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OLYMPICS
May 2, 2020

Left in limbo: Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls struggle with postponement

Tokyo's Olympic dream is still alive — for now — but many athletes have been left wondering if their hard work will all be for nothing.
You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
PODCAST / deep dive
Jul 4, 2024

Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Summer music festivals are back, but for how long? Climate change is putting the heat on our favorite outdoor entertainment.
China's Olympic gold-medal winning 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay team celebrates on the podium at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on July 29, 2021.  Zhang Yufei (third from left) is among 23 top Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance in the lead up to the Games.
OLYMPICS
Apr 20, 2024

Top Chinese swimmers tested positive for banned drug, then won Olympic gold

The episode sharply divided the anti-doping world, where China’s record has long been a flashpoint.
Paris is preparing to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which start on Friday. These Summer Games will likely be very different from the previous ones, held in Tokyo in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 22, 2024

In defense of Tokyo 2020, the loneliest Olympics

As Paris gets ready to host the Olympics, a reflection on the previous Games, held in Tokyo three years ago, prompts doubts about predictions of a COVID-induced disaster.
The former chief of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Dick Pound, speaks during a news conference in Munich in 2016.
OLYMPICS
Jul 17, 2024

U.S. doping probe puts Olympic hosting at risk, former WADA chief says

Any country wanting to stage an international sporting event must be compliant with the anti-doping code and a U.S. probe may violate those rules, Dick Pound said.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 6, 2023

Sapporo to push back Winter Olympics bid to 2034 or later

Sapporo mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto will meet with the Japanese Olympic Committee next week to request the change.
Wang Shun of China races to gold in the final of the men's 200-meter individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics in July 2021.
OLYMPICS / Swimming
Jun 15, 2024

Doping regulator knew of previous positive tests by Chinese swimmers

Three Chinese swimmers who failed drug tests before the 2021 Olympics had tested positive for a powerful steroid several years earlier.
The world needs a smaller, more focused Olympics to ensure sustainability and relevance amid changing global conditions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 31, 2024

Olympics host cities don’t belong on a warming planet

The world needs a smaller, more focused Olympics to ensure sustainability and relevance amid changing global conditions.
Vinesh Phogat of India (in red) wrestles Yusneylis Guzman Lopez of Cuba in the women's 50-kg semifinals on Tuesday at the Paris Olympics. Phogat was later disqualified for being 100 grams over the weight limit.
OLYMPICS
Aug 8, 2024

Disqualification costs India a medal, but its Olympic future still looks bright

Vinesh Phogat had a chance to win a first Olympic gold for Indian women. But even after he disqualification, the country's female athletes have a promising future.
Sapporo had hoped the Winter Olympics, which the city had hosted in 1972, would return in 2030, but it was not meant to be.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Apr 15, 2024

Why Sapporo’s bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics failed

Part of the city's downfall in trying to secure the Games was, ironically, snow.
World Anti-Doping Agency President Witold Banka speaks during a symposium in Lausanne, Switzerland, in March.
OLYMPICS
Apr 24, 2024

USADA calls for WADA overhaul and probe into China swimmers

WADA has continued to rebut accusations that the organization covered up the revelation that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance.
Across Japan, sports fans are sacrificing a good night’s sleep to catch their favorite Olympics events and beloved athletes.
OLYMPICS
Aug 9, 2024

Sleepless in Japan: How to recover from ‘Olympic fever’

The Paris Olympics are just about done, so sleep-deprived sports junkies can take comfort in the fact that they’ll soon be able to get a full night’s rest.
Crowds packed the Mountain Stage at Summer Sonic for Yoasobi’s set on Saturday and went wild when the J-pop duo played the opening notes of “Idol.”
CULTURE / Music
Aug 25, 2023

Summer Sonic closes out the season with one hot party

Asian artists NewJeans, Gen Hoshino, Awich and Babymetal drew impressive crowds at the summer festival despite the overbearing heat.
A visitor to the Japan Olympic Museum walks past a display of the Olympic Rings on a wet day in central Tokyo on May 1.
JAPAN
May 26, 2024

Japan wrestles with legacy of graft-stained Games in Paris warning

Cost overruns, corruption and COVID-19 all tarnished the Japanese public's memory of the Tokyo Olympics.
Japan midfielder Yu Hirakawa controls the ball during a match against the United States in Kansas City, Kansas, on June 11.
OLYMPICS
Jul 23, 2024

Japan eyes gold — and the future — as Olympic men's soccer campaign begins

With the squad being the only one in Paris not to feature any overage players, it is clear that this competition is partly about building for the future.
Fireworks are fired on the Stade de France roof during the closing ceremony of the Paris Paralympics on Sunday.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 9, 2024

Paris Paralympics close with festive ceremony as France celebrates 'historic' summer

International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons said the Paris Paralympics had shown that "change starts with sport."
Kanoa Igarashi, who earned a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is excited to get another shot at gold at this year’s Summer Games.
MORE SPORTS / Surfing
May 31, 2024

Kanoa Igarashi ready to challenge Teahupo'o in search of gold at Paris Olympics

Igarashi earned the silver medal in the inaugural Olympic surfing competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The Eiffel Tower is seen from the water of the River Seine
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 25, 2024

River Seine's water quality in doubt as Paris counts down to Olympics

Heavy rain in May and June has caused major pollution problems in the river.
Dutch runner Abdi Nageeye (center) wears a continuous glucose monitor on his upper left arm as he competes in the 2022 Rotterdam marathon in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in April 2022.
OLYMPICS
Jun 11, 2024

Olympic athletes turn to diabetes tech in pursuit of medals

Continuous glucose monitors were developed for use by diabetes patients but their makers also spy opportunities in sports and wellness.
Kyosuke Matsuyama (right) competes against France's Erwann Le Pechoux during the men's team foil semifinals at the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021.
OLYMPICS
Jun 24, 2024

Japanese fencers heading to Paris Games with plenty of confidence

The men's national team is aiming to secure its first medal in three Olympics in the foil event, a category considered by many to be a Japanese specialty.
People wait for the main act to begin at Summer Sonic, which holds simultaneous music festivals for those in Tokyo and Osaka.
CULTURE / Music / Longform
Jun 9, 2024

Can Japan's summer music festivals adapt to a post-pandemic reality?

Soaring temperatures, the cheap yen and a dearth of headline options may require reshaping the outdoor concert formula.
France's Sarah Leonie Cysique battles Uzbekistan's Shukurjon Aminova at the Paris Grand Slam at Accor Arena on Feb. 2.
OLYMPICS / Judo
Jul 18, 2024

How France embraced judo and became a martial arts powerhouse

The country has embraced the Japanese martial art to the point where it may be more popular in France than in Japan.
An illustration of the planned Paris Games opening ceremony on the River Seine
OLYMPICS
Mar 20, 2024

Russians and Belarusians will not take part in Paris Games opening parade

The athletes from the two countries will be competing as independents without their flags and anthems following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Japan skateboarding national team coach Daisuke Hayakawa performs at a skateboard training area in Tokyo on June 12.
OLYMPICS / Skateboarding
Jul 2, 2024

Japan's skateboarding youth turn street culture into Olympic gold

National team coach Daisuke Hayakawa said that the number of skaters in Japan had tripled since the Tokyo Games.
The International Olympic Committee's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland
OLYMPICS
Mar 14, 2025

Olympians make climate plea to IOC presidential candidates

Seven candidates are vying to replace Thomas Bach as president in a ballot of IOC members at Costa Navarino, Greece, on March 20.
Australia's Ariarne Titmus competes in the women's 800 meter freestyle final during Olympic trials in Brisbane on Thursday.
OLYMPICS / Swimming
Jun 16, 2024

Titmus and McKeown carry Australian Olympic swim hopes in bid to topple U.S.

The pool squad was whittled down after six intense days of trials, with bettering their haul from Tokyo three years ago the immediate target.
Japan's Koki Kano (right) battles Yannick Borel of France in the gold-medal bout of the men's individual epee at the Paris Olympics on July 28.
OLYMPICS / Fencing
Aug 5, 2024

How a grassroots push helped Japan's fencers become world-beaters

Japan bagged five fencing medals in Paris to put it atop the medal table in the sport, the first time a non-European nation has done so.
Kazuma Kaya reacts after his routine on the parallel bars during the men's apparatus finals at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp on Oct. 8.
OLYMPICS / Gymnastics
May 21, 2024

Team Japan in Paris will be strongest, says gymnastics medalist Kaya

To date, Japan has a haul of seven Olympic gold medals in the team discipline, the most of any country.
Summer McIntosh celebrates after winning the women's 200-meter individual medley for her third gold medal of the Paris Olympics.
OLYMPICS / Swimming
Aug 4, 2024

McIntosh makes Canadian history with third gold

The 17-year-old swimmer did it in an Olympic record time of 2 minutes, 6.56 seconds, taking down the 2016 record of 2:06.58 set by Hungary's Katinka Hosszu.
Squash officials have attempted to make the sport more accessible to viewers in a push for Olympic recognition.
OLYMPICS
Oct 3, 2023

Squash desperate to end 'very weird' Olympic exile in 2028

Squash is one of nine sports vying for a place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, along with the likes of cricket, lacrosse and motorsports.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami