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Tag: 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games

  • Gymnastics star Simone Biles named AP Female Athlete of the Year a third time after dazzling return

    Gymnastics star Simone Biles named AP Female Athlete of the Year a third time after dazzling return

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    There were jitters, of course. Considering all that happened, how could there not be?

    When Simone Biles walked onto the floor at a suburban Chicago arena in late July for her first gymnastics competition in two years, she knew plenty of people were wondering how it was going to go.

    “I thought that too, don’t worry,” Biles said with a laugh.

    By the end of one rotation, the most decorated gymnast of all time realized she was back in her safe space. By the end of August, she was a national champion. Again. By October, she was a world champion. Again.

    And by December, she was The Associated Press’ Female Athlete of the Year.

    Yes, again.

    Her triumphant return that included her record eighth U.S. national championship and a sixth world all-around gold made Biles the sixth woman to claim the AP honor for a third time. The 26-year-old seven-time Olympic medalist was followed by Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark and Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati of the World Cup champion Spanish soccer team in voting by a panel of sports media professionals.

    And to think, she wasn’t really sure what awaited her on that summer night in front of a packed arena that supported her at every turn, a response she says she didn’t anticipate.

    Hard to blame her.

    The last time Biles had saluted the judges, she was earning a bronze medal on the balance beam at the end of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the end of a tumultuous two weeks where her decision to pull out of multiple finals due to “ the twisties ” (think mid-air vertigo) dragged the sometimes uncomfortable conversation about athletes and their mental health into the white-hot spotlight only the Games provide.

    Though she drew near-universal acclaim for her courage to put her safety first, a quick check of her mentions on social media showed not everyone agreed.

    She took a two-year hiatus in the aftermath, going into what she called a “protective shell.” She dove deeper into therapy while eyeing a return on her terms.

    Still, that didn’t stop self-doubt from creeping in. Only this time, instead of letting the anxiety gnaw at her confidence, she accepted its presence, took a deep breath, and put on the kind of show that is hers and hers alone.

    “I did a lot better than I thought I would do,” Biles said.

    Same as it ever was.

    Biles previously won the AP honor in 2016 and 2019, times in her life she now barely recognizes.

    She was still a teenager following her star-making performance at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Still living at home with her parents. Her world still revolved around the spaceship of a gym her family built in the Houston suburbs.

    Thinking about it, she can’t help but shake her head a little bit. Biles remembers thinking she only had time to practice and — if she was lucky — get her nails done.

    It’s not that way anymore. She’s made it a point to make sure that the sport she’s redefined no longer defines her.

    Biles married Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens in the spring. Her time is split between getting to Packers games when her schedule allows, working with her corporate partners and poring over the details of the house she and her husband are building.

    Part of her evolution is organic. Part of it is intentional. For too long, she let herself get too caught up in the outcome of every turn, every flip, every twist, every practice in a discipline where perfection is literally unattainable.

    “Whenever I was 19, it was the end of the world if I had bad days,” she said. “Now I’m like, ’It’s OK, it’s just gymnastics and I’ll come back tomorrow and we’ll get it started again.’”

    Biles isn’t kidding when says she’s trying to take more of a “one day at a time” approach, not easy for someone who admits she has a habit of “best case/worst case-ing” every little thing. She didn’t really get serious about returning until late spring when coach Cecile Landi suggested over margaritas that maybe it was time to give the world a peek at what Biles had been working on.

    Her response was somewhere along the lines of “sure, OK” even though there was a part of her that felt she might not ever be ready.

    “I didn’t know what I was expecting,” said Biles, who credited the people she has surrounded herself with for believing in her when she was still grappling with her belief in herself. “People were like, ‘No, we’ve seen you in training, this is what was supposed to happen.’”

    And what was supposed to happen quickly became what has almost always happened since Biles began taking the norms of her sport and bending them to her will.

    It wasn’t just that she won but how she did it. Her intricate and gravity-defying tumbling has become more precise. A full decade into her elite career, her routines for all four events are still packed with remarkable difficulty.

    Nowhere is that difficulty more apparent than on vault, where she became the first woman to perform a Yurchenko double-pike in international competition. The move — a breathtaking combination of power and more than a little guts — is now the fifth element to carry her name in the sport’s code of points.

    She doesn’t have to do it to win. She does it anyway, because, as she put it a few years ago, she can.

    Barring injury or the unforeseen, a third trip to the Olympics awaits next summer. She knows this. She’d just prefer not to talk about it. She only begrudgingly uses the words “Paris” or “Olympics” in interviews, a very conscious choice.

    It’s telling of where Biles is in her life that she recently shared an Instagram story in which followers were asked to post their best moment of 2023. The picture she chose wasn’t taken from a routine or a medal podium but she and Owens dancing at their wedding reception, the picture of a life finding its balance.

    “At the end of the day I did worlds and all that stuff, but I did get married, I got to support him,” she said. “It’s just like, it’s kind of nice that gymnastics isn’t the main revolving piece.”

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    AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

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  • Tokyo Olympics sullied by bid-rigging, bribery trials more than 2 years after the Games closed

    Tokyo Olympics sullied by bid-rigging, bribery trials more than 2 years after the Games closed

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    TOKYO — The bid-rigging trial around the Tokyo Olympics played out Tuesday in a Japanese courtroom — more than two years after the Games closed — with advertising giant Dentsu and five other companies facing criminal charges.

    Seven individuals are also facing charges from Tokyo district prosecutors in the cases, including Koji Henmi, who oversaw the sports division at Dentsu at the time.

    Executives or management-level officials at each of the accused companies, and Tokyo Olympic organizing committee official Yasuo Mori, have been charged with violating anti-monopoly laws.

    Among the companies facing charges are Dentsu Group, Hakuhodo, Tokyu Agency and event organizer Cerespo. All deal with event organizing, sports promotion or marketing.

    Dentsu has a long history of lining up sponsorships and advertising with bodies like World Athletics, headed by Sebastian Coe, and the Switzerland-based International Olympic Committee, led by Thomas Bach.

    Genta Yoshino, the lawyer for Henmi, did not deny the bid-rigging took place. Speaking in Tokyo district court, he said no bid process was ever decided upon or set up by the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee.

    “Even if what happened gets categorized as bid-rigging, all my client did was abide by the organizing committee’s intentions, following their instructions,” Yoshino told the court, presided over by a panel of three judges.

    Yoshino said his client merely did his best to make the Olympics a success. Henmi was under pressure from the IOC, which repeatedly expressed doubts about the ability of the Tokyo organizers, Yoshino added.

    The organizing committee was headed at the time by Yoshiro Mori, a former Japanese prime minister who was eventually forced to resign as the head of Tokyo 2020. The CEO was Toshiro Muto, a former deputy director of the Bank of Japan.

    The maximum penalty for a company convicted of bid-rigging is a fine of up to 500 million yen ($3.3 million). An individual, if found guilty, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 5 million yen ($33,000).

    Trials take months in Japan, sometimes years. The next session in the trial was scheduled for Jan. 15, 2024. It’s unclear when a verdict may come.

    Dentsu was a key force in landing the Olympics for Tokyo in 2013. French prosecutors have looked into allegations that IOC members may have been bribed to vote for Tokyo.

    Once the Olympics landed in Tokyo, Dentsu became the chief marketing arm of the Games and raised a record $3.3 billion in local sponsorship. Dentsu received a commission on the sales — sales that were at least twice as large as any previous Olympics.

    The reports of corruption surrounding Dentsu also forced the resignation in 2019 of Tsunekazu Takeda, the head of the Japanese Olympic Committee and an IOC member who headed Olympic marketing.

    Tokyo organizers say they spent $13 billion to organize the 2020 Olympics, which were delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a government audit suggests the expenditure might have been twice that. At least 60% was public money.

    The Tokyo scandal ruined the chances of the northern city of Sapporo of landing the 2030 Winter Olympics. It had been a strong favorite but was forced to withdraw. The IOC last week said it favored a French Alps bid for the 2030 Games with Salt Lake City the preferred choice for 2034.

    Earlier this year French police searched the headquarters of the 2024 Paris Olympics in an investigation over contracts linked to the Games.

    In the wake of the scandal, Dentsu has been restricted from bidding on contracts for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and by the city of Osaka and the local prefecture, which is hosting the 2025 World Exposition.

    Tokyo prosecutors have also been investigating a separate bribery scandal centered around Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Dentsu executive. Takahashi was a member of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee and wielded powerful influence over the Olympic business.

    Takahashi’s trial opens Dec. 14. He has not publicly acknowledged guilt, or made any statement, and speculation is rife he will fight the charges.

    The scandal involving Takahashi involves bribery allegations over Olympic sponsorships that were won by companies such as Aoki Holdings, a clothing company that dressed Japan’s Olympic team, and Sun Arrow, which produced the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic mascots.

    Some company officials have already been convicted, but did not receive jail time. Almost all criminal trials in Japan result in guilty verdicts. The defense, including Henmi’s, is trying to salvage the client’s reputation and minimize any fines.

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    AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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  • JOC, Sapporo announce decision to abandon bid for 2030 winter games, seek possible bid from 2034 on

    JOC, Sapporo announce decision to abandon bid for 2030 winter games, seek possible bid from 2034 on

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    TOKYO — Officials from Sapporo and the Japanese Olympic Committee on Wednesday announced a decision to withdraw the northern Japanese city as a candidate to host the 2030 Winter Olympics, with the effort soiled by massive corruption and bid-rigging tied to the one-year delayed Tokyo Games.

    Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto and JOC President Yasuhiro Yamashita, at a joint news conference in Tokyo, said they are withdrawing because of the lack of support from the citizens whose trust was largely lost because of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic corruption cases that erupted last year.

    “We could not gain understanding from the citizens,” Akimoto told reporters. “There has been a widespread sense of uneasiness among the citizens about the criminal cases related to the 2020 Tokyo Games, and they are also worried about their financial burden for hosting the games.”

    Yamashita, a judo gold medalist and International Olympic Committee member, said he suggested the change of plan because he was afraid that “our pursuit of the bidding process may irreparably damage the value of the Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games and sport.”

    Prior to the announcement, the two officials met in Tokyo to finalize their decision. It comes just as Stockholm, Sweden, is now seen as the favorite for 2030 and Salt Lake City almost certain to be picked for 2034 by the International Olympic Committee.

    The two officials said they will continue to seek Sapporo’s possible candidacy for 2034 or later, but chances are considered slim and their talk for 2034 is seen as an attempt to save face.

    Akimoto said bidding for 2034 would be also “quite severe” and that the city would have to closely examine the prospects, including the will of the residents, before deciding how to proceed with future bids.

    The widespread scandal has tarnished the Olympic image in Japan and dented Sapporo’s bid.

    At its center is a former executive at powerful advertising company Dentsu who joined the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee in 2014. Haruyuki Takahashi, who used great influence in arranging sponsorships for the games, says he is innocent and his trial has yet to begin.

    Fifteen people at five companies face trial in the bribery scandal. Among them are Aoki Holdings, a clothing company that provided uniforms for Japan’s Olympic team; Sun Arrow, which made the mascots; and Japanese publishing house Kadokawa, whose executive was found guilty on Tuesday of bribing Takahashi.

    Japan officially spent about $13 billon to hold the 2020 Games, though a government audit has suggested the true amount might be twice that much.

    ___

    AP videojournalist Ayaka McGill contributed to this report.

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    AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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  • Simone Biles wins a record 8th US Gymnastics title a full decade after her first

    Simone Biles wins a record 8th US Gymnastics title a full decade after her first

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    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A decade later, Simone Biles is still on top.

    The gymnastics star won her record eighth U.S. Championship on Sunday night, 10 years after she first ascended to the top of her sport as a teenage prodigy.

    Biles, now a 26-year-old newlywed considered perhaps the greatest of all time, posted an all-around two-day total of 118.40, four points clear of runner-up Shilese Jones. Florida junior Leanne Wong claimed third, bolstering her chances of making a third straight world championship team.

    Biles is all but assured of returning to the gym where she captured her first world title in 2013. Over the course of two electric nights at the SAP Center, she served notice that even after a two-year break following the Tokyo Olympics, in gymnastics there is the one referred to as the GOAT and there is everyone else.

    Biles became the oldest woman to win a national title since USA Gymnastics began organizing the event in 1963. Her eight crowns moved her past Alfred Jochim, who won seven between 1925-33 when the Amateur Athletics Union ran the championships and the events in men’s competition included rope climbing.

    Yes, really.

    “I don’t think about numbers,” Biles said. “I think about my performance. And I think overall, I hit 8 for 8. I guess it’s a lucky number this year.”

    The sport has come a long way over the last century. No one has spent more time at the far end of the Bell curve than Biles, who has spent 10 years using her singular talents to push boundaries in more ways than one.

    Peaks aren’t supposed to last this long. Most elite gymnasts at 26 — at least the ones who haven’t retired — are simply hoping to hold on to what they have.

    Biles isn’t interested in that. Never has been. She finds repetition boring. She insists this time she’s doing it “for herself” and her markedly different approach to her job offers tangible proof she’s not lying.

    Rather than let the world in to her journey as she eyes a third Olympics, she’s kept most of her training under wraps, more interested in sharing glimpses of her life far away from the gym.

    “I like to keep (my goals) personal, just so that I know what I’m aiming for,” Biles said. “I think it’s better that way. I’m trying to move a little bit differently this year than I have in the past. I think it’s working so far, so I’m going to keep it secretive.”

    There appears to be more balance in her life, leaning into the “it’s just gymnastics” mantra that helped fuel her rise.

    Age hasn’t caught up to her yet, though she played it relatively safe — by her standards — on Sunday. She tweaked her right ankle in training on Saturday, leading her to opt out of doing the Yurchenko double pike vault that she nailed almost flawlessly during the opening night of the competition on Friday.

    The 14.850 she received for her Cheng vault was still the highest of the night on the event. So was the 14.8 she earned on beam. The 15.400 that drew a standing ovation when she finished too.

    Next stop is Antwerp in late September, where Biles will try to add to the 25 medals — 18 of them gold — she’s captured so far in her unparalleled career.

    Jones figures to be on the plane too. The 21-year-old is a marvel on bars, where she thrives despite being tall (5-foot-6ish) for someone who opts to do this for a living. The crowd erupted when she nailed her dismount, her 15.000 score was tops in the meet on the event and put 10 months filled with injuries that have slowed her training firmly behind her.

    Who joins Jones and Biles at worlds remains very much up in the air.

    Reigning Olympic champion Sunisa Lee, who has spent most of the year battling a kidney issue her doctors are still trying to get a handle on, could have a chance as a specialist after putting together a solid balance beam routine.

    Wong, one of several athletes trying to compete at the NCAA and elite levels at the same time, put together two stellar nights that included an elegant bars routine and a floor exercise that makes up for in precision what it lacks in power.

    Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles, teammates of Biles’ at the 2020 Olympics, who have also spent the last two years splitting time between college and elite, weren’t quite as sharp. Chiles fell off both the bars and beam. Carey finished in the top 10 on just one event — vault — where the Americans figure to be loaded.

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    AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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  • Simone Biles dazzles in her return following a two-year layoff to easily claim the U.S. Classic.

    Simone Biles dazzles in her return following a two-year layoff to easily claim the U.S. Classic.

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    HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Simone Biles began her first competition in 732 days by briefly running around during introductions, unsure of where she was supposed to go.

    It’s the only time she seemed out of place. Once Biles saluted the judges, it was the same as it ever was.

    Biles soared to victory in the U.S. Classic on Saturday night in her return following a two-year layoff after the Tokyo Olympics, the case of “ the twisties ” that forced her to take herself out of multiple events in Japan seemingly firmly in her rearview mirror.

    Wearing a black-and-white bedazzled leotard, the 26-year-old Biles seemed in her element in front of a sold-out NOW Arena crowd that was littered with signs of support. Her all-around score of 59.100 was easily the best of the night, remarkable considering she’d only really started training seriously in late April after her marriage to NFL defensive back Jonathan Owens.

    She’s taken a muted approach to her return to the sport she’s spent the last decade redefining. Biles admitted as recently as last week that it took her a bit to recover from “the twisties,” slang for a mental block that caused her to lose her air awareness but stressed that she was “good.”

    Certainly looked like it.

    Wearing No. 231 and sporting — at least before she began competing — a necklace bearing “Owens” in tribute to her husband, she seemed equal parts and relaxed and energized.

    She began on uneven bars, not far from a sign featuring a goat (a symbol for “Greatest of All Time”) that read “Simone Freaking Biles.” She wasn’t perfect, nearly stalling near the end of her routine. She muscled up and stayed on and when she hit her dismount, she cut her eyes off to the side as if to say “sheesh.”

    Her score of 14.000 was the third best of the competition and a signal of things to come. She was as solid and steady as ever on balance beam, where she won a bronze in Tokyo after a week of uncertainty, a medal she’s described as one of the sweetest of her career.

    She never officially closed the door on Paris, even after a tumultuous stay in Japan. She’s spent most of the last two years preparing for her wedding and planning the rest of her life.

    Still, the lure of the gym tugged at her, though she took a more muted approach to her comeback than in 2018 or in the run-up to Tokyo in 2021.

    At the moment, she’s letting her gymnastics do the talking. And they spoke loud and clear.

    She was dynamic on floor exercise, where her tumbling passes have long been showstoppers. While she and coaches Laurent and Cecile Landi have tweaked her routines a bit to better take advantage of the sport’s updated Code of Points, she still does some of the most challenging gymnastics in the sport typically with seemingly effortless ease.

    Biles kept all three of her tumbling passes on the floor inbounds, something that was a problem at times in 2021. Her score of 14.900 included a start value of 6.8, a massive amount of difficulty considering no other athlete had a start value over 5.9.

    She finished with a Yurchenko double-pike vault, a roundoff onto the table followed by two back flips with her hands clasped behind her knees. It’s a vault she toyed with in 2021 hoping to pull off in Tokyo.

    It never happened. It still might in Paris. She hopped a little bit after landing as the arena exploded, her 15.400 more than a full point better than any of the other 30+ athletes managed.

    The Classic is considered a warm-up of sorts in the calendar. The U.S. Championships are later this month, with the world championships coming in October and the Olympics less than a year out.

    There is plenty of time to refine things. To expand. To build. Biles’ all-around score Saturday was higher than what she posted at the same meet in 2018. What followed was two years of dominance.

    More may be on the way.

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    AP coverage of the Paris Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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  • Gymnastics star Simone Biles returning to competition in August in first meet since 2020 Olympics

    Gymnastics star Simone Biles returning to competition in August in first meet since 2020 Olympics

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    Simone Biles is back.

    The gymnastics superstar plans to return to competition at the U.S. Classic outside Chicago in early August, her first event since the pandemic-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

    USA Gymnastics announced Wednesday that Biles, a seven-time Olympic medalist and the 2016 Olympic champion, is part of the women’s field for the single-day event set for Aug. 5 at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates.

    Biles has taken most of the last two years off following her eventful stay in Japan in the summer of 2021, where her decision to remove herself from multiple events to focus on her mental health shifted the focus from the games themselves to the overall wellness of the athletes.

    She served as a cheerleader as her American teammates won the team silver then sat out the all-around, vault and floor exercise finals she had qualified for while dealing with what is known as “the twisties” — a gymnastics term for when an athlete loses their spatial awareness when airborne.

    Biles returned for the balance beam final, where she won a bronze medal that tied Shannon Miller’s record for most Olympic medals by an American female gymnast. She hinted at the Paris 2024 Olympics but only after taking a lengthy break.

    The last two years have been a whirlwind of sorts. She headlined her post-Olympic tour in the fall of 2021 and married NFL player Jonathan Owens — now a defensive back for the Green Bay Packers — this spring.

    The 26-year-old Biles has also become one of the most vocal advocates for athletes finding space to protect their mental health after her stand in Japan put the issue front and center. While the conversation around the subject is constantly evolving, Biles’ return to the sport she dominated for nearly a decade suggests an athlete who wants to go out on her own terms.

    The U.S. Classic is one of the marquee events on USA Gymnastics’ annual calendar and typically serves as a warm-up of sorts for the national championships, this year scheduled for late August in San Jose.

    Biles used the Classic as her comeback meet in 2018 following a two-year hiatus after her record medals haul in Rio de Janeiro. It took her all of two hours to show she remained the gold standard in her sport, setting the stage for another spectacular run that included two more world all-around championships in 2018 and 2019 and three more national titles.

    Things could be different this time around, in more ways than one.

    Biles courted the spotlight during her run-up to Tokyo, becoming in many ways the face of the U.S. Olympic movement. She appears to be taking a more subdued approach with the Paris Games about a year away. She’s kept her various social media channels almost entirely gymnastics-free, instead using them to highlight snippets of her personal life.

    And for the first time since rising to stardom as a teenager in 2013, Biles won’t have to shoulder the burden of being the standard bearer for the U.S. program.

    Sunisa Lee, who won gold in the all-around final in Tokyo, will also be at the U.S. Classic after spending two years competing at Auburn, where she helped spearhead a massive uptick in interest in collegiate gymnastics.

    Lee missed the second half of her sophomore year with the Tigers while grappling with health issues but is eyeing a return to the Olympics not necessarily to defend her all-around title but to take another shot at gold on uneven bars, her signature event.

    Lee placed third on bars in Tokyo, due in no small part to the attention she received in the immediate aftermath of becoming the fifth straight American woman to win the Olympic title.

    Biles became adept at navigating the various demands of her time as her stardom rose. She appears to be plotting a more subdued path as she tries to make a third Olympic team, a rarity for an American female gymnast. Dominique Dawes (1992, 1996 and 2000) is the only U.S. woman in the last 50 years to be selected for three Olympic teams.

    Then again, Biles is also competing at a time when it is becoming more commonplace for elite gymnasts to compete well into their 20s and beyond.

    The easing of name, image and likeness rules at the NCAA level have allowed Lee and several other top Americans like Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles and Leanne Wong to not be forced to choose between competing collegiately and cashing in on their Olympic success.

    Carey, the 2020 Olympic champion on floor exercise and the 2022 world champion on vault, has spent the last two years at Oregon State. Chiles, who won a team silver in Tokyo and added three medals — including silvers on floor and vault — at the world championships last fall, has thrived at UCLA. Wong, the 2021 world championship silver medalist, has helped Florida reach the national finals each of the last two years.

    They will all arrive in Chicago sharpened by having competed regularly since Tokyo.

    Biles, by contrast, is in a different place. She’s maintained since she left Japan that she wouldn’t rush into any decision attempting to make a run at Paris, stressing all along that she would only return to the sport she dominated for so long because she wants to and not out of a sense of duty.

    Registering for the Classic is but one step in several that she’ll need to make over the next 14 months. The key for her will be to find the right balance that she mastered while experiencing the kind of crossover success reserved for select few Olympic champions.

    ___

    2024 Paris Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Haruki Murakami pleads for keeping Tokyo park and baseball stadium that inspired his writing

    Haruki Murakami pleads for keeping Tokyo park and baseball stadium that inspired his writing

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    TOKYO — Author Haruki Murakami says he’s strongly opposed to the redevelopment of a historic and beloved Tokyo park district that would remove his favorite jogging path and tear down the nearly century-old baseball stadium where he was inspired to become a novelist.

    The plan approved earlier this year by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike to put skyscrapers and new stadiums in the heart of the Jingu Gaien green district has become increasingly controversial. Followers of baseball and rugby history are opposed to it, as well as conservationists and civil groups who say the project has advanced without transparency, adequate environmental assessment or explanation to the residents.

    The ball park and a neighboring rugby stadium used for soccer during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics would be demolished under the plan, and hundreds of trees would be removed from what’s been a Tokyo park district for centuries. When finished, the new stadiums will be surrounded by nearly 200-meter (650-foot) tall office buildings in a commercial complex.

    “I’m strongly opposed to the Jingu Gaien redevelopment plan,” Murakami said on his Sunday radio show. “Please leave that pleasant jogging course full of greenery and the lovely Jingu Stadium as it is. Once something is destroyed, it can never be restored.”

    Murakami used to sit beyond the outfield fence, stretching out with a beer to watch the game on a grassy slope. He remembers the moment he decided to become a novelist: In the early afternoon on April 1, 1978, when then-perennial underdog Yakult Swallows’ unknown American Dave Hilton slammed a clean double into left field and “the satisfying crack when the bat met the ball resounded throughout Jingu Stadium,” he wrote in his 2007 memoir, “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.”

    On his way home, he bought a fountain pen and started writing. His first novel, “Hear the Wind Sing,” was finished about six months later.

    Murakami said Gaien’s circular jogging course, which is just over 1-kilometer (1,093-yard) long and has a mark at every 100 meters (yards), is his favorite running area. During the radio show, he described “my secret, nice memory” of regularly passing another runner in the opposite direction, never speaking.

    Earlier in the weekend, hundreds of people gathered outside the designated redevelopment area in Tokyo for a protest.

    The Jingu Gaien dispute comes about two years after the Tokyo Olympics, which involved several newly constructed stadiums and have since been sullied by bribery scandals.

    Koike said the metropolitan government has appropriately handled the environmental assessment and has urged the companies involved to share information with the public on the redevelopment.

    The project will take 13 years to complete, but minor construction has begun.

    The first court hearing on a lawsuit to suspend the work will be held later this week.

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  • Mexican soccer team coach replaced after humiliating loss to US

    Mexican soccer team coach replaced after humiliating loss to US

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    The Mexican Soccer Federation has replaced Argentine Diego Cocca as coach of the national team, following a humiliating 3-0 loss to the United States

    Mexico manager Diego Cocca looks on before a friendly soccer match against Cameroon Saturday, June 10, 2023, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

    The Associated Press

    MEXICO CITY — The Mexican Soccer Federation announced Monday it has replaced Argentine Diego Cocca as coach of the national team, following a humiliating 3-0 loss to the United States.

    The federation said Jaime Lozano will take over the top spot. Lozano previously coached the national team and led it to a bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

    Cocca had been named head of the national team only in February, and his short stint Mexico compiled a record of 3 wins, 3 ties and a loss.

    But criticisms had emerged about his leadership, and the complaint came to a head Thursday when the U.S. squad trounced Mexico in the semi-finals of the Nations Cup, a CONCACAF tournament.

    “You can lose to the United States, because that’s soccer,” said the head of the Mexican Soccer Federation, Juan Carlos Rodríguez. “What is unacceptable is the way that victory was ruled out from the start due to logistical decisions that split the group.”

    Several Mexican players had complained about the long rides to practice sessions preceding the match in Las Vegas.

    Cocca himself was appointed after a humiliating exit for Mexico in the first round of the Qatar World Cup in 2022, the worst showing for the national team since the World Cup in Argentina in 1978.

    After the loss to the U.S., Mexico rebounded Sunday to defeat Panama 1-0 and win third place in the Nations Cup. But the normally enthusiastic Mexico fan base appeared to desert the team, which played in a half-filled stadium.

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  • Tokyo plan likened to putting ‘skyscrapers’ in Central Park

    Tokyo plan likened to putting ‘skyscrapers’ in Central Park

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    TOKYO — The Jingu Gaien area in central Tokyo is a cultural and historic treasure, a mostly green space set aside almost 100 years ago with private donations to honor Japan‘s famous Meiji Emperor.

    With the tacit support of Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, a real estate company is planning to redevelop the green enclave with a pair of highrise towers — about 190 meters (620 feet) each — and a smaller 80-meter (260-foot) companion.

    Plans also call for razing a famous baseball stadium where Babe Ruth played — and demolishing an adjoining rugby venue — and rebuilding them on a reconfigured tract that provides more commercial space.

    “This is like building skyscrapers in the middle of Central Park in New York,” Professor Mikiko Ishikawa told the Associated Press.

    Ishikawa is an emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo who did her doctorate at Harvard University, where she studied landscape architecture and Central Park’s history. She said Central Park was an inspiration for the Japanese — as were European designs — when Jingu Gaien was completed in 1926.

    “Tokyo would lose its soul,” said Ishikawa, who described the area as “the showroom of the Japanese nation” when it was opened.

    “Jingu Gaien is a public place, and you should think of it as a commons,” she said.

    The controversial, billion-dollar project pits a diverse group of activists, preservations, and local residents against Koike, the metropolitan government, and real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan.

    The project will take more than a decade to complete, but Koike has allowed some limited construction to begin despite questions about the environmental impact.

    “The Jingu Gaien was paid for by private money, maybe the earliest example of crowdfunding,” Ishikawa said

    Opponents have filed suit seeking an injunction to stop the project, which would allow environmental issues to be addressed and explore if the area needs a radical makeover.

    “For me and other people who live in the neighborhood, we never dreamed there would be anything like this happening,” said Tenco Tsunoi, a graphic designer who opposes the project.

    “It was a complete shock,” added Tsunoi, who said the project was done “very quietly” by the city and the developer.

    Activists have gathered almost 200,000 signatures on a petition to stop the project. And a newspaper poll conducted by Tokyo Shimbun last year showed 69.5% against the project.

    Famous Japanese composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, days before his death on March 28, sent an emotive letter to Koike to oppose the project as his last cause. About 6,000 gathered earlier this month near the National Stadium to remind Koike of his wishes.

    Sachihiko Harashina, an engineer who specializes in environmental planning and is the president of Chiba University of Commerce, said Koike seemed to favor the developers.

    “If the governor has a mind to hear the voice of the people, she should make more communication with the people,” Harashina said in a email to AP.

    Harashina is a leading international and national expert on Environmental Impact Assessment, or EIA. He termed as “very poor” the quality and thoroughness of the impact assessment on this project.

    “I should say this is one of the poorest EIAs in Japan,” he said. He said the city’s own Environmental Assessment Committee has pointed out several flaws.

    “One of the major problems in the process of the EIA for the Jingu Gaien redevelopment project is the lack of scientific analysis of the ecosystem of the park,” Harashina said.

    Harashina and others say that Koike could stop the project if she wished.

    Koike addressed Jingu Gaien several months ago at news conference. A Japanese reporter, posing a question, told Koike that local statutes require her to “take measures in the event that business engages in fraudulent behavior.”

    “There are people who have great interest in this matter — people who are opposed and people who are very active,” Koike replied. “There are people who voice such concerns but this issue is going through procedural steps — fraudulent or not.” She said the city council was “currently deliberating on this matter.”

    The flashpoint has been trees, green space, and who controls a public area that has been encroached on over the years. Also at issue is the fate of more than 100 ginko trees that line an avenue in the area and provide a colorful cascade of falling leaves each autumn.

    The developer says the trees on the avenue will be kept, but 18 others away from the main avenue will be felled. In addition, Ishikawa said the root system of the remaining ginko trees will be damaged — perhaps killed — when the new baseball stadium is built within about 8 meters (25 feet) of the tree line.

    About 1,500 trees were cut down to build the National Stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

    The Olympics, caught up in a corruption and bribery scandal over the last several years, also helped the city pass legislation to remove height restrictions in the Jingu Gaien area. Activists believe planning for the project began a decade ago.

    “Up until now, Tokyo has preserved a lot of these public spaces,” Ishikawa, the landscape architect said. “If this goes through, this will be the first one of these preserved places that will be completely destroyed. This will be like a tidal wave, or the domino effect. If this can go forward in Jingu Gaien, what’s next?”

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    Follow Japan-based AP Sports Writer Stephen Wade on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StephenWadeAP

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    AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Russian gym coach who criticized Olympic judges banned

    Russian gym coach who criticized Olympic judges banned

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    A top Russian gymnastics coach whose athletes won numerous Olympic gold medals has been suspended following vehement criticism of judges who ended Russia’s winning streak in rhythmic gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics

    A top Russian gymnastics coach whose athletes won numerous Olympic gold medals has been suspended following vehement criticism of judges who ended Russia’s winning streak in rhythmic gymnastics at the Tokyo Olympics.

    The Gymnastics Ethics Foundation, which handles international disciplinary cases, barred Irina Viner from coaching or officiating at any competitions in international gymnastics for two years, in a decision published late Monday.

    That followed an investigation into statements made after Russian gymnasts took the silver medal in the individual and team all-around rhythmic competitions in Tokyo in 2021. Those were surprise defeats which ended a streak of gold medals for Russia going back to 2000 in both events.

    In comments to Russian media, Viner suggested the judges were motivated by anti-Russian prejudice and called the situation a “disgrace.” Viner also allegedly retaliated against an International Gymnastics Federation official from Russia who oversaw the judging at the Olympics by blocking her from running for re-election, and allegedly failed to cooperate with the inquiry.

    A summary of the ruling on the FIG website didn’t specify exactly which of the accusations were upheld but said Viner was found “liable for breach of the FIG rules”. Her comments after the Olympics were “deemed abusive and in violation of FIG rules,” the statement said.

    Viner’s two-year suspension won’t begin until current measures excluding Russia and its ally Belarus from international gymnastics over the invasion of Ukraine are lifted, or else five years pass.

    Viner, who was formerly married to billionaire businessman Alisher Usmanov, is head of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation and widely seen as a leading powerbroker in Russian sports. She raised the issue of the Olympic judging at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in 2021, Russian state news agencies reported at the time.

    Responding to the decision to suspend Viner, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko accused the FIG of “discriminatory policy against Russia,” in comments to the Tass state news agency. Viner can appeal the ruling.

    Viner’s coaching style came under scrutiny in a documentary, “Over The Limit,” which followed her and gymnast Margarita Mamun ahead of the 2016 Olympics, where Mamun won gold. The documentary showed Viner repeatedly criticizing Mamun in stark personal terms.

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  • Publishing executive charged in Tokyo Olympic bribes scandal

    Publishing executive charged in Tokyo Olympic bribes scandal

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    TOKYO — A top executive at a major Japanese publisher was charged Tuesday with bribing a former Tokyo Olympics organizing committee member.

    The charges against Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, a major figure in Japan’s movie and entertainment industry, are the latest in the unfolding corruption scandal related to last year’s Tokyo Summer Games.

    Kadokawa was arrested Sept. 14 on suspicion of bribing Haruyuki Takahashi with 69 million yen ($480,000).

    Takahashi, a former executive at advertising company Dentsu who joined the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee in 2014, had great influence in arranging sponsorships for the Games. He has been arrested and re-arrested three times since August.

    All the while, he has remained in custody and is also facing bribery allegations involving two other companies: Aoki Holdings, a clothing company that dressed Japan’s Olympic team, and Daiko Advertising Inc.

    Tagging on additional allegations, which keeps a suspect in custody, is known as “hostage justice,” and is a widely criticized but common practice in Japan.

    Analysts say the arrests and charges may continue for months in the Olympics scandal, as more than 50 companies were sponsors.

    Kadokawa, the son of the publishing company’s founder, said in a statement carried on Japanese media that he would quit as chairman.

    “I feel I must take responsibility. Kadokawa is facing a serious challenge, and a new leadership is needed so it can be overcome,” he said.

    Several other officials at the companies accused of bribery have been arrested, including two other Kadokawa employees.

    Tokyo-based Kadokawa Group, which also makes movies and games, said it takes the charges seriously.

    “We deeply and repeatedly apologize to our readers, users, writers and creators, shareholders and investors and all others who may have been affected,” the company said in a statement.

    Prosecutors say Takahashi acted in ways to favor the companies with business benefits related to the Olympics in return for the bribes.

    The official price tag for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics was $13 billion, mostly public money. The Games were postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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    Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

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