” The probability decreases however for the third event of the summer: that of the eventing, which brings together dressage, show jumping and cross. A sequence “A little more physical”, she concedes.
Another bonus to experience: “Training a horse takes a lot of time and the shortcut of buying a ready-made one for the Olympics doesn’t necessarily work”, recalls Maxime Collard. “The youngest often ride horses trained by someone else, adds Nicole Favereau. Now, when you have trained your horse yourself, you know it by heart. “
“Proprioception and physical condition”
As much, too, to avoid a misunderstanding: “Some will tell you that horseback riding is not really a sport. But yes, it really is! “, claims Maxime Collard. “I have a very physical mare, I have to be in great shape to be able to ride her well and express my technique, I have to be very sheathed”, recalls Nicole Favereau, emphasizing the importance of the abdominals and back muscles.
The technician Emmanuelle Schramm comes in support: “The rider does not only accompany the movement of the horse, he creates it. You also need proprioception qualities [sensibilité, consciente et inconsciente, du système nerveux aux informations provenant du corps], ability to communicate with the horse. This requires having a good physical condition. Because you have to be able to have this feeling, this bodily acuity. ” All the more so with such a sensitive animal: “A horse can weigh 600 kg, but it only takes a fly on it for its skin to tremble. “
Also listen Olympics 2021: these Games that the Japanese do not want
Since ” ten years “, the leader of the FFE notes a change among the new generations. “Athletes are more concerned with their physical condition, their weight. The young people run, they go to the ice baths. “ In short, they oblige themselves to a physical preparation. For now, says Mme Schramm, the federation is content to be “Incentive, but not directive”. “Our sport initially tended to pay attention to the well-being and physical condition of our horses rather than that of the riders”, recognizes Maxime Collard.
So much for the high level. Because the mass practice recalls another reality. For 2019, the National Institute of Youth and Popular Education listed some 617,000 licenses at the FFE. Of these, 76% were owned by people aged 29 or younger. Bodes well for the 2064 Games, and beyond.
Our selection of articles on the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games
A former handball medal collector, Claude Onesta is now the head of high performance at the National Sports Agency (ANS). As the Tokyo Olympics begin on Friday July 23, one year less than a day after their initial date due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the former coach of the France handball team approaches these Olympics by thinking of those after, in Paris in 2024.
What are France’s medal goals, or results, at these Tokyo Games?
It is not our job to make predictions. We try, on the contrary, to do everything in our power to ensure that the athletes and coaches are in the best possible position to achieve their best performances. Our mission, then, is to analyze all this to identify points of weakness, and work so as not to find them the next time.
“The projections for these Games are very complex, and much more than usual”
But to say that we do not make projections, that would be wrong. The projections for these Olympic Games are very complex, and much more than usual, because the period is complicated: for two years, there have been practically no benchmark competitions, so it is difficult to decide. situate in the international context, and difficult to assess the competition …
Our projection is to have results for France roughly at the level of what they were in Rio, around forty medals [42 en 2016], but with so many random elements that we cannot see it very clearly, neither for us, nor for the others.
In this period where randomness has been prevalent for a year now, can’t some people take advantage of it?
It is true, and we reminded French sportsmen and women. When everything goes “normally”, the best tend to win in the end. On the other hand, in extraordinary Games, as currently, there will be opportunities to be seized. Traditions will be shaken up, and some outsiders will be celebrating.
But, for that, you have to have an ambitious approach. Some may have already started to analyze the circumstances as so many alibis in the event of underperformance; but at the end of the events, even if the context is unusual, there will be three athletes on the podium, one of whom will be Olympic or Paralympic champion. And they will have sought the result with determination! This is our message: rather than complaining about what you’ve been through for a year and a half, have a good bite in the competition, and don’t regret a thing.
How did the postponement of one year affect the preparation of these Games for French sport?
It’s hard to analyze in a comprehensive way. For some, this postponement is a godsend: those who were injured, who would not have been qualified, or who were perhaps too young, will see it as an opportunity. Conversely, people who were at the end of the line, but still operational, may have seen their luck pass.
There have been fewer competitions, so fewer benchmarks, less performance level assessments, but this also applies to competition, which could allow more open competitions, with perhaps more surprises than normal time.
Does this one-year delay also influence the preparation of French sport for the 2024 Olympics?
The impact is real. The Olympic or Paralympic periods are cycles of four years, on which the coaching of the athletes develops a plan. This cycle was upset by the postponement, with, in most cases, a one-year extension of this usual cycle.
However, as soon as the events are over, most of the federations’ supervisors change their projects, modify the supervisory teams, or invest in other athletes … All this will be postponed by one year and will be detrimental to the preparation of the competitions. Paris Olympics. Especially since after the Games, the athletes tend to rest, to recover.
“The cycle towards Paris 2024 will be one of continuity, because it is almost too late to launch major projects”
Likewise, the year leading up to the Games is a year of refinement, not much work. This leaves us just a year and a half as a real period of work, to modify certain programs and organizations. It is very little to make substantial changes. So the cycle towards Paris 2024 will be that of continuity, because it is almost too late today to launch major projects. With such a short time, the slightest loss of efficiency, the slightest late decision will be detrimental to our results. It will be necessary to do a very precise analysis of the results in Tokyo, and to project oneself very quickly and with precision.
We want to identify athletes capable of “performing” in Paris, and see how we can support the supervision of these athletes, their programming, all the stakeholders to make available to them to improve this potential. We are going to do precision craftsmanship, with a much better assessed and better targeted population.
So for you, Tokyo is just a stopover for Paris?
Even if we know that our real evaluation will be the performance of the athletes in Paris [l’ANS a été créée en vue des JO de 2024], it would be absurd to ignore the Games which are opening in Tokyo. All these athletes think only of the 2021 Games, not one today has Paris in mind. We are aligned with their goals, and have done everything to try to help them.
A former handball medal collector, Claude Onesta is now the head of high performance at the National Sports Agency (ANS). As the Tokyo Olympics begin on Friday July 23, one year less than a day after their initial date due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the former coach of the France handball team approaches these Olympics by thinking of those after, in Paris in 2024.
What are France’s medal goals, or results, at these Tokyo Games?
It is not our job to make predictions. We try, on the contrary, to do everything in our power to ensure that the athletes and coaches are in the best possible position to achieve their best performances. Our mission, then, is to analyze all this to identify points of weakness, and work so as not to find them the next time.
“The projections for these Games are very complex, and much more than usual”
But to say that we do not make projections, that would be wrong. The projections for these Olympic Games are very complex, and much more than usual, because the period is complicated: for two years, there have been practically no benchmark competitions, so it is difficult to decide. situate in the international context, and difficult to assess the competition …
Our projection is to have results for France roughly at the level of what they were in Rio, around forty medals [42 en 2016], but with so many random elements that we cannot see it very clearly, neither for us, nor for the others.
In this period where randomness has been prevalent for a year now, can’t some people take advantage of it?
It is true, and we reminded French sportsmen and women. When everything goes “normally”, the best tend to win in the end. On the other hand, in extraordinary Games, as currently, there will be opportunities to be seized. Traditions will be shaken up, and some outsiders will be celebrating.
But, for that, you have to have an ambitious approach. Some may have already started to analyze the circumstances as so many alibis in the event of underperformance; but at the end of the events, even if the context is unusual, there will be three athletes on the podium, one of whom will be Olympic or Paralympic champion. And they will have sought the result with determination! This is our message: rather than complaining about what you’ve been through for a year and a half, have a good bite in the competition, and don’t regret a thing.
How did the postponement of one year affect the preparation of these Games for French sport?
It’s hard to analyze in a comprehensive way. For some, this postponement is a godsend: those who were injured, who would not have been qualified, or who were perhaps too young, will see it as an opportunity. Conversely, people who were at the end of the line, but still operational, may have seen their luck pass.
There have been fewer competitions, so fewer benchmarks, less performance level assessments, but this also applies to competition, which could allow more open competitions, with perhaps more surprises than normal time.
Does this one-year delay also influence the preparation of French sport for the 2024 Olympics?
The impact is real. The Olympic or Paralympic periods are cycles of four years, on which the coaching of the athletes develops a plan. This cycle was upset by the postponement, with, in most cases, a one-year extension of this usual cycle.
However, as soon as the events are over, most of the federations’ supervisors change their projects, modify the supervisory teams, or invest in other athletes … All this will be postponed by one year and will be detrimental to the preparation of the competitions. Paris Olympics. Especially since after the Games, the athletes tend to rest, to recover.
“The cycle towards Paris 2024 will be one of continuity, because it is almost too late to launch major projects”
Likewise, the year leading up to the Games is a year of refinement, not much work. This leaves us just a year and a half as a real period of work, to modify certain programs and organizations. It is very little to make substantial changes. So the cycle towards Paris 2024 will be that of continuity, because it is almost too late today to launch major projects. With such a short time, the slightest loss of efficiency, the slightest late decision will be detrimental to our results. It will be necessary to do a very precise analysis of the results in Tokyo, and to project oneself very quickly and with precision.
We want to identify athletes capable of “performing” in Paris, and see how we can support the supervision of these athletes, their programming, all the stakeholders to make available to them to improve this potential. We are going to do precision craftsmanship, with a much better assessed and better targeted population.
So for you, Tokyo is just a stopover for Paris?
Even if we know that our real evaluation will be the performance of the athletes in Paris [l’ANS a été créée en vue des JO de 2024], it would be absurd to ignore the Games which are opening in Tokyo. All these athletes think only of the 2021 Games, not one today has Paris in mind. We are aligned with their goals, and have done everything to try to help them.
To stay up to date on African news, subscribe to the “Monde Afrique” newsletter from this link. Every Saturday at 6 am, find a week of current events and debates treated by the editorial staff of “Monde Afrique”.
He has an insolent stride, a disconcerting relaxation, an extraordinary power. The young man is intriguing and his draw makes people laugh: who is this athlete with the thin mustache, sculpted cheeks and the haircut of a soul singer who is about to run without shoes on the Italian asphalt?
Of the seventy or so starters, not many people have heard of Abebe Bikila. This 28-year-old stranger should never have been lined up at the start of the Rome Olympic Games marathon in 1960. The Ethiopian owes his selection to a stroke of fate: he replaces his injured compatriot Wami Biratu at the last minute.
This September 10, the favorites of the race are the Russians Konstantin Vorobyev and Sergei Popov or the Moroccan Abdesiem Rhadi Ben Abdesselem. But Bikila wants to believe in his lucky star. Wasn’t he born on August 7, 1932, the day of the Los Angeles Games marathon? What is more, in this kind of event, Olympic gold often smiles on the daring, and daring, this shepherd’s son has it under his heels.
Throughout the 42.195 km of the course, number 11, green bib, red shorts with yellow edging, short barefoot. This choice is not a whim. This featherweight (57 kg for 1.77 m) could have put on shoes, but these gave him blisters. In the country, Bikila had become accustomed to treading alone, and without sneakers, on clay and other gravel trails at 1,000, 2,000, or more than 3,000 meters above sea level, where oxygen becomes valuable. It was on these eucalyptus-lined roads that Swedish coach Onni Niskanen, in charge of Ethiopian athletes, noticed.
Double
The race is intense. The overwhelming heat. On the hot Rome night, marathon runners swallow the dusty asphalt, torchlit by soldiers of the Italian army. For several kilometers, the ordeal has boiled down to a ” hand to hand “ between the Ethiopian and the Moroccan Abdesiem Rhadi Ben Abdesselem. Bikila, cooler, accelerates and attacks after the 41e km when passing the imposing obelisk of Axum.
The symbol is strong: in 1937, after his conquest of the Ethiopian Empire (the partial occupation of which lasted only five years), Mussolini ordered that one of these columns which adorned the capital of the old kingdom. The monument was then placed in front of the Ministry for Africa, which after the fall of the Italian dictator became the seat of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Abebe Bikila, alone in the lead on this crowded road, beat the race in 2:15:16, a new world record. He is the first black African Olympic champion. But his victory has the value of revenge: this soldier of the imperial guard of the negus Hailé Sélassié gave his honor to his people, and to the continent, by crossing the finish line by conquering under the triumphal arch of Constantine d ‘ where, twenty-five years earlier, Mussolini’s fascist troops had left to invade his country. The marathon runner becomes a national hero.
His adventure at the Games is far from over. Four years later, in Tokyo, Bikila managed the feat of retaining his title after having just been operated on for appendicitis. This is the first time that a runner has won the Olympic marathon twice in a row. Despite a humidity level of 90%, and the thick mist covering the Japanese capital, the Ethiopian, who left favorite sneakers on this time, outclassed his opponents and smashed the world record in 2:12. ’11 ”. The second arrives four minutes later.
Domination
On his arrival at the Olympic stadium, Bikila offers a surreal scene to the 80,000 spectators. As soon as the line is crossed, the runner, who is barely sweating, stands on his side, hops, stretches his arms and legs as if he were still warming up. The referees try to talk to him, he throws himself on the lawn to continue his flexibility exercises on the back.
Four years later, at the Mexico Games, the 36-year-old former soldier started his third Olympic marathon. On the way to a hat-trick? Unfortunately, he had to give up after a few kilometers, hampered by an old injury. It was his compatriot Mamo Wolde who won the event (2h20”26 ‘).
In 1969, he was the victim of a serious car accident and lost the use of his legs. Far from being discouraged, he continues, even in a wheelchair, to practice sport, especially archery. He died in 1973 of a cerebral hemorrhage. But, for posterity, Abebe Bikila remains the one who paved the way for the unchallenged domination of long-distance runners from East Africa.
Summary of our series “These Africans who made the Olympics”
To stay up to date on African news, subscribe to the “Monde Afrique” newsletter from this link. Every Saturday at 6 am, find a week of current events and debates treated by the editorial staff of “Monde Afrique”.
He has an insolent stride, a disconcerting relaxation, an extraordinary power. The young man is intriguing and his draw makes people laugh: who is this athlete with the thin mustache, sculpted cheeks and the haircut of a soul singer who is about to run without shoes on the Italian asphalt?
Of the seventy or so starters, not many people have heard of Abebe Bikila. This 28-year-old stranger should never have been lined up at the start of the Rome Olympic Games marathon in 1960. The Ethiopian owes his selection to a stroke of fate: he replaces his injured compatriot Wami Biratu at the last minute.
This September 10, the favorites of the race are the Russians Konstantin Vorobyev and Sergei Popov or the Moroccan Abdesiem Rhadi Ben Abdesselem. But Bikila wants to believe in his lucky star. Wasn’t he born on August 7, 1932, the day of the Los Angeles Games marathon? What is more, in this kind of event, Olympic gold often smiles on the daring, and daring, this shepherd’s son has it under his heels.
Throughout the 42.195 km of the course, number 11, green bib, red shorts with yellow edging, short barefoot. This choice is not a whim. This featherweight (57 kg for 1.77 m) could have put on shoes, but these gave him blisters. In the country, Bikila had become accustomed to treading alone, and without sneakers, on clay and other gravel trails at 1,000, 2,000, or more than 3,000 meters above sea level, where oxygen becomes valuable. It was on these eucalyptus-lined roads that Swedish coach Onni Niskanen, in charge of Ethiopian athletes, noticed.
Double
The race is intense. The overwhelming heat. On the hot Rome night, marathon runners swallow the dusty asphalt, torchlit by soldiers of the Italian army. For several kilometers, the ordeal has boiled down to a ” hand to hand “ between the Ethiopian and the Moroccan Abdesiem Rhadi Ben Abdesselem. Bikila, cooler, accelerates and attacks after the 41e km when passing the imposing obelisk of Axum.
The symbol is strong: in 1937, after his conquest of the Ethiopian Empire (the partial occupation of which lasted only five years), Mussolini ordered that one of these columns which adorned the capital of the old kingdom. The monument was then placed in front of the Ministry for Africa, which after the fall of the Italian dictator became the seat of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Abebe Bikila, alone in the lead on this crowded road, beat the race in 2:15:16, a new world record. He is the first black African Olympic champion. But his victory has the value of revenge: this soldier of the imperial guard of the negus Hailé Sélassié gave his honor to his people, and to the continent, by crossing the finish line by conquering under the triumphal arch of Constantine d ‘ where, twenty-five years earlier, Mussolini’s fascist troops had left to invade his country. The marathon runner becomes a national hero.
His adventure at the Games is far from over. Four years later, in Tokyo, Bikila managed the feat of retaining his title after having just been operated on for appendicitis. This is the first time that a runner has won the Olympic marathon twice in a row. Despite a humidity level of 90%, and the thick mist covering the Japanese capital, the Ethiopian, who left favorite sneakers on this time, outclassed his opponents and smashed the world record in 2:12. ’11 ”. The second arrives four minutes later.
Domination
On his arrival at the Olympic stadium, Bikila offers a surreal scene to the 80,000 spectators. As soon as the line is crossed, the runner, who is barely sweating, stands on his side, hops, stretches his arms and legs as if he were still warming up. The referees try to talk to him, he throws himself on the lawn to continue his flexibility exercises on the back.
Four years later, at the Mexico Games, the 36-year-old former soldier started his third Olympic marathon. On the way to a hat-trick? Unfortunately, he had to give up after a few kilometers, hampered by an old injury. It was his compatriot Mamo Wolde who won the event (2h20”26 ‘).
In 1969, he was the victim of a serious car accident and lost the use of his legs. Far from being discouraged, he continues, even in a wheelchair, to practice sport, especially archery. He died in 1973 of a cerebral hemorrhage. But, for posterity, Abebe Bikila remains the one who paved the way for the unchallenged domination of long-distance runners from East Africa.
Summary of our series “These Africans who made the Olympics”
Alexandre Loukachenko still imposes his stranglehold on Belarus, but the omnipotent head of state had to give up the presidency … of his National Olympic Committee (NOC). In December 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended him from his duties, due to “Political discrimination” against athletes who contested his re-election at the head of the country a little less than a year ago. The suspension also applies to his son, Viktor, yet called upon to replace him at the top of the Belarusian sports movement. And therefore forced to abandon the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games, Friday July 23.
This case may seem like a caricature. However, the border between government and sports movement is proving thin in many countries. As it is written, the Olympic charter maintains a certain vagueness. The text certainly asks the National Olympic Committees to “Preserve their autonomy and resist all pressures (…) including policies ”, just as he forbids “To governments and other public authorities” to appoint the members of said committees. But there is a “but”, or rather a “however”! “However, an NOC may decide, at its discretion, to elect representatives of these authorities as members. “ In other words: nothing formally prevents a head of state from presiding over the sports movement of his country.
Heads of State and Military
Few are the countries where the NOC is directly in the hands of the local Head of State, as formerly Alexander Lukashenko. This is still true in Turkmenistan, with Gourbangouli Berdimoukhamedov; in Tajikistan, with Emomali Rahmon; in Qatar, with Emir Tamim Ben Hamad Al Thani… or in Monaco, with Prince Albert II.
Sometimes, the control of the sporting thing belongs to a minister in office, for example in Laos and North Korea. As well as in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where the person concerned is also a member of the reigning dynasty. Elsewhere, the sports movement may depend on high-ranking military personnel such as in Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire and Bangladesh.
The need for autonomy for the sports movement, however, appeared in the Olympic charter in 1949.
In Europe, the United Kingdom is adapting the principle of its parliamentary monarchy to sport. President of British Olympic Committee? Princess Anne, member of the royal family. “Operational boss”? Sir Hugh Robertson, ex-Minister for Sports, ex-Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. And ex-Conservative MP, like his predecessor, Sebastian Coe.
You have 51.91% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
Alexandre Loukachenko still imposes his stranglehold on Belarus, but the omnipotent head of state had to give up the presidency … of his National Olympic Committee (NOC). In December 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended him from his duties, due to “Political discrimination” against athletes who contested his re-election at the head of the country a little less than a year ago. The suspension also applies to his son, Viktor, yet called upon to replace him at the top of the Belarusian sports movement. And therefore forced to abandon the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games, Friday July 23.
This case may seem like a caricature. However, the border between government and sports movement is proving thin in many countries. As it is written, the Olympic charter maintains a certain vagueness. The text certainly asks the National Olympic Committees to “Preserve their autonomy and resist all pressures (…) including policies ”, just as he forbids “To governments and other public authorities” to appoint the members of said committees. But there is a “but”, or rather a “however”! “However, an NOC may decide, at its discretion, to elect representatives of these authorities as members. “ In other words: nothing formally prevents a head of state from presiding over the sports movement of his country.
Heads of State and Military
Few are the countries where the NOC is directly in the hands of the local Head of State, as formerly Alexander Lukashenko. This is still true in Turkmenistan, with Gourbangouli Berdimoukhamedov; in Tajikistan, with Emomali Rahmon; in Qatar, with Emir Tamim Ben Hamad Al Thani… or in Monaco, with Prince Albert II.
Sometimes, the control of the sporting thing belongs to a minister in office, for example in Laos and North Korea. As well as in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where the person concerned is also a member of the reigning dynasty. Elsewhere, the sports movement may depend on high-ranking military personnel such as in Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire and Bangladesh.
The need for autonomy for the sports movement, however, appeared in the Olympic charter in 1949.
In Europe, the United Kingdom is adapting the principle of its parliamentary monarchy to sport. President of British Olympic Committee? Princess Anne, member of the royal family. “Operational boss”? Sir Hugh Robertson, ex-Minister for Sports, ex-Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. And ex-Conservative MP, like his predecessor, Sebastian Coe.
You have 51.91% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.