This Week in Sports: Dramatic scenes from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

BY MARCEL MARIAK

The delayed 2020 Summer Olympics have recently kicked off in Tokyo, and even though there are no cheering crowds, we haven’t had any shortage of drama. Whether you’re looking to catch up on the latest Olympic events or want a refresher on what has happened so far, here are the latest happenings from the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics!

Russia’s strange alter-ego

If you’ve tuned in to any of this year’s Olympic events, you’ve likely seen an unfamiliar national flag on the scoreboards. The flag bears an emblem of blue, red, and white flames rising from Olympic rings and is usually accompanied by the acronym ROC. But which country does this strange new flag represent?

To answer that question, we need to take a step back to the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia. With the Russians representing their nation on familiar soil, the onus was on them to perform. During the competition, rumours started spreading that Russian athletes were doping (using illegal substances or treatments to gain an advantage). As this scandal began to gain traction, an official investigation was launched – it made a shocking discovery. The search revealed that the Russians had been participating in a state-sponsored doping program since 2011.

After an understandable uproar in the Olympic community, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) banned Russia from competing in the Olympics for two years in 2019, removing their eligibility to perform in this year’s “2020” Olympics and the coming year’s 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

With that out of the way, what is the ROC? Although the ban technically prevents Russia from competing in the Olympics, the prohibition is largely superficial – only banning depictions of Russia like its flag or anthem, not athletes. With the ban in place, Russia immediately got to work trying to exploit its loopholes. The solution: the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC).

Under the ROC banner, Russian athletes can compete and wear their national colours. The only difference is that the medals go toward the ROC instead of the nation and Russia’s national anthem won’t be played if the ROC wins gold at an event. In other words, the IOC’s Russia ban has had little effect other than making a statement that cheating will not be tolerated in the Olympics – something that was already self-explanatory long before the doping scandal.

Canadian women taking over

At the time this article is written, Team Canada sits at 11^th place with only 11 medals compared to the leader China’s 40. Despite Canada’s overall performance in the Olympics being relatively unremarkable, our female athletes have taken the initiative, winning all of Canada’s medals thus far!

At this point, Canada has won three gold medals in swimming, weightlifting, and rowing; three silver medals with two in swimming and one in synchronized springboard; and five bronze medals in rowing, swimming, softball, and two in judo.

COVID-19 cases explode in Tokyo

Although this year’s Olympics have a significantly reduced in-person viewership, they still attract a lot of people. Between athletes, coaches, support staff, medical personnel, and sports enthusiasts, the amount of people walking around Tokyo has increased in the past few weeks. And with an increase in population comes a spike in virus cases.

On July 29^th, Tokyo reported nearly 4,000 new daily COVID cases, setting a record for the most cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic. The impact of the virus has also spread to the athletes, with multiple competitors being withdrawn from the Olympics due to complications.

Although the Olympic Games are likely to continue as planned, this case spike serves as a stark reminder that although the international community is winning the fight against COVID-19, we’re not out of the woods yet.