Athletics

TOKYO is a city full of famous buildings and iconic architecture.And its Olympic and Paralympic Village comes across as a homely, if slightly sterile, home for athletes that will descend upon it next month.
Olympians will sleep in eco-friendly single bedsCredit: Getty
Chairs will bring some colour to athletes’ roomsCredit: Getty
Stars will be instructed to eat alone in the dining areaCredit: Getty
Athletes will sleep in single beds, with decoration kept to a minimum within the Covid-19 secure bubble.
The Tokyo 2020 pads possess a clean feel, while tenants will be ordered to eat alone.
Rio’s Olympics was a Tinder hotspot, with matches having rocketed up 129 per cent in the area during the games.
Sex is set to be banned at this summer’s edition – but precautions have been taken anyway.
Organisers are distributing a staggering 160,000 condoms for the event, to encourage romping athletes to be safe.
The official line is that the mass distribution is to ‘raise awareness’.
Rule breaking rompers will have to avoid threesomes, however, as the beds won’t be able to handle the weight.
Tokyo organisers are committed to being as eco-friendly as possible, with each bed having been built from recycled cardboard.
Athletes will take questions in a state of the art media centreCredit: Getty
Athletes will walk these streets between July 23 and August 8Credit: Alamy
Press were given a tour of the village this morningCredit: Getty
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A spokesperson for Airweave, who made the beds, stated: “We’ve conducted experiments, like dropping weights on top of the beds.
“As long as they stick to just two people in the bed, they should be strong enough to support the load.”
In the main dining hall, where athletes will be instructed to eat alone, hand sanitising stations are a regular feature.
Pink and orange signs add some colour to the otherwise dull features.
And multi-coloured chairs aim for the same effect.
Competitors will be tested by anti-doping officials hereCredit: Getty
Beds will be fully recyclableCredit: EPA
The world’s greatest athletes will descend upon TokyoCredit: Getty

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SEB COE reckons he was deprived of qualifying for a third Olympic Games due to an asthma attack.It is known that Coe, a two-time Olympic champion and one of Britain’s greatest athletes, suffered with asthma during his athletics career but it is a topic he rarely speaks publicly about.
Seb Coe tried but failed to qualify for the 1988 Seoul Olympics following asthma issues before the Team GB trialsCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Yet in conjunction with Chiesi’s Lung Letters initiative – promoted also by England cricketer Stuart Broad and boxing champion Nicola Adams – he has decided to speak about his breathing difficulties from his track-and-field days.
On the sporting front, he reckons he was prevented from making the British team for the 1988 Seoul Olympics at the age of 31 following breathing difficulties in the trials.
His autobiography does not mention asthma but in it he talks about the in-house UK Athletics political discussions that happened after his poor performance at the selection event.
On a personal front, he can still remember the times his daughter Alice struggled to breathe, specifically after one Chelsea FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
Coe, 64, who won 1500m gold at the 1980 and 1984 Games, told SunSport: “I’ve never hidden from my asthma.
“When I was competing for instance the British team knew about it. 
Coe, 64, says he suffered with asthma throughout his long and distinguished careerCredit: PA:Empics Sport
“And I have spoken on a lot of occasions very privately with athletes. Not to give them medical advice but to talk about the certain things I found helpful.
“There were days, competitions and training where absolutely I had to use a puffer beforehand. All cleared by the British team doctor.
“You might recover physically very quickly but you were just aware in the course of an evening, maybe in a social environment after a race, you could be struggling a bit for breath.
“I shouldn’t have run the athletics trials in 1988. I was knocked out in the 800m heats in Birmingham.
“I had a cold which two days beforehand I knew was turning into something slightly more seriously. I tried to kid myself that I’d be okay.
“What I should have done was say ‘I’m not feeling well’ but by soldering on, it turned into something which stopped me from breathing properly at all.
“I ended up in an environment where people questioned whether I was ready to compete and I wasn’t selected.
“I often look back at that and think that probably did cost me a third Olympic appearance. I’m not saying medals because they’re pretty hard to come by.” 
Coe says his daughter Alice has learned to live with her severe asthma
Smog at the 1984 LA Olympics was a major issue, even for a lad from the “People’s Republic of Sheffield” brought up amid coal-burning forges.
It was a particular issue for his great rival Steve Ovett, who collapsed and spent nights on a drip in hospital following respiratory reactions to the city’s poor air pollution.
Speaking on Clean Air Day UK, Coe recalled: “There’s a photograph where I’m walking off the track clutching my neck with my hand after a semi-final.
“I remember the transport that took us from the village to the track were those yellow school buses, probably belching out as many fumes in the bus inside as were pumped outside.
“LA was a challenge for anybody who had respiratory issues and Steve got badly caught out by it.”
I often look back at that (asthma attack) and think that probably did cost me a third Olympic appearance. I’m not saying medals because they’re pretty hard to come by.Seb Coe on missing 1988 Olympics
In his role as the boss of World Athletics, Coe says the organisation take great responsibility in awarding sporting tournaments to cities that are trying to combat air cleanliness.
Though the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games aren’t under his remit, Coe is aware of a recent report by Breathe GB which claimed the Perry Bar area is one of the most polluted in the country.
It has to be acknowledged that the use of asthma drug Salbutamol has become a controversial subject in elite sport in recent years.
Some stars have been caught abusing the system and coaches like Alberto Salazar – who is banned for four years for doping offences – allegedly encouraged higher doses of prescribed medication to boost performances.
Coe said: “I cannot speak on behalf of other sports. But I can tell you that in our sport and the Athletics Integrity Unit are very, very conscious of that.

“I cannot remember the exact numbers but if we were dealing with 100s, even 1,000s of applications a few years ago, now we are down to 20 a year.”
Seb Coe is an ambassador for the Lung Letters initiative, organised and funded by Chiesi Ltd. For info please visit www.lungletters.co.uk More

SHELBY HOULIHAN will not race at the Tokyo Olympics after blaming a dodgy pork burrito for her positive drugs test.The US middle-distance runner was banned for four years by the Athletics Integrity Unit following a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling after a presence of anabolic steroid nandrolone was discovered in a doping sample.
American 1500m and 5000m record-holder Shelby Houlihan says she is ‘devastated’ to be banned for a failed drugs test she blames on dodgy porkCredit: Sportsfile
The 28-year-old denies any wrongdoing and reckons the adverse finding may have come from eating contaminated meal the night before her test.
Houlihan said: “I feel completely devastated, lost, broken, angry, confused and betrayed by the very sport that I’ve loved and poured myself into.
“I want to be very clear. I have never taken any performance-enhancing substances.
“I have since learned that it has long been understood by WADA that eating pork can lead to a false positive for nandrolone – since certain types of pigs produce it naturally in high amounts.
“Pig organ meat has the highest levels of nandrolone.
“In the following five days after being notified, I put together a food log of everything that I consumed the week of that December 15 test.
“We concluded that the most likely explanation was a burrito purchased and consumed approximately 10 hours before that drug test from an authentic Mexican food truck that serves pig offal near my house in Beaverton, Oregon.
“I notified the AIU that I believed this was the source.”
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Houlihan insisted: “I did everything I could to prove my innocence.
“I passed a polygraph test. I had my hair sampled by one of the world’s foremost toxicologists.
“Wada agreed that test proved that there was no build up of this substance in my body, which there would have been if I were taking it regularly.”

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TEAM GB athletes have been threatened with strict SIX-day hotel quarantine spells when they arrive in Tokyo for next month’s Olympics.And all athletes taking part in the Games have been warned they face fines, disqualification, being stripped of medals, or even deportation if they break Covid protocol requirements THROUGHOUT their stay in Japan.
Team GB athletes face deportation if they break Covid protocol in JapanCredit: Reuters
The Japanese Government is currently locked in a stand-off with Olympic chiefs over Covid rules.
But the UK and India are among countries on Japan’s “red list” requiring what is in effect seven nights of one-room incarceration on arrival, with the first evening viewed as “Day Zero”.
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The latest official “Playbook” for the Games, published today, said: “Border measures may be strengthened upon entry to Japan in relation to the handling of Covid-19 variants of concern.
“The Government of Japan may implement additional restrictions, for Games participants from designated countries.”
Asked to confirm that meant six days of quarantine for UK athletes, Tokyo 2020 Operations Chief Hidemasa Nakamura replied: “Yes. Quarantine for six days is required for some countries where the same treatment will be imposed on athletes and media.
“This is for countries with the variants — we wanted to make sure we have a counter-measure with variants.
“Now the Japanese government and the IOC are currently in ongoing discussions about what our counter-measures will be during the Games.
“Our perspective is that we have to make it absolutely a safe Games and these are the things that we are looking at.”
The Government has said there must be actions where there are malicious violations that impose risks to health or life and for those who break border controlsTokyo 2020 Operations Chief Hidemasa Nakamura
Team GB chiefs have sought to protect British athletes from the toughest measures by ensuring all squad members have received two vaccinations before travelling and pledging they will be doing everything possible to minimise any risk to the people of Japan.
Christophe Dubi, executive director of the Games, signalled the IOC’s efforts to prevent the quarantine measures being forced on Team GB.
He said: “Those countries that are affected by the variants have also made a pledge that was sent to Tokyo 2020 and the IOC, whereby they will take extra measures on their side.
“They will ensure that a maximum number of their people are vaccinated.
“If there is a problem, of course we will follow the rule as established by the authorities, but we can do more, and this is what these delegations have pledged to do.”
Team GB bosses are hoping that the IOC win the battle on their behalf, avoiding the most severe restrictions.

But in addition, the IOC has given ground on punishment for any athletes who ignore the strict testing and other Covid requirements.
Any athlete testing positive on arrival will be forced to stay in a “quarantine hotel” outside the Olympic Village and all competitors and officials must take DAILY tests for the first fortnight in the country.
Failing to wear masks, follow social distancing rules, using non-Olympic transport or eating outside permitted areas could bring major sanctions.
Potential punishments range from a simple warning for minor infractions, to temporary or permanent withdrawal of accreditation, short-term or permanent exclusion, disqualification, fines, medals being stripped and forced deportation.
Nakamura added: “The Government has said there must be actions where there are malicious violations that impose risks to health or life and for those who break border controls.
“We have to give confidence to the Japanese people.”

Dubai added: “I will not speculate on what will happen and we do not believe anybody will be coming to breach the rules.
“But if they do, there is a disciplinary commission for all those who contravene the rules.
“And we will also have random testing to make sure all the daily saliva samples are being properly collected and treated, to prevent people cheating.”
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