Tag: Paris Olympics

Paris Olympic gold more important than breaching 90-m mark, says Neeraj Chopra’s coach

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India’s Neeraj Chopra is keen to join javelin’s elite 90-metre club but will happily settle for a shorter throw in Paris if it proves enough for him to hold on to his Olympic title, his coach told Reuters.

The mop-haired Chopra catapulted himself into instant stardom three years ago when he threw 87.58 metres in Tokyo to earn independent India’s first Olympic gold medal in athletics.

The 26-year-old has gone on to become the world champion and in 2022 registered a personal best (PB) distance of 89.94 metres at the Stockholm Diamond League.

Chopra is asked about the 90-metre mark in practically every media interaction, but defending the Olympic title remains his absolute priority, his coach Klaus Bartonietz said.

Also Read: P Shyaamnikhil ends 12-year wait, becomes India’s 85th GM

“A medal is more important than a mark. The mark increases almost every year, but the medal stays,” Bartonietz told Reuters from Doha.

“Nobody asks Neeraj how far his throw reached in Tokyo. It was 87.58 and it was enough. If it’s 85 metres and still gets you an Olympic gold, you should be okay with it.”

Bartonietz said it was tough for athletes to produce personal bests at the Olympics because of the pressure that accompanies performing on the biggest stage in sport.

Although the 90 metre-mark has been surpassed 125 times by 24 athletes since the competition javelin was redesigned in 1986, only three of those throws have come in Olympic competition.

“I’d be happy if Neeraj can produce his PB in Paris. It should be enough,” Bartonietz said.

“It’s one thing to throw 90 metres, and a totally different thing to do it in the most important competition in a four-year cycle.”

Chopra, the first Indian to win the Diamond League trophy, has been remarkably consistent in big events, and Bartonietz said he would not be surprised if the thrower from Haryana hits the magical mark in Paris.

“I’d say he’s close to the mark,” the German said.

“For several years, he has been throwing 87-to-high 88s consistently … It will be nice to join the 90-metre club of throwers.”

Chopra began his season with a second place finish at the Diamond League meeting in Doha on Friday, falling two centimetres short of Jakub Vadlejch’s winning throw of 88.38m.

Bartonietz said the idea was to keep Chopra in good shape before the Olympics to ensure he would not “mess it up at the most crucial time”.

One way of doing that was to shield him from any pressure, the coach said.

“If you allow yourself to be under pressure, it may break you.”

Bartonietz, who succeeded javelin great Uwe Hohn as Chopra’s coach, has been impressed by how his charge has matured since the Tokyo Games.

“More than anything else, he knows what not to do to get the best out of himself,” the German said.

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Olympic Games 2024: Environmental groups accuse ArcelorMittal of greenwashing its image

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Ahead of the arrival of the Olympic flame in France, a few environmental groups have accused ArcelorMittal of ‘greenwashing’ their image. The flame is kept in a torch forged with low-carbon steel, made by the world’s second-largest steelmaker, according to an AFP report.

The company, which alone emits as much carbon as a country the size of Belgium, is using the Paris Games to polish its image even when it has not been meeting its green commitment, the news agency reported.

SteelWatch, an advocacy group, has found in a new report that ArcelorMittal spent just one-third of the $1.5 billion amount the company had promised to invest in decarbonisation in the past three years.

Further, activists have said the company was returning $22 to shareholders for every dollar it puts into decarbonisation.

“While ArcelorMittal prioritises shareholder returns and fossil fuel-based steel production over climate action, it consistently presents itself as a green champion, notably as an official sponsor of this year’s Olympic Games in France, where it has provided ‘low carbon’ steel for the Olympic torch,” AFP quoted the activist groups, which also include Fair Steel Coalition, as saying.

Responding to this, a spokesperson of the company told the news agency that it was planning to cut down its emissions around the world by a quarter by 2030 and further reach carbon neutrality by the year 2050.

Further, the spokesperson noted that the company has launched a plan to reduce the carbon intensity of its emissions in India through recycling more steel and industrial gases, besides shifting to natural gas and hydrogen to fuel its blast furnaces.

The company has publicly endorsed its role in providing low-carbon recycled steel for the torch and the Olympic rings that will adorn the Eiffel Tower when the Paris Games are held in July and August later this year.

In recent times, activists have accused the company of pursuing a two-speed decarbonisation with green steel projects in Canada and Europe. Further, they claim that it continues to build and use coal-fired furnaces in other areas.

For the unversed, steelmaking alone accounts for close to 7% of the global CO2 emissions.

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After Tokyo Olympics, Neeraj Chopra to compete in India at National Federation Cup

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Reigning Olympic javlin throw champion Neeraj Chopra will compete in India after three years at the National Federation Cup. The ‘Golden Boy’ of India is gearing up to defend his Tokyo Olympics title at the Paris Olympics, which starts on July 26 and will end on August 11 this year.

“As per entries @Neeraj_chopra1 and Kishore Kumar Jena will compete in domestic competition starting May 12 in Bhubaneshwar,” the Athletics Federation of India tweeted.

Chopra’s coach Klaus Bartonietz also confirmed that the world champion javelin thrower will be part of the competition which will be held from May 12 to 15 in Bhubaneswar.

WAIT, WHAT? 🤩🤯#NeerajChopra adds the 27th Federation Cup, in Odisha, to his 2024 competition calendar.

India, your Golden boy’s coming home! 🇮🇳#CraftingVictories 🔥 pic.twitter.com/sKsCHuiGvA

— Inspire Institute of Sport (@IIS_Vijayanagar) May 8, 2024

According to PTI, the 26-year-old is expected to travel to India from Doha after opening his season in the first leg of the prestigious Diamond League series on May 10.

Also read: Geared up Neeraj Chopra all set to defend Olympic Gold medal at Paris

Talking about his fitness journey to SAI Media, the Olympic champion said that he is at his best.

Neeraj Chopra’s name features in the Fed Cup (12-15th) entry list. This will be the first time he participates on Indian soil after his Tokyo Olympics gold. pic.twitter.com/LmmL6qMCn8

— Andrew (@AndrewAmsan) May 8, 2024

“I want to be in the best possible shape before Paris. My training sessions have gone well so far. I always lay stress on fitness along with strength and technique. This is the best I have felt in a long time but I must add that training and competition are not the same. When you wear the India jersey, the feeling is different, the josh (energy) is unbelievable”.

Talking about the year that has gone by, Chopra mentioned how each milestone contributed to his confidence and why he feels it all indicates that he is in the right direction. “I have won medals in two World Championships, threw my personal best (89.94 meters at Stockholm), won a dream Diamond League title and even defended my gold at the Asian Games. All in all, I have been in great space and want to carry forward that momentum from May onwards.”

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Indian women’s and men’s 4x400m relay teams qualify for Paris Olympics

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Indian men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams qualified for Paris Olympics after finishing second in their respective second-round heats at the World Athletics Relays here on Monday.

In the women’s competition, the quartet of Rupal Chaudhary, M R Poovamma, Jyothika Sri Dandi and Subha Venkatesan clocked 3 minutes and 29.35 seconds to finish second behind Jamaica (3:28.54) in heat number one to book a Paris Games ticket.

Later, the men’s squad of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Muhammed Ajmal, Arokia Rajiv and Amoj Jacob finished with a collective timing of 3 minutes and 3.23 seconds to also finish second in their heat, behind USA (2:59.95).

The top two teams in each of the three heats in the second round were to qualify for the Olympics to be held from July 26 to August 11.

It was a sort of a surprise that the women’s 4x400m team qualified for the Olympics as the focus was more on the men’s 4x400m team which has broken Asian record in back-to-back global events — Tokyo Olympics and 2023 World Championships — as well as winning 2023 Asian Games gold.

The Indian women’s team had finished fifth in the first-round qualifying heat on Sunday with a time of 3 minutes and 29.74 seconds.

The men’s team had failed to finish in the first-round qualifying heat after second leg runner Rajesh Ramesh pulled out midway due to cramps. Arokia Rajiv took the place of Ramesh in the team and he ran the third leg after Anas and Ajmal.

The Indian men’s 4x400m team was on third position when anchor-leg runner Jacob took the baton from Arokia but the Delhi boy ran a fantastic race to overtake his Mexican opponent and finish second.

It was not about the timing but more about Olympics qualification for the Indian men’s team which ran 3:00.25 at the Tokyo Olympics for the then Asian record before bettering it during the 2023 World Championships with yet another Asian record of 2:59.05. Monday’s timing was well below the team’s best.

India had even given a mighty scare to formidable USA during the heat race at the 2023 Budapest World Championships before settling for the second place.

Meanwhile, India pulled out of the mixed 4x400m relay second round heat races on Monday as Ramesh was not available after suffering muscle cramps while running the men’s 4x400m first round heat on Sunday.

Ramesh had run both the mixed 4x400m and men’s 4x400m races on Sunday.

India had featured in mixed 4x400m relay in the Tokyo Olympics where the event made its debut.

The Indian women’s 4x400m relay team will be returning to Olympics after missing out in Tokyo Games. The Paris participation will be the eighth time for the Indian women’s 4x400m team, the first being in 1984 Games.

For the men’s 4x400m, this will be the fourth time India will be taking part in the Olympics, the first being in the 2000 Sydney Games.

With this, India now have at least 19 Paris-bound track and field athletes and the list includes defending javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra among others.

The athletics events at the Games will begin on August 1.

A total of 70 teams have qualified for relay events at the Paris Olympics following two days of thrilling action at the World Athletics Relays Bahamas.

Fourteen teams in each of the five disciplines being contested in Nassau — the women’s and men’s 4x100m and 4x400m plus the mixed 4x400m — automatically qualified for Paris places.

The first 40 qualified teams — eight each in five relay events — were confirmed on Sunday and the final 30 on Monday, following a second Olympic qualifying round for teams that missed out on day one.

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How Paris is gearing up for unprecedented cybersecurity threat during 2024 Olympics

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Paris 2024 is getting ready to face an unprecedented challenge in terms of cybersecurity, with organisers expecting a huge pressure on the Games this summer.

Organised crime, activists and states will be the main threats during the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics and the Aug. 28-Sept. 8 Paralympics.

Paris 2024, who have been working hand in hand with the French national agency for information security (ANSSI), and cybersecurity companies Cisco and Eviden are looking to limit the impact of cyber attacks.

“We can’t prevent all the attacks, there will not be Games without attacks but we have to limit their impacts on the Olympics,” Vincent Strubel, the director general of ANSSI, told reporters.

“There are 500 sites, competition venues and local collectives, and we’ve tested them all.”

Strubel is confident that Paris 2024, who will operate from a cybersecurity operation centre in a location that is being kept secret, will be ready.

“The Games are facing an unprecedented level of threat, but we’ve also done an unprecedented amount of preparation work so I think we’re a step ahead of the attackers,” he said.

To make sure they are in the game, Paris 2024 have been paying “ethical hackers” to stress test their systems and have been using artificial intelligence to help them do a triage of the threats.

“AI helps us make the difference between a nuisance and a catastrophe,” said Franz Regul, managing director for IT at Paris 2024.

“We’re expecting the number of cyber security event to be multiplied by 10 compared to Tokyo (in 2021).”

“In terms of cybersecurity, four years is the equivalent of a century,” Eric Greffier, head of partnerships at CISCO, explained.

In 2018, a computer virus dubbed “Olympic Destroyer” was used in an attack on the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Games.

While Moscow denied any involvement, the U.S. Justice Department in 2020 said it has indicted six Russian intelligence agency hackers for a four-year long hacking spree that included attacks against the Pyeongchang Games.

“We would like to have one opponent but we’re looking into everything and everyone. Naming the potential attackers is not our role, it is the role of the state,” Strubel said.

Last month, French president Emmanuel Macron said he had no doubt Russia would malevolently target the Paris Olympics.

The Games will take place amid a complex global backdrop, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s conflict with Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

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Rs 4 crore tour package for 2024 Paris Olympics promises special meet up with athletes and more

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Paris Olympics 2024 is scheduled is to be held from July 26 to August 11 and in the run up to the mega sporting event, sports enthusiasts are looking to grab a hold of tickets for their favourite sports be it the 100-metre men’s sprint long jump, high jump, or even exclusive player’s lounge access. Amid all the grand events like the opening ceremony, Indians will keep a close watch on Neeraj Chopra (javlin), PV Sindhu (badminton) and approximately 70 athletes who will be representing India in the pinnacle of sports competitions globally.

Now that the buzz for the Paris Olympics is catching up, an exclusive opportunity is on offer from GR8 Experience, an international agency co-owned by the business managers of basketball star LeBron James and tennis icon Rafael Nadal. They’re selling Olympic packages for a whopping $381,600 (around ₹4 crore), including tickets to 14 events like the men’s 100m finals and the opening ceremony. Sounds too good to be true right?

#HomeOfHospitality fly-through 🚀👀

Non-Binding Video /© Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/2A3fXqhfzx

— The Official Home of Paris 2024 Hospitality (@OlympicsHosp) May 2, 2024

The Guardian spoke to CEO of GR8 Experiences Barnabas Carrega, who revealed that they would provide super-rich clients with exclusive access, including time with athletes, but did not disclose any names. Carrega claimed that in the recent past, they had arranged private events with Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Italian Olympic skier Giorgio Rocca.

Regarding meeting costs, the GR8 Experiences CEO said that prices can range from $25,000 (approximately ₹20 lakh) for brief encounters to $500,000 for extended interactions with top athletes. He emphasised being selective about athlete partnerships, prioritising those who can offer genuine experiences over mere celebrity status.

Also read: These are the venues of Paris Olympics 2024 that will witness the best sporting action

Carrega hinted at extraordinary opportunities, like spending a week with Nadal or playing a match against Djokovic. He claimed to offer access to the Olympic ceremony’s inner sanctum, overlooking the Eiffel Tower, for $25,000 per spot.

However, the Paris 2024 organising committee stressed that official hospitality is managed solely by On Location. Buying tickets from outside official channels carries risks, including ticket cancellations or denied access, warned an International Olympic Committee spokesperson.

GR8’s detailed document to ultra-high net worth individuals, seen by the Guardian, outlined these offerings. When questioned, a spokesperson clarified that GR8 doesn’t directly sell Olympic tickets but facilitates exclusive experiences around the games. They connect clients with official resellers for ticket procurement, ensuring compliance with regulations and client satisfaction.

Meanwhile, in a recent development, World Athletics (WA) declared that every Gold medallist at the upcoming Paris Olympics will receive a cash prize of $50,000. While this decision garnered praise from athletes like Neeraj Chopra, it has ignited a worldwide discussion, drawing attention from International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach during a recent online media briefing, voiced his apprehensions regarding the matter on athletes who participate from poor countries.

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All about the medals of Paris Olympics 2024

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Paris will become a no-fly zone during its wildly ambitious Olympic opening ceremony

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Skies over the Paris region will be closed for six hours as part of the massive security operation for the July 26 opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the Paris airports operator said Wednesday.

Augustin de Romanet, chairman of Aéroports de Paris, said airlines are being warned in advance about the closure and told they will have to fly around the restricted airspace.

“For six hours, there won’t be any aircraft over the Paris region,” he said on France Info radio.

The no-fly zone will extend for a radius of 150 kilometers (93 miles) around Paris, the civil aviation authority and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin have said.

The unprecedented waterborne ceremony on the River Seine running through the French capital is the stiffest single security challenge for Paris Games organizers, with crowds of more than 320,000 people expected to line the waterway.

At least one French military AWACS surveillance aircraft will police the skies during the Olympics, using its powerful radar to watch for any potential airborne threats, the French AWACS squadron’s commander previously told The Associated Press. Other military aircraft can be scrambled to intercept any non-authorized flights that enter restricted Olympic airspace.

Separately, de Romanet said there’s still a “very, very high” probability that small electric-powered airborne taxis will be trialled with passengers over Paris during the July 26-Aug. 11 Games, which he said would be a world first.

But European air-certification authorities might initially only allow the taxis to fly passengers on an experimental basis, not commercially, he added.

“We have high hopes that we will be able to carry passengers experimentally which will pave the way, over Paris, for the first flight in the world of an electrical vertical take-off aircraft,” he said.

Multiple companies are developing electrically powered aircraft that take off and land vertically. Some have already flown demonstration flights, in a race to turn their promises of environmentally friendly air transport into a commercially viable reality.

De Romanet insisted that the aircraft are safe, saying: “I am ready to climb aboard.”

Critics worry that taxis zipping through the airs of Paris will be a noisy and potentially dangerous nuisance and affordable only by the wealthy. The Socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, is among opponents of proposals to trial them on a few Paris-region routes during the Games.

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Ahead of Olympics, Police clear out a migrant camp in central Paris

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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French police evicted migrants from a makeshift camp in Paris a few steps away from the River Seine on Tuesday, the latest operation in what aid groups call a campaign of ‘’social cleansing” ahead of the Summer Olympics.

Before dawn on an unusually cold April morning, around 30 teenage boys and young men from West Africa were awakened by police and urged to pack their tents and belongings. Most of them were underage and in the process of seeking residency papers.

“I was already scared but I am even more scared because I don’t know where to go,” said Boubacar Traoré, 16, who said he fled conflict in Burkina Faso, arriving in France two months ago.

The operation came days after police carried out a large-scale eviction at France’s biggest squatter camp in a suburb south of Paris.

Such evictions and evacuations of migrant tent camps happen every spring after the end of a winter ‘’truce” during which authorities put such actions on hold.

But aid groups working with migrants and other vulnerable people in the Paris region say these efforts are intensifying ahead of the Olympics. They note that people are being sent far away from the capital instead of being offered shelter in the Paris region, where many asylum-seekers have upcoming court dates.

“The authorities want to have a clean place for the Olympics Games. They don’t want the tourists to see Paris as a city full of migrants and asylum seekers,” Elias Hufnagel, a volunteer with a group serving refugees and immigrants, said at the Paris tent camp Tuesday.

Paris police said the operation was carried out for security reasons, notably because the tent camp was near schools.

In a nearby street stood two large buses heading to Besançon, 400 kilometers (240 miles) southeast of Paris. Authorities proposed to relocate the young men there and offered them housing for three weeks. But most didn’t want to take up that offer, fearing being even more isolated and with no plan after the three weeks run out.

Traoré was among those who refused to travel because he is awaiting a court date in Paris in two days. It was unclear where he would sleep Tuesday night.

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Indian walkers Akshdeep Singh and Priyanka Goswami qualify for Paris Olympics in mixed-relay event

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India’s mixed relay team comprising Akshdeep Singh and Priyanka Goswami qualified for Paris Olympics by virtue of their 18th place finish at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships here on Sunday. The top-22 teams automatically qualify for the quadrennial extravaganza and the Indian duo clocked a personal best time of 3:05.03 across the 42.195 km distance that they covered.

The format of mixed team relay walk warrants the man and woman to alternately cover the said distance.

The man first walks 12.195 km and then the woman covers 10km followed by another 10 km from the man and the final 10km by the woman. There is a 20 metre distance for the changeover before each leg starts.

The event was won by the Italian team represented by Francesco Fortunato and Valentina Trapletti, who won the gold medal with a timing of 2:56:45.

This is also the duo’s personal best timing. They were followed by Japan’s Koki Ikeda and Kumiko Okada, who clocked their personal best time of 2:57:04.

The bronze was taken by the Spanish duo of Alvaro Martin and Laura Garcia-Caro, who finished the race in 2:57:47.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow