Two Olympic judo competitors, one from Algeria and one from Sudan, have been sent home from Tokyo, after refusing to fight an Israeli athlete. A Mongolian judo competitor has dedicated his silver medal to Israel. Saeid Mollaei, who defected from Iran, has previously trained with the Israeli national team. 

Almost 50 years after the event, the Olympic Committee held a moment of silence to remember the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Games, held in Munich. And, the twists keep coming, with an Iranian medal winner outed as a member of a terrorist organization. 

As the Tokyo Olympics enters its second week, it is hard to avoid the feeling that the storied event is experiencing a bit of a dip in popularity. It could be chalked up to a number of things, maybe the activism on the part of athletes or that little distraction known as The Pandemic. The New Yorker labeled Tokyo “the Anger Games,” suggesting that residents of the city did not want to host the event. Not the Bee referred to this year’s Games as “Wokyo” due to the particular form of activism on the part of athletes (here and here). In 2018, Business Insider wrote that no one really wants to host the Olympic Games any more, given the massive bill and scale of the disruption. Maybe this is another of those things cracked open by 2020? Either way, it will be interesting to see what lies ahead for the Olympics.

You can always follow the advice of Evita Duffy from The Federalist who suggested, you could just watch highlights from the Lumberjack World Championships instead.

And, FYI what makes an Olympic pool “fast.”