Tokyo 2020: Protests, Fans, and Prison

Leading up to the Rio 2016 Olympics, the panic was about pollution, crime, and the Zika fever, but that’s all been forgotten due to the COVID-19 pandemic for Tokyo 2020. Here are a few other stories hitting the wire:

• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission has recommended maintaining the ban on podium protests at the Olympic Games, but called for a “restructuring” of Rule 50 and greater clarity on sanctions for breaches. A report from the Commission makes six recommendations following an 11-month consultation on Rule 50, which prohibits athletes from demonstrating or protesting in certain places at the Games. – Full report

• Japanese residents with tickets to the Tokyo Olympics may not know until weeks before the games open if they’ll be allowed to attend. Fans from abroad have already been barred, and the organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto now says a decision on venue capacity — or if there will be any fans at all, or just empty venues — may not be made until June. She had previously promised that decision to be made in April. – Full report

• The Finnish Olympic Committee announced that Janne Järvinen, who has been sentenced to prison, will not represent Finland in the Nacra 17 at the Tokyo Olympics. Järvinen’s helm Sinem Kurtbay will now compete with a former partner, Akseli Keskinen, in which the duo had finished ninth at the 2020 World Championships. Järvinen has been convicted of aggravated money laundering and being an accessory to aggravated narcotics offenses. – Full report

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Program
Men’s One Person Dinghy – Laser
Women’s One Person Dinghy – Laser Radial
Men’s Two Person Dinghy – 470
Women’s Two Person Dinghy – 470
Men’s Skiff – 49er
Women’s Skiff – 49erFx
Men’s One Person Dinghy Heavy – Finn
Men’s Windsurfing – RS:X
Women’s Windsurfing – RS:X
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17

Original dates: July 24 to August 9, 2020
Revised dates: July 23 to August 8, 2021

Details: https://tokyo2020.org/en/games/schedule/olympic/