Tokyo 2020 Updates

• As Tokyo entered yet again a state of emergency because of Covid-19, the IOC and the Japanese Organizing  Committee have decided to ban spectators from attending sporting events in any venues in the capital city. Stadiums in the regions of Fukushima, Miyagi and Shizuoka will be permitted to have spectators up to 50% capacity, but no more than 10,000 people.
• What happens if there is a Covid-19 outbreak in each sport? The sport-specific regulations explain it all.
• We also have the full list of athletes who will participate in the artistic swimming events.

None For You, Russia

• The IOC has banned Russian artistic swimmers (who will compete under ‘Russian Olympic Committee’) from wearing swimsuits with a bear on them. Svetlana Kolesnichenko and Svetlana Romashina were hoping to have new swimsuits for their Kalinka technical duet, but the IOC said the image of a bear was too closely associated with Russia.
• In addition, they had to rename their music and to entirely remove the word “Russia” from the soundtrack. So now, the duet will swim to the song “With … From Love”  by Little Big. And you won’t hear the “Welcome to Russia” resonate in the Tokyo pool.
• Finally, it was decided that Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No. 1” will play in lieu of the national anthem. This was already the case at the Figure Skating World Championships in March.

Retirements

• French team captain Marie Annequin has announced her retirement. On the national team since 2013, Annequin was a major contributor the team throughout the years, and competed in four World Championships. She unfortunately suffered a season-ending wrist injury only a few days before the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament in June.
• Switzerland‘s Joelle Peschl is also retiring. Peschl was part of the Swiss duet since 2019, and competed at the Olympic Games Qualification Tournament and the European Championships this season.  She also contributed to the technical team at the latter.

Schedule Updates

• Because we can’t have nice things, FINA has cancelled the Junior and Youth World Championships. The junior competition had already been postponed from last year.
• Thankfully, LEN will organize the first European Youth Championships, which will also be held at the same time as the COMEN Cup. The competition will be from September 9 – 12 in Rijeka, Croatia.
• Across the pond, UANA and USA Artistic Swimming will host the Junior and Youth International Open from August 16 – 23 in Clearwater, Florida.

ARTICLE BY CHRISTINA MARMET

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