S. Korea blow lead vs. China to miss out on Olympic women's football tournament

The Olympic dream for the South Korean women's football team crashed and burned on Tuesday, as they frittered away a two-goal lead against China in the final qualifying match. South Korea and China played to a 2-2 draw in the second leg of their playoff for the Tokyo Olympics at Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre in Suzhou, China. Following their 2-1 victory in the first leg last Thursday, China advanced to the Tokyo Olympics on a 4-3 edge in the aggregate score. With the away goals rule in effect,

April 13, 2021

Cloud of uncertainty remains as countdown to Tokyo Olympics nears 100 days

The countdown to the Tokyo Olympic Summer Games will reach 100 days Wednesday, if the competition opens as scheduled, that is. The 32nd edition of the Summer Olympics already got postponed by one year due to the global coronavirus pandemic, and the normally quadrennial event, now scheduled for July 23-Aug. 8 in the Japanese capital, will open in an odd-numbered year for the first time. Even as the clock ticks down to the opening ceremony, the cloud of uncertainty still hangs over Tokyo. The CO

April 11, 2021

Fans barred from Tokyo Olympics torch relay start

TOKYO (AFP) -- Spectators will be barred from the start of the Tokyo Olympics torch relay, organisers said Monday, announcing a pared-back launch as the countdown to the postponed Games begins in earnest. Fans were told to stay away from next week's "simplified" starting ceremony and first leg of the nationwide relay, which was put on hold a year ago when the Olympics were delayed over the coronavirus. "The grand start ceremony and the first section of the Fukushima torch relay.

March 15, 2021

Held back by IOC rules, short tracker unlikely to compete for China at Beijing 2022

Even if he ends up acquiring Chinese nationality in hopes of competing at the Beijing Winter Olympics, South Korean-born short track speed skater Lim Hyo-jun is unlikely to accomplish that goal because of international rules. Lim, the 2018 Olympic champion in the men's 1,500 meters, announced Saturday he was undergoing a special naturalization process to acquire a Chinese passport. He had been going through a protracted legal battle over sexual harassment charges and decided he wouldn't be able

March 9, 2021

[Newsmaker] Ban Ki-moon asked to act on complaint against Beijing Games

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is being asked to rule on an ethics complaint filed against the International Olympic Committee by a human-rights group representing Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is being asked to rule on an ethics complaint filed against the International Olympic Committee by a human-rights group representing Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China. Ban is the chairman of the IOC's ethics commission. The Wor

March 5, 2021

Top sports body having talks on vaccinating athletes for Tokyo Olympics

Working under the assumption that the postponed Tokyo Olympics will take place this summer, South Korean sports officials said Wednesday they are in talks with national health authorities on vaccinating athletes for the novel coronavirus. According to officials, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) believes about 1,000 athletes, coaches, officials and even training partners would be in line to receive COVID-19 vaccines. The Summer Games in Tokyo, postponed by a year from 2020 due to

March 3, 2021

[Newsmaker] Koreas appear out of running for 2032 Olympics following IOC decision

A potential joint bid by South Korea and North Korea to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics has apparently collapsed before it took off in earnest, following a decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to pick an Australian city as its preferred candidate. After a meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Wednesday (local time), the IOC's Executive Board announced Brisbane will be its partner for "a targeted dialogue" on staging the 2032 Summer Olympics. The right to host the com

Feb. 25, 2021

At least 390 volunteers quit Tokyo Olympics

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics has been facing various hurdles so far, the biggest one being the COVID-19 pandemic, but now internal problems have surfaced, threatening to further hamper the event’s progress. The Tokyo Olympics’ organizing committee chief Yoshiro Mori caused public outrage when he made derogatory remarks against women in a board meeting speech last week. He was quoted as saying that “a board meeting with many women will make it drag on,” while adding that women

Feb. 9, 2021

[Newsmaker] Tokyo Olympics chief in hot water over sexist remarks

The chief of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee has apologized for making derogatory comments about women, but refuses to resign amid the ongoing controversy. “The Education Ministry has been very insistent about choosing female directors,” former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said Wednesday during a Japanese Olympic Committee board of directors meeting. “But a board meeting with plenty of women will make it drag on.” Describing women as having a “strong sen

Feb. 5, 2021

Florida offers to host Summer Olympics if Tokyo pulls out

Amid speculation that Tokyo may pass on the Summer Olympics due to a recent surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, Florida has proposed relocating the Games from Japan to the Sunshine State. Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday, offering the state as a replacement host. In his letter to the IOC, Patronis cited “recent media reports” about leaders in Japan privately having concluded that t

Jan. 27, 2021

Speed skater sues ex-teammate over emotional distress following Olympic controversy

A years long controversy in South Korean speed skating took another twist Wednesday, with the announcement that one athlete has sued her former teammate over emotional distress. Legal representatives for the speed skater Kim Bo-reum said she is seeking 200 million won ($182,590) in compensation for mental anguish caused by her former 2018 Olympic teammate, Noh Seon-yeong. The suit was filed last November, said Kim's lawyer, Heo Won-rok of the Seoul-based firm Q1. Kim and Noh were at the center

Jan. 20, 2021

S. Korean IOC member wins re-election as head of S. Korean Olympic body

Lee Kee-heung, a South Korean International Olympic Committee member, has been elected to his second consecutive term as head of the national Olympic body. In a vote held on Monday, Lee beat out three candidates for the new four-year term in an election for the top position at the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee. Of 1,974 votes cast by representatives of the KSOC, its member federations, provincial, municipal and other regional sports associations, Lee garnered 915 votes. Kang Shin-wook,

Jan. 18, 2021

Support for Olympics hits new low in Japan: poll

TOKYO (AFP) -- Support for holding the coronavirus-postponed Tokyo Olympics this summer has hit a new low in Japan, a poll found Sunday as the country battles a third wave of infections. Just over 80 percent of those asked by Kyodo news agency said the huge global event should be cancelled or postponed again -- a jump from around 60 percent in a December 6 survey by the same outlet. Kyodo said the survey asked 1,041 participants nationwide, who were selected by random dialling. Tokyo 2020 org

Jan. 10, 2021

As ex-IOC member, late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee also left mark on S. Korean sports

The giant for South Korea's economy as the head of Samsung Group, Lee Kun-hee, who passed away Sunday at age 78, also left an important mark on sports for his country. Lee was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1996 to 2017, serving on its Cultural Commission in 1997 and Finance Commission from 1998 to 1999. With Samsung also emerging as one of the IOC's most important corporate partners, Lee played an instrumental role in helping bring the 2018 Winter Olympics to the So

Oct. 25, 2020

Tokyo organizers outline steps for 'simplified' Games

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday proposed cutting back the number of staff at next year's Summer Games and shortening the opening period for training venues, as part of a plan to hold a streamlined event amid the pandemic. The Games, originally scheduled to start this summer, were postponed for a year by the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government due to the novel coronavirus. Since then, organisers and government officials have been looking at

Sept. 25, 2020

Pandemic Olympics: Japan starts virus countermeasure talks

     TOKYO (AFP) --Japanese officials and Tokyo 2020 organizers began talks Friday on the mammoth task of how to hold the postponed Olympics safely while the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.    The Games were postponed earlier this year in a historic decision as the scale of the coronavirus crisis became clear.    But with less than a year until the new opening date on July 23, 2021, many questions remain -- from how border controls will affect the mov

Sept. 4, 2020

S. Korea's Olympic basketball qualifying tournament postponed

The men's Olympic basketball qualifying tournament involving South Korea has been pushed back by a year, following the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games to 2021. FIBA, the international basketball governing body, announced Friday the qualifying matches will now be played between June 22 and July 4 next year, with the exact dates pending approval by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Four different qualifying tournaments had been scheduled to run from June 23-28 this year in

April 10, 2020

S. Korea's main Olympic training center emptied

Some 500 South Korean Olympic athletes and coaches have temporarily moved out of their main training facility over the past two days, setting themselves up for a breather after the postponement of this year's Summer Games in Tokyo. Acting on an order by the Korea Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC), athletes and coaches in about a dozen sports packed up and left the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, some 90 kilometers south of Seoul. About 200 from table tennis, archery, diving,

March 27, 2020

S. Korean football federation asks IOC to adjust age limit for Olympics in 2021

The South Korean national football federation on Thursday asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to adjust the age restriction on male players at next year's Summer Games in Tokyo so that those who helped the country qualify will still be eligible to play in the rescheduled competition. The Olympic men's football tournament is only open to players who are 23 or younger, except for a maximum three overage players permitted for each nation. For the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, those born on or

March 26, 2020

Mixed reactions from S. Korean athletes, coaches to Tokyo 2020 postponement

Olympic gymnastics champion Yang Hak-seon had been peaking just in time for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games, originally slated to start July 24. When the men's vault gold medalist from the 2012 London Games heard the news Tuesday night that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had postponed the Olympics to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, his first thought was, "How am I going to keep doing this for another year?" "I wanted to be able to compete in the Olympics when m

March 26, 2020