Governing Bodies
CANCER SURVIVOR, STARS IN TOKYO 2020 NEW ONE-YEAR-TO-GO COUNTDOWN
But for the postponement occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics would have opened this day (Thursday 24 July).
The postponement till 2021 meant a new one-year-to-go countdown has to be done, cancelling the one done this time last year.
Sports Village Square has gathered that the Japanese organisers of the Games have released a new video for a new countdown.
The video features cancer survivor and Japanese swimmer, Rikako Ikee. According to Inside The Games, Ikee was featured in the empty Tokyo Olympic Stadium, speaking of her return to sport after being diagnosed with leukemia in early 2019.
The swimmer remains hopeful of qualifying for the Olympics, having returned to training in March, with the six-time Asian Games gold medallist looking to represent her nation in her home city.
During the broadcast, Ikee spoke about the similarities between her comeback to sport and the pandemic, and urged athletes to bounce back from the disappointment of the postponement.
She mentioned the work of healthcare workers, who helped her survive cancer and are now aiding in the battle against COVID-19, which forced the postponement of the Olympics.
Holding the Olympic Flame, she also asked athletes to not take their hard work and talent for granted – something that she admits to doing before being stricken by cancer.
“It was my dream to be part of these Games,” said Ikee.
“Seeing such a once-in-a-lifetime goal disappear in front of their eyes, must have given athletes a sense of loss that cannot be put into words.
“I understand what that’s like because I experienced the same when I was diagnosed with leukemia.
“The future I took for granted transformed overnight into something completely different.”
Ikee explained her love for sport and was soon joined by a “+1” symbol that was emblazoned on the screen, representing the Games taking place a year later than planned.
She added: “Through this experience, I have learned that sport is about more than just athletes.
“It takes the support of many different people to make sport happen – this has never been more true.
“Think of the coming year, not simply as a one-year postponement, but as a plus one.
“To overcome adversity, what we need most is hope – a flame of hope glowing in the distance allows us to keep trying, to keep moving forward no matter how hard it is.
“For me, it was the swimming pool, the thought of swimming in a pool again got me through painful medical treatment.
“I have faith that a year from now the flame of hope will light these very grounds.”
Twenty-year-old Ikee won an incredible six gold medals at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, and was set to be a Tokyo 2020 poster athlete for hosts Japan before her diagnosis.
Following her announcement a promotional video played which showed some of the moments in Olympic history where adversity has been defeated.
Ikee narrated the story that she told in the empty stadium.
The “Stronger Together” message was then played by the International Olympic Committee to promote equality and togetherness in light of the postponed Games, while the world deals with the effects of COVID-19.
The full video can be found on the Tokyo 2020 website.
Tokyo 2020 also organised a surprise illumination of some of the venues for the Games, exactly a year before the Opening Ceremony in 2021.
It paid tribute to the healthcare workers who are working to stop the spread of the coronavirus, and also supported athletes preparing for the Games.
The venues were first blue, with the colours of the Olympic Rings – blue, yellow, black, green and red – then featuring.
The venues lit up are the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Tokyo Stadium, Ariake Arena, Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Olympic Tower in Komazawa Olympic Park and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Number 1 Building.
Tokyo 2020 had pledged to mark their second one year to go countdown on a small scale and without the usual razzmatazz the occasion attracts.
The city’s Governor Yuriko Koike was among others to acknowledge the day.
“Response to the novel coronavirus disease is a challenge facing all humankind,” she said.
“The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will continue to dedicate its resources to fighting this battle and to delivering a safe Games.
“In addition, while devising ways to curb costs in order to gain the understanding of the people of Tokyo and the rest of Japan, we will ensure that the success of the Games leads to the further development of Tokyo and Japan.
“The Tokyo 2020 Games provide enormous hope for athletes training hard for next summer and for children who hold the future in their hands.
“The local Governments and people of the communities are also engaging in preparations for the Games.
“We will work closely with all parties concerned and advance preparations to hold a successful Games brimming with hope, which will serve as a symbol of humankind bonding even more strongly as the world came together as one to overcome this difficult situation.”
A former member of the FIFA Council, Mamoutou Toure, has been released from jail in Mali after almost two years in detention for alleged corruption, Malian media reports said on Wednesday.
Toure, president of the Malian Football Federation since 2019, was released after 622 days in prison on Tuesday.
He served on the FIFA Council, world football’s all-powerful decision-making body, for four years until last month when he lost his seat after failing to contest new elections.
The 67-year-old was arrested in August 2023 on allegations of embezzling $28 million of public funds but was granted a provisional release order by the Malian courts, reports said.
He was accused of misconduct during his time as the National Assembly’s financial and administrative director from 2013-2019.
Toure denied all charges and, during his time in jail, was last August re-elected as Malian Football Federation president for a second consecutive term, with his supporters claiming he was a victim of a conspiracy fuelled by detractors.
While in jail, he received a letter of support from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. However, as of last month, Toure is no longer a member of the FIFA Council or the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee.
-Reuters
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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has denied reports of an outstanding debt to former captain Christian Chukwu and has challenged anyone with verifiable documents to prove otherwise.
Chukwu, a former national team captain and chief coach, died last Saturday.
The Nigeria Football Federation decried statements in a section of social media that the football-ruling body was indebted to the deceased.
Reacting to one statement on social media that claimed NFF owed the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning team captain the sum of $128,000, NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said: “There is no record in the NFF of any outstanding indebtedness to ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu.
“During the first term of the Board headed by Amaju Pinnick, a committee was set up to diligently peruse the papers of coaches who were being owed, even from previous NFF administrations.
“That committee was given the clear mandate to verify all debts and ensure that the coaches being owed were paid immediately. I am aware that the ‘Chairman’ was in the employ of the NFF between 2002 and 2005, before he was relieved of the post following the 1-1 draw with Angola in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Kano in August 2005. There is certainly no record of indebtedness to him in the NFF.”
Sanusi challenged anyone with genuine and verifiable documents of NFF indebtedness to any coach, who has worked with any of the National Teams over the past two decades, to come forward and tender those documents.
“As a credible organization that is very much alive to its responsibilities, if we are confronted with any genuine document of indebtedness to any coach, we will offset the debt immediately.”
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Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and France soccer great Michel Platini were both cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court on Tuesday, two and a half years after they were first acquitted of the offences.
The pair, once among the most powerful figures in global soccer, were cleared of fraud at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in the town of Muttenz, near Basel.
The hearing came about after Swiss federal prosecutors appealed against their 2022 acquittal at a lower court.
Both men had denied the charge which related to a 2 million Swiss franc ($2.26 million) payment Blatter authorised for Platini in 2011.
The court said there were doubts about the prosecution’s allegation the payment for Platini, a former captain and manager of the French national team, was fraudulent.
The 2022 indictment had accused Blatter and Platini of deceiving FIFA staff in 2010 and 2011 about an obligation for world soccer’s ruling body to pay Platini.
“They falsely claimed that FIFA owed Platini, or that Platini was entitled to, the sum of 2 million Swiss francs for advisory work. This deception was achieved through repeated untruthful claims made by both accused parties,” the indictment said.
But the court cleared the pair, saying their account of an oral agreement for the payment could not be ruled out.
Platini had argued that the payment had been partly deferred until 2011 because FIFA lacked the funds to pay him in full immediately.
The court said the pair had both been consistent in their accounts of the payment, which covered consultancy work carried out by Platini for Blatter between 1998 and 2002.
Platini’s experience as a top footballer and coach, explained the size of the payment, said the court, which followed the legal principle that in cases of doubt, favour the accused.
“It can not be assumed that the defendants acted with the intention of enriching themselves in the sense of the charged offences,” the court said.
The scandal, which emerged in 2015 when Platini was president of European soccer’s ruling body UEFA, ended his hopes of succeeding Blatter, who was forced out of FIFA over the affair.
Blatter and Platini were suspended from football in 2015 by FIFA for ethics breaches, originally for eight years, although their exclusions were later reduced.
Platini said he was relieved the case was over, and he had received messages of support from 10,000 people.
“The persecution of FIFA and some Swiss federal prosecutors for 10 years is now over,” Platini told reporters. “It is now totally over. And for me, today, my honour has returned and I am very happy.”
The 69-year-old said he thought the case had been intended to prevent him becoming FIFA president, but he was now too old to return to football.
The money, which had been confiscated and held by the Swiss authorities, can now be returned to him.
A frail-looking Blatter hugged his daughter Corinne after the judgement and said he was relieved with the decision.
“It is a great relief for me because it’s been going on for ten years. It’s like a sword of Damocles hanging over my head,” he told reporters.
“And now it’s over and I can breathe,” the 89-year-old said.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 20 months in jail, suspended for two years for both Blatter and Platini.
The Swiss attorney general’s office said it would review the written judgement, before deciding whether to appeal again to the Swiss Federal Court, the country’s highest legal authority.
-Reuters
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