Olympics

IOC upholds Russia suspension & ban of national flag at PyeongChang Olympics closing ceremony

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– IOC upholds Russia suspension & ban of national flag at PyeongChang Olympics closing ceremony:

The International Olympic Committee has voted not to lift the suspension of Russia before the closing ceremony of PyeongChang Winter Olympics, prohibiting Russian athletes from appearing under their national tricolor.

Full IOC membership unanimously voted in favor of the Executive Board’s recommendation to uphold the ban on Russia until after the 2018 Winter Olympics.

“The IOC Executive Board decided first not to lift the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee for the closing ceremony,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. “Therefore, no delegation of the Russian Olympic Committee will have taken part in these Olympic Winter Games.”

Read moreIOC upholds Russia suspension & ban of national flag at PyeongChang Olympics closing ceremony

Norovirus SPREAD Quickly At 2018 Winter Olympics

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– Norovirus SPREAD Quickly At 2018 Winter Olympics:

As we previously reported, the norovirus is spreading quickly among security guards at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Determined not to let the Olympics spiral into a widespread gastrointestinal nightmare, organizers of the Games seemed intent on carrying out a scorched-earth assault on every last germ in a 40-mile radius.

According to the New York Times, by Thursday night, 42 more cases of norovirus were confirmed around the sites of the 2018 Winter Olympics, bringing the official tally of cases this week to 128. A mere 24 hours before the opening ceremony of the Games, the outbreak has threatened to undermine an otherwise watertight start to the global sports event.

Read moreNorovirus SPREAD Quickly At 2018 Winter Olympics

North & South Korea to form 1st joint Olympic team, march at opening together under unified flag

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– North & South Korea to form 1st joint Olympic team, march at opening together under unified flag:

North and South Korea have agreed to form a unified women’s hockey team for the upcoming Winter Olympics, and will march under a unified flag at the opening ceremony, according to a joint statement.

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Russia Says Won’t Broadcast Winter Olympics After National Team Barred From 2018 Games

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– Russia Says Won’t Broadcast Winter Olympics After National Team Barred From 2018 Games:

Update: It’s past 10 pm in Moscow, and while many didn’t expect a response from the Russian government to the news of its Winter Olympics ban, a representative from Russian state television said it will not broadcast the Winter Olympics unless its national team is allowed to compete, according to Interfax.

Meanwhile, the president of the Russian skating union says the IOC decision to ban Russia from the Olympics is offensive and insulting, and will ultimately harm the Olympic movement.

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Russia Barred From 2018 Winter Olympics

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– Russia Barred From 2018 Winter Olympics:

In an unprecedented move, the International Olympic Committee has banned the Russian Olympic team from participating in the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. While individual atheltes with rigorous histories of anti-doping testing will be allowed to petition to compete as neutral athletes, Russian government officials will be forbidden to attend the games, the country’s flag will not fly and its anthem will not be played, the New York Times reported.

If any Russian athletes win metals as individual competitors, the Russian anthem won’t be played during the medals ceremony – instead, the Olympic anthem will sound. The record books from the games will officially record that Russia won zero metals at the 2018 games.

Read moreRussia Barred From 2018 Winter Olympics

Hacktivists Reveal Many US Olympians Were Allowed To Taking Banned Substances

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– Hacktivists Reveal Many US Olympians Were Allowed To Taking Banned Substances:

A second batch of secret data from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s database of athletes who took part in the 2016 Rio Olympics was released by the hacking group Fancy Bears; the list includes 10 ‘doping addicts’ from the US and five more from Britain.

The hacktivist group Fancy Bears published a second batch of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s medical data on athletes who took part in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

The publication came just a few days after Fancy Bears leaked alleged WADA documents showing that the agency had allowed US tennis players Serena and Venus Williams, as well as Olympic gold-winning gymnast Simone Biles and basketball star Elena Delle Donne to take banned substances for ‘therapeutic’ purposes.

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H/t reader kevin a.

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Mugabe Orders Arrest Of “Rats We Call Athletes” After Zimbabwe Wins No Olympic Medals

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– Mugabe Orders Arrest Of “Rats We Call Athletes” After Zimbabwe Wins No Olympic Medals:

“We have wasted the country’s money on these rats we call athletes. If you are not ready to sacrifice and win even copper or brass medals (referring the 4th and 5th positions) why do you go to waste our money… If we needed people to just go to Brazil to sing our national anthem and hoist our flag, we would have sent some of the beautiful girls and handsome guys from University of Zimbabwe to represent us.”

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Brazil Escalates: Authorities Pull 2 US Olympic Swimmers From Rio Flight

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– Brazil Escalates: Authorities Pull 2 US Olympic Swimmers From Rio Flight:

It appears Brazilian officials are not simply going to let this one go. With Ryan Lochte reportedly back in the US (and teammate James Feigen unaccounted for) following the Brazilain judge’s search-and-seizure warrant, CNN reports that two fellow swimmers involved in the alleged robbery – Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz – were removed by Brazilian authorities on Wednesday night from their flight before it departed Rio de Janeiro to the United States, according to US Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky.

Authorities Pull 2 US Olympic Swimmers From Rio Flight

As a reminder, Lochte, a gold-medal winner, said his wallet was stolen as he and three of his American teammates — Bentz, Conger and James Feigen — were returning to Rio’s Olympic Village in a taxi. They said they were robbed by men posing as police officers, adding that the group initially didn’t contact the U.S. Olympic Committee because they were “afraid (they’d) get in trouble.” The story made quick waves Sunday, especially after Lochte, 32, detailed the alleged encounter on the “Today” show. Lochte’s account has come under increased scrutiny since then. Embarrassed Rio police said they have found little evidence to support the accounts, and a police source said they are unable to find the taxi driver or witnesses.

And now as NBC reports,

Multiple sources told NBC Sports that Conger and Bentz cleared security and were in their seats on the plane when authorities came on to the aircraft shortly before takeoff and removed the swimmers.

They are being held at the airport but are being treated well and cordially, the sources said.

Authorities have indicated they don’t want to hold the swimmers long, but do want to know what happened during the early morning robbery, the sources said.

“We can confirm that Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were removed from their flight to the United States by Brazilian authorities,” U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky said. “We are gathering further information.”

Lochte’s lawyer Ostrow said Lochte gave police a statement as representatives from the U.S. State Department, United States Olympic Committee and the FBI observed. Lochte signed the statement to attest to its truthfulness, Ostrow said.

Police have not asked Lochte for more information, and they did not ask him to remain in Brazil, Ostrow said.

“They never said, ‘Stay around,'” Ostrow said. “Otherwise, I would have advised Ryan to stay.”

He accused Brazilian authorities of trying to “save face” after allowing the incident to become “a circus.”

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Of course, if one were truly wearing their tin foil hat, one might wonder if this is somehow retribution for Washington’s alleged hand in Rousseff’s downfall…

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Hunger Games: This One Olympic Photo Sums up Everything Wrong with Society

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– Hunger Games: This One Olympic Photo Sums up Everything Wrong with Society:

The 31st Olympic summer games are underway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and thousands of athletes and spectators from around the world have gathered for the event which will serve as prime time entertainment for the next couple of weeks. Every four years an insane amount of money is dumped into the spectacle as host cities and the Olympic committee construct arenas, stadiums and press quarters, leaving megalithic ruins in their wake.

Most of the news coverage about the events in Rio are centered around the pomp and splendor of athleticism, hoping to portray the affair as an opportunity for the world to feel united in sport, yet the truth is always hidden from the highlights and coverage: the world is suffering from terrible inequality and the fallout of economic tyranny, and the divide between the haves and have-nots is now greater than it has ever been.

Read moreHunger Games: This One Olympic Photo Sums up Everything Wrong with Society

AND NOW: Athlete with No Womb or Ovaries but Internal Testes Will Compete with Women in Rio

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South African middle-distance competitor Caster Semenya

– Athlete with No Womb or Ovaries but Internal Testes Will Compete with Women in Rio:

With reports of dead bodies and excrement floating in the water, the threat of Zika and the Russian doping scandal, the Rio Olympics appears the Frankenstein of athletic events. And now Rio seems dopey in another way: owing to political correctness, a runner with, reportedly, no womb or ovaries but internal testes will be allowed to compete with women.

This person is South African middle-distance competitor Caster Semenya. Iwrote of Semenya in 2009, back when Semenya (I’m not satisfied that Semenya is female, so henceforth I’ll refer to the runner not with pronouns but as “CS”) was an 18-year-old phenom who’d just set a record while winning a world title, dusting female opponents in the process. These outstanding results, along with CS’s masculine physique, caused suspicion and led to tests to determine the athlete’s sexual status.

Read moreAND NOW: Athlete with No Womb or Ovaries but Internal Testes Will Compete with Women in Rio

Welcome To Rio: Olympic Village Catches Fire, Athletes Robbed, & Water “Teeming With Dangerous Viruses”

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– Welcome To Rio: Olympic Village Catches Fire, Athletes Robbed, & Water “Teeming With Dangerous Viruses”:

As the Olympic Games are set to get underway in Rio de Janeiro, the host country is experiencing a couple of “minor glitches.”  Already reports have come in of gas leaks in athlete rooms (rooms which the Australians have labeled “uninhabitable”), athletes being robbed, a collapse of the main boat ramp intended for use in sailing competitions and a minor problem with water quality which an AP study found to be “contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria.” 

Read moreWelcome To Rio: Olympic Village Catches Fire, Athletes Robbed, & Water “Teeming With Dangerous Viruses”

AND NOW: ‘They’ve already won’: Refugee Olympic Team arrives in Rio (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

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– ‘They’ve already won’: Refugee Olympic Team arrives in Rio (VIDEO, PHOTOS):

The 10 members of the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT), the first of its kind, have arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the Olympic Games. The group will march as an independent team under the Olympic flag when the opening ceremony takes place on August 5.

The team is made up of two swimmers from Syria, two judo fighters from Democratic Republic of Congo, five runners from South Sudan and a marathon runner from Ethiopia.

ROT coach Geraldo Bernardes said that regardless of whether they win a medal, getting to Rio is already a great achievement for each team member.

Read moreAND NOW: ‘They’ve already won’: Refugee Olympic Team arrives in Rio (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Japan Olympic Teams To Train In Nuclear Clean-Up Zone

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– Japan Olympic teams to train in nuclear clean-up zone:

Tokyo (AFP) – Japan’s Olympic football teams will train for the Tokyo 2020 Games at a complex currently being used as a base for thousands of workers cleaning up the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

The Japan Football Association (JFA) said Monday that the Japanese men’s and women’s teams would hold their training camps at J-Village, once the country’s centre of excellence until it was taken over by plant operators following the 2011 nuclear disaster.

Read moreJapan Olympic Teams To Train In Nuclear Clean-Up Zone

Facility On Edge Of 20-Km Fukushima Nuclear Exclusion Zone To Become Olympic Training Center

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– Facility on edge of 20-km nuclear exclusion zone to become Olympic training center (Asahi Shimbun, May 13, 2014):

The government intends to turn a national soccer training center located just 20 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into a practice facility for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, sports minister Hakubun Shimomura said May 12.

The center, named “J-Village,” spans the municipalities of Hirono and Naraha in Fukushima Prefecture and is currently used by Tokyo Electric Power Co. as a base to deal with the nuclear accident triggered by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Read moreFacility On Edge Of 20-Km Fukushima Nuclear Exclusion Zone To Become Olympic Training Center

Why Congress Is Obsessed With Edward Snowden (RT Video)

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YouTube Added: Feb 11, 2014

Description:

Abby Martin takes a look at the corporate media’s fearmongering regarding the Sochi Olympics with RT political commentator Sam Sacks, who breaks down the latest intelligence hearings regarding the worldwide ‘threats’ Congress is most focused on: Snowden.

U.S. Olympic Gold Medal Winners To Pay Almost $10,000 To The IRS

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– Achieve Olympic Glory – Now Pay the IRS (Americans For Tax Reform, Feb 7, 2014):

U.S. Olympic gold medal winners could owe almost $10,000 to the IRS
As 230 U.S. Olympic athletes gear up to compete in the 2014 Winter Games, the only thing colder than the slopes at Sochi is the fact that any prizes awarded by the U.S. Olympic Commission (USOC) will be taxed by the IRS. Many Americans don’t realize that the U.S. taxes income earned abroad, and as such even the winnings of Olympic athletes are subject to the reach of the IRS.
The USOC awards prizes to U.S. Olympic medal winners: $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver, and $10,000 for bronze. Relative to each athlete’s income tax bracket, some top earners such as Shaun White could end up paying over a third (39.6 percent) of their winnings to the IRS.

Read moreU.S. Olympic Gold Medal Winners To Pay Almost $10,000 To The IRS

CIA-Connected Terror Group Issues Threat Ahead Of Russian Olympic Games

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– CIA-connected Terror Group Issues Threat Ahead of Russian Olympic Games (Infowars, Jan 20, 2014):

Group loyal to Shamil Basayev, a Chechen warlord trained by the CIA in Afghanistan

Vilayat Dagestan, a Salafist terror group loyal to Shamil Basayev, has taken credit for the Volgograd bombing in late December that claimed the lives of 34 people. A video posted on the group’s website shows two men, identified as the suicide bombers it says are responsible for the Russian attack, wearing explosive belts and posing with assault rifles.

The men warn terrorists will attack the Winter Olympics, scheduled to begin on February 6 in Sochi, a Russian resort city on the Black Sea.

“We have prepared a… present for you, for you (President Putin) and all those tourists who will come over,” the men say in a statement.

Read moreCIA-Connected Terror Group Issues Threat Ahead Of Russian Olympic Games

Russia: Numerous Explosives Discovered Near Winter Olympics Site

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– Numerous Explosives Discovered Near Winter Olympics Site (ZeroHedge, Jan 9, 2014):

Just a few short weeks away, the opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympic may go off with a bang, literally, judging by the amount of “terrorist” chatter surrounding the games. Today however, it is more than just chatter: earlier the Russian media reported that Russian security forces had come across multiple unexplained deaths and explosive devices in a region near Sochi, resulting in an aggressive “anti-terrorism sweep.”

The developments are bizarre to say the least:

Read moreRussia: Numerous Explosives Discovered Near Winter Olympics Site

Melted Fuel Sank Into Ground Under Fukushima Reactors – Irradiated Groundwater Continously Flowing Into Ocean … It’s Too Late To Do Anything About This

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– Japan Journalist: Melted nuclear fuel sank into the ground under Fukushima reactors — Irradiated groundwater is flowing into ocean through sea-bottom springs, it’s too late to do anything about this (PHOTO) (ENENews, Oct 22, 2013):

Kyunghyang Shinmun (Major daily newspaper in South Korea –Source), Oct. 21, 2013: Japan‘s Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, promoting Tokyo as the site for the 2020 Summer Olympics, said to the International Olympic Committee: “Some may have concerns about Fukushima. Let me assure you, the situation is under control. It has never done and will never do any damage to Tokyo.” […] To [journalist Hirose Takashi], Abe‘s words were a bald-faced lie. And he decided to make this lie known to the world, especially the world of sports. He has written A Letter to All Young Athletes Who Dream of Coming to Tokyo in 2020, and to Their Coaches and Parents: Some Facts You Should Know. […] to conceal from them the truth about Tokyo today is not merely unkind; it is criminal. […]

Excerpts from Hirose’s letter: […] Inside Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactors #1 – #3 the pipes (which had circulated cooling water) are broken, which caused a meltdown. This means the nuclear fuel overheated, melted, and continued to melt anything it touched. Thus it melted through the bottom of the reactor, and then through the concrete floor of the building, and sank into the ground. […] for two and a half years TEPCO workers have been desperately pouring water into the reactor, but it is not known whether the water is actually reaching the melted fuel. […] Only the fact that irradiated water is leaking onto the surface of the ground around the reactor is reported. But deep under the surface the ground water is also being irradiated, and the ground water flows out to sea and mixes with the seawater through sea-bottom springs. It is too late to do anything about this. […] It’s a sad story, but this is the present situation of Japan and of Tokyo. I had loved the Japanese food and this land until the Fukushima accident occurred.

More from Hirose Takashi:

– Japan Journalist: Plutonium, Uranium Escaped Fukushima Reactors As Gas – Can’t Be Detected With Geiger Counter – Terrible Things Looming For Children, Must Be Evacuated Yet Nothing’s Done … This Is A ‘Criminal Nation’

Fukushima Radioactive Plume To Hit Shores Of U.S. & Canada For Many Decades – Removal Of Molten Cores Impossible For Hundreds Of Years, If Ever – Escape Of Radiation Virtually Unstoppable

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Related article:

– Dr. Helen Caldicott For RT: Endless Fukushima Catastrophe: Many Generations’ Health At Stake

– UC Berkeley Nuclear Professor: Work to go on for thousands of years at Fukushima site if they can’t retrieve melted fuel (AUDIO)

AND then there are … “buckyballs” …

– A Radioactive Nightmare … Coming To The U.S.

More articles on the buckyballs nightmare HERE (at EnviroReporter.com):

“… new UC Davis report about uranium-filled “buckyballs” and proof that sea mist carries radiation inland for hundreds of miles …”

Dr. Helen Caldicott for RT:

– Endless Fukushima catastrophe: 2020 Olympics under contamination threat (RT, Sep 15, 2013):

As the escape of radiation at Fukushima seems virtually unstoppable, there are still steps that governments all over the world should take to prevent worst case consequences. One of them would be canceling the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Scientific estimates predict that the radioactive plume travelling east across the Pacific will likely hit the shores of Oregon, Washington State and Canada early next year. California will probably be impacted later that year. Because the ongoing flow of water from the reactor site will be virtually impossible to stop, a radioactive plume will continue to migrate across the Pacific affecting Hawaii, North America, South America and eventually Australia for many decades.

Read moreFukushima Radioactive Plume To Hit Shores Of U.S. & Canada For Many Decades – Removal Of Molten Cores Impossible For Hundreds Of Years, If Ever – Escape Of Radiation Virtually Unstoppable