US ‘golden run’ set to continue at Tokyo ’20
Status likely to remain unchallenged
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 24, (RTRS): Geno Auriemma, coach of the US women’s Olympic gold medal-winning basketball team, says he is constantly reminded that, “It’s not whether you win or lose -- until you lose”.
And that is easy to forget when losing is something you rarely experience.
The US women rubber-stamped their credentials as an Olympic dynasty when they claimed a sixth straight gold on Saturday with a 10172 rout of Spain that ran their Games winning record to a staggering 49-0.
Only two other teams can claim such a run of domination at the Olympics.
The US men’s basketball team earned seven consecutive gold medals from 1936-1968 while India claimed six straight men’s field hockey titles from 1928-1956.
On Sunday, the American men’s squad delivered an equally ruthless performance in crushing Serbia 96-66 to collect their third straight gold, extending their unbeaten run on Olympic hardwood to 25-0.
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Without many of their top players, including LeBron James and Stephen Curry, the United States was more “B Team” than “Dream Team” but still finished 8-0.
The United States gave fans glimpses of their dominant best in Rio but their play did not always live up to the high expectations that follow them to every Olympics.
A record 46 current NBA players featured on national team rosters in the men’s basketball tournament, and with the game growing globally there are signs that the gap is closing - even if it its just a little.
However, the United States’ status as the world’s undisputed basketball super power is likely to remain unchallenged for the foreseeable future with no country coming close to matching a talent pool which allowed close to a dozen of their top players to decline Olympic invitations but still win gold.
When it comes to the women’s competition, it seems likely the United States will eventually claim the crown as the greatest Olympic team of all time.
The perception at the start of each Olympic tournament is that everyone else is playing for silver and bronze, conceding gold to the Americans.
“It’s mind boggling when you think about it what this team has been able to accomplish, this program,” said Auriemma.
“There is such a level of expectation, such a level of respect and it filters down. Everyone who puts that jersey on they get it.
“We’re doing stuff that may never be done again.”
TOKYO, Aug 24, (Agencies): Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike brought the Olympic flag to Japan from Brazil on Wednesday and called for all parties to work together to host a successful Summer Games in 2020.
Koike, who was elected last month after two predecessors stepped down over scandals that clouded the city’s Games preparations, was given the flag at the Rio Games closing ceremony on Sunday.
“Let’s work together with everyone to hold a great Olympics and Paralymics as the Olympic flag, which just arrived, is a symbol of,” she told reporters after waving the flag upon stepping off the flight at Haneda airport.
The Tokyo Games have been hit by series of issues including the scrapping of plans for the main stadium, which lead to delays in construction, and plagiarism allegations which forced organisers to ditch the original logo for the Games.
Koike was joined on the flight by Japanese athletes who took part in the Rio de Janeiro Games, where Japan won 12 gold medals — their best tally since 2004 — and a record 41 overall.
Keisuke Ushiro, who took part in the decathlon in Brazil, followed Koike off the plane waving a Japanese Olympic Committee flag.
“I feel the full weight of the responsibility that this (flag) brings,” Koike told the crowd.
“I’m very happy that we’re able to bring the flag back after more than 50 years.”
Tokyo last hosted the summer Olympics in 1964, highlighting Japan’s postwar coming out party as it grew into a global economic powerhouse.
“I hope we can revive the same emotion we felt in Rio at the Tokyo Olympics,” said Saori Yoshida, a silver medallist wrestler and captain of the Rio delegation.
A kimono-clad Koike on Sunday received the flag at the closing ceremony in Rio where thousands of fans and athletes donned ponchos on a wet and windy night for a colourful festival of Brazilian culture and music with bursts of fireworks.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a comical cameo as Nintendo video game character Super Mario as Tokyo set a light-hearted tone for its hosting of the Games in four years.
Abe came out from a pipe after a video showed plumber Mario drilling down from Tokyo into the earth to reach Brazil.
“I wanted to show Japan’s soft power to the world with the help of Japanese characters,” Abe told reporters.
Japan sold itself as a safe pair of hands to host the event and Abe pledged in Rio he would try to make it the best Games yet.
But Tokyo’s Olympic preparations have suffered high-profile setbacks including soaring costs and having to redesign the Games logo after accusations of plagiarism.
French prosecutors have also launched an investigation into alleged bribes linked to Tokyo’s winning Olympic bid, which organisers have denied.
Koike, who was elected in July as Tokyo’s first female governor, has ordered officials to rein in ballooning costs and pledged a formal review.
That came as concerns grow over soaring costs which could potentially double or even triple from the reported original forecast of $7.14 billion.
The Games were awarded to Tokyo in 2013, with expectations that they would be a model of efficiency with the city touting itself as “peaceful, reliable, safe, and stable”.
Tokyo’s metropolitan conurbation is the world’s largest with more than 35 million people, but streets are safe, trains run on time and the air is clean.
And with strict gun control and a public honesty visitors find disarming, few people ever experience serious crime.
The country is prone to natural disasters, particularly earthquakes, but strict building codes means they often pass with little or no damage.
The games in Brazil — which is embroiled in a political crisis over the impeachment of suspended president Dilma Rousseff — suffered its own series of setbacks.
Tourists, officials and athletes have had to dodge the scenic city’s notorious street crime, structural problems inside the Olympic Village were a challenge and the Olympic diving pool turned green.
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