Athletics
Popular Winter Sports and Games in Bangladesh
As the winter season approaches, Bangladeshis get ready to play different indoor games. Various seasonal games are held in front of the house or on the school grounds. The interest of playing different games in children, teenagers, or young people is seen in equal rhythm. The most important part of winter sports is the ability to combine rigorous physical activity. As a result, our body gets enough heat. So, most of our winter sports require heavy physical activity. With that in mind, we have listed some of the best winter sports and games of Bangladesh.
Top Winter Sports in Bangladesh
Badminton
Although badminton is not as popular throughout the year as cricket or football, it has become a major sport during the winter. Badminton is very popular in winter in almost all parts of Bangladesh. This game is organized on a winter afternoon or foggy evening. Moreover, the game tends to be a show-off of a collection of different types of racquets.
The advantage of this sport is that a badminton court can be built in a little space. Be it in your own backyard or on a playground. Boys and girls, young and old, everyone rejoices in the game. It is also very beneficial for health. Moreover, when you play badminton, your lungs and heart function increase. It also helps build muscle, strong bones, and helps on a diet.
Read Bangladesh’s Iconic Sports Achievements in 2021
Although urbanization, modernity, and the use of technology have reduced our outdoor playing ground, winter has really overtaken this game. Though the range is very small, everyone seems to want to share all the joys of seasonal play through Badminton.
Table Tennis
Although the table is played all year round, it is a good game in the winter to warm up the body. You can play table tennis easily and in a small space. If there is a small space in the house or in the attic, then you can easily put a table. You just need a partner to play with. The game can be started with just two players and a table, ball, and bat. This equipment can be found in the sports shop.
However, if you want to play table tennis at home, it is better to take a small table. Internationally, however, table tennis equipment has a certain size. If you want, you can also customize tables and bats according to your convenience. Like badminton, it is very beneficial for bone structure, normal blood circulation, and more functions of the lungs.
Read Traditional folk sports of rural Bangladesh: A look back
Cycling
Even if you ride a bicycle all year round, you can enjoy it a little more in winter. Cold mornings or evenings seem to be one of the reasons. As the sun does not have heat, fatigue seems to be less in a small amount. Nowadays, it is easy to see cycling in groups on highways or alleys. There is the joy of cycling altogether, as well as the necessary exercise that goes hand in hand. From your extra calorie loss to diabetes, high blood pressure, muscle aches are easily eliminated through cycling. Cycling should be done at least 30 minutes 4 to 5 days a week. So whether you are in a group or alone on your way, start cycling, and winter is the best time to make cycling a habit.
Indoor Soccer
It becomes tough to play soccer in the outfield as it is cold outside. Hence, indoor soccer is the only option for the soccer lovers to keep their practice. And, this can be played any time of the day, especially at night. The good thing is that it doesn't necessarily need much space and can be played on a basketball-style court. Since the temperature is low, sweat and humidity will not create significant problems while playing.
Read Achievements of Bangladesh in sports in 50 years since independence
However, indoor soccer may not be as popular as outdoor soccer, but it still has a lot of benefits. What makes indoor soccer different from its outdoor counterpart is that it can be played all year-round and in any kind of weather. Indoor soccer also has the added benefit of being safer for kids and people with disabilities because they can avoid injuries caused by hard surfaces and slippery conditions outdoors.
Basketball
Although basketball is a popular western sport, it is played on a small scale in Bangladesh. As basketball is played in an indoor space, winter is the best time to play. However, it can be played all year round.
Playing Basketball is great for your heart and keeps you lean and strong. It also helps with hand-to-eye coordination and agility. Not to mention, the wicked jump shots offer huge excitements to both the players and the audience! And finally how can we forget the unparalleled sense of camaraderie that comes with playing on a team.
Volleyball
With the winter air and cold temperatures, it seems like playing a sport outside in the cold would be incredibly strenuous and uncomfortable. But a lot of people in Bangladesh still choose to play volleyball throughout the winter evenings because there are some major benefits associated with playing this sport at that time of year.
This game has several health benefits for your mind and body as well. It's an excellent source of cardio exercise that allows your heart and lungs to become stronger. It also works out your muscles and improves your posture.
Read Sports Year in Review: A Flashback of the Major Events in 2021
Board Games
Playing board games such as ludo, chess, monopoly, etc., in the winter under the blanket get a new dimension. Nevertheless, it is an excellent way to spend quality time with friends and family. Playing board games with the family has a special benefit as it increases the interactions among the family members. Board games work well for people who want laughter, family togetherness, and a break from the pressures of life for an hour or two. These games are also great for those moments when your mind needs to be distracted from all the craziness happening in daily life.
Bottom Line
Sport activities not only keep the body healthy; but also refresh the mind. And, winter is the best time to engage in some indoor and outdoor sports activities with friends and family members. So far, we have discussed some of the most popular Winter sports in Bangladesh.
For outdoor activities, keep in mind the weather and choose clothes and trinkets accordingly. Now that it is winter, keep warm clothes and a pot of water with you when cycling. Those who have pain in the bone joint or any pre-existing contraindications should consult a doctor if necessary.
Read Meet Avik Anwar: First Bangladeshi to win on a Formula One Circuit
45th National Athletics: Imranur, Sumaiya emerge as fastest man, woman
Imranur Rahman of Bangladesh Army emerged as the new fasted man of Bangladesh by clinching men’s 100-meter sprint title with new national record in the Sheikh Kamal 45th National Athletics Championship’ 2021 that began on Monday at Bangladesh Army Stadium in Banani here.
Bangladesh Athletics Federation has organized the national meet marking the Birth Centenary of Bangabandhu and the Silver Jubilee of the country’s Independence,
State Minister for Social Welfare Ministry M Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru inaugurated the three-day meet Monday afternoon.
READ: 3-day Bangabandhu 44th National Athletics commences
Imranur, a 28-year-old dual citizen of the UK and Bangladesh, clinched the men’s 100-meter gold with a time of 10.50 seconds breaking late Mahbub Alam’s 22-year old event record of 10.54 seconds set in 1999.
Sumaiya Dewan of BKSP emerged as the new fastest woman of the country by clinching women’s 100-meter sprint title clocking 12;30 seconds.
They dethroned Mohammad Ismail and Shirin Akhter, both of whom finished second to bag silver in their respective event this time.
READ: Bangabandhu 44th National Athletics begins Friday
Maksuda Akhter: Bangladesh’s first woman bodybuilder to win international medal
In a conservative nation like Bangladesh, women's participation in a bodybuilding competition is quite challenging. However, women need to transgress society's taboos in order to pursue their dreams. Maksuda Rahman is one of the few who has stepped up to promote female bodybuilding in Bangladesh. She took part in the IHFF Olympia Amateur Bodybuilding in Mumbai and earned an international medal, making her the first female bodybuilder from Bangladesh to do so. Maksuda Rahman's background as a bodybuilder and the possibilities of women's bodybuilding in Bangladesh are discussed in this article.
Maksuda Akhter's Journey as a bodybuilder
Maksuda Akhter's dream is to see women participating in bodybuilding alongside males in Bangladesh. Her ambition came true when she won the Bangladesh Bodybuilding Federation's Bangabandhu BABBF National Bodybuilding Championship in December 2020. In April 2021, she won another gold medal at the 9th Bangabandhu Bangladesh Games.
A girl from port city Chattogram, Maksuda Akhter graduated from Patenga Naval School and College. In 2016, she moved to Punjab to pursue her post-graduate degree in Textile Design. She used to go to the gym on a daily basis in addition to studying there, and she became addicted to it.
Read Diya, Rubel win first-ever silver medal for Bangladesh in Asian Archery
She has participated in national-level tournaments on a regular basis since returning to Bangladesh and has had immediate success. She made a name for herself after winning two gold medals in a row at the national level.
Maksuda Akhter has competed in the present IHFF Olympia Amateur Bodybuilding Championship in Mumbai, the first Bangladeshi woman to compete in an international bodybuilding competition. Additionally, she did not have to wait long to earn her maiden international medal. After participating in the Women Physics category, Maksuda came in third place out of 30 bodybuilders.
Maksuda made it to the top eight in the preliminary round, and the judges named her third runner-up in the final. Maksuda's next assignment is to compete in the bodybuilding championship pre-selection in France.
Read Junior World Athletics: Sumaiya leaves for Kenya to represent Bangladesh
Female bodybuilding competition in Bangladesh
Bangladesh's first female bodybuilding competition was organized in 2018. There was a lot of enthusiasm among bodybuilders about this competition. 30 female bodybuilders from across the country competed in the contest and they exceeded all expectations.
A lot of potential bodybuilders were featured during the three-day event. 19-year-old Awhona Rahman took first place in the first female bodybuilding competition. Awhona made headlines after winning the competition and sparked a lot of interest in bodybuilding among women.
Awhona currently works as a trainer at a gym in Dhaka, where she has seen a boom in female memberships since her triumph. Not everyone aspires to be a bodybuilder, but many ladies desire to join for the sake of fitness. Women have become more conscious of the issue because of the competition.
Read Clean, repeat: At Tokyo Games, virus is Olympians' chief foe
One of the key goals of the female bodybuilding competition was to improve health and fitness awareness. As more women get interested in bodybuilding and encourage others to attend gyms for improved fitness, the event has gradually begun to bear fruit.
In addition to Maksuda Akhter and Awhona Rahman, other prominent female bodybuilders include Dolna Gondai, Mim Akter, Tanjim Akter Tithi, Fatem Sultana, and Ferdous Ali Jhumu.
Read Bangladesh Police clinch Women’s Kabaddi League title
Bottom Line
Women in Bangladesh were not allowed to play outdoor sports a few decades ago. However, things started to change rapidly in the twenty-first century, and women today participate in almost every sport or game that men do in Bangladesh. This would not have been possible without some courageous women who have stood up to a male-dominated society. Maksuda Akhter is one such woman who takes bodybuilding to prove that if given the chance, Bangladeshi women can achieve anything. Her winning a medal in an international bodybuilding competition would surely encourage many female bodybuilders to pursue their dreams.
Read Champions Hockey: 4 more players included in Bangladesh’s preliminary squad
Diya, Rubel win first-ever silver medal for Bangladesh in Asian Archery
Bangladesh clinched the first-ever silver medal in the Teer 22nd Asian Archery Championships in recurve mixed team event on the final day at the Bangladesh Army Stadium in Banani here on Friday.
The Bangladeshi mixed pair comprising talented Diya Siddiqui and Hakim Ahmed Rubel lost to mighty Korean partner Lee Seungyun and Royoo Su Sung by 1-5 sets in the event's final to remain satisfied with a silver.
It’s a big achievement for Bangladesh to win the silver medal in the prestigious Asian meet after surpassing giant India.
Read: Bangladesh post 127 in first T20I vs Pakistan
Earlier on Tuesday, Rubel-Diya pair reached a qualifying landmark for the final of an Asian event for the first time eliminating mighty rivals India by 5-4 sets in tie breaker in the nerve shattering semi-final.
Bangladesh earlier opened the account in the medal table of the Asian Archery by clinching two bronze medals in the recurve men's and women's team events.
The German Coach of Bangladesh Martin Frederick expressed his satisfaction over the archers’ performance in the day.
He said: “I am happy with their performance, they played well, we failed to win the gold , but we have won silver in a big stage of the final , they’ll need more time to perform here although they shot very good arrow in the last set.”
Diya in her reaction after the match said: "We played well in the whole tournament and also tried our best to play well in the final, but, they (Korea) actually shoot arrows in the same sequence to win, We have to improve our confidence in that level.”
Read: Asian Archery: Bangladesh wins two bronze medals for 1st time
Rubel said "We have a lot to learn from this defeat …we have found out our mistakes in the championship and we’ll try to correct those mistakes in future ”
Junior World Athletics: Sumaiya leaves for Kenya to represent Bangladesh
Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (BKSP) athlete Sumaiya Dewan left the capital for Kenya Sunday to participate in the Junior World Athletics Championship.
The Junior World Athletics will be held in Nairobi during August 17-22.
READ: Clean, repeat: At Tokyo Games, virus is Olympians' chief foe
Sumaiya is the only athlete from Bangladesh to compete in the 100-metre and 200-metre sprint of the girls' under-18 group.
Former national athlete Fouzia Huda Jui accompanied her as manager and coach.
Bangladesh athlete Jahir Rayhan reached the semifinal of the men's 400-metre run in the Youth Athletics Championship in Nairobi in 2018.
READ: Without the crowd's roar, Tokyo Olympians search for spirit
Clean, repeat: At Tokyo Games, virus is Olympians' chief foe
Holding each other tighter than lovers, the wrestlers smear each other with sweat, spittle and — when they inadvertently cut each other — sometimes blood. Lungs heaving, mouths agape, they huff and puff into each others’ flushed faces. On their glistening bodies, it’s impossible to tell their opponents’ fluids and theirs apart.
Underscoring the health risks of such proximity: They are the only people in the cavernous hall not wearing face masks.
Watching Olympic wrestling in the midst of the pandemic of a deadly airborne disease feels like being part of a virological experiment, a real-life study of droplets, aerosols and fluid dispersion.
A germophobe’s nightmare, it’s a messy spectacle best observed from the stands where volunteers hold signs reading “keep physical distance” for non-existent crowds, barred from the Tokyo Games because of surging coronavirus infections in the Olympic host country where less than one-third of the population is vaccinated.But because wrestling is the most close-contact sport of the Olympics, it also speaks loudest of the all-out war against the virus that athletes have waged to get to Tokyo and, once here, continue to fight to stay free of infection and compete.
Wrestlers are the Games’ equivalent of the canaries that alerted coal miners to noxious gases in the air of closed-in mines. That even they say they feel safe going body to body in combat testifies to extraordinary efforts that Olympians are making to stay healthy, exercising a sanitary discipline that has made competition possible but has also squeezed a lot of fun from their Olympic experience.
READ: Olympic families find solace, create bonds far from Tokyo
Which Brazilian wrestler Aline Silva says is a necessary price to pay. She hopes the Tokyo Games will serve as a counterweight to COVID-19 fatigue by sending a sobering message that until the virus is beaten, people everywhere should exercise greater caution and take better care of themselves and others. Brazil has the world’s second-highest COVID-19 death toll with 556,000 fatalities.
“In Brazil, everybody knows that it is best to not be in parties and do things like that. But I don’t know why they don’t care, they do anyway,” Silva said. “So we need to show people that we need, right now, to be focused on doing our jobs as safely as possible.”
The 34-year-old had set her sights in Tokyo on making amends for her failure to win a medal at her home Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. But when the pandemic struck, she decided to put wrestling on hold indefinitely, in part because it no longer felt safe but also to set an example that life couldn’t, shouldn’t, simply carry on as before. She has an uncle who spent 13 days in the hospital with COVID-19. Only this year, in a small bubble of athletes who were tested and lived together with limited outside contact, did she resume preparations for the Games.
“I believe that, right now, people should be thinking about lives. That matters more than any sport. But we are here, trying to beat this virus, too,” she said. “We need to do our part for everybody to survive. I might not die of COVID but I don’t want to pass the disease on to somebody that might die. A lot of people, I think, don’t think about that.”
In Tokyo, Olympians can’t not think about that. They are sealed off in a giant sanitary bubble built with daily tests, oceans of sanitizer and strict restrictions on their movements. They are instructed not to mix with people outside their teams. They are told to avoid hugs, high-fives and handshakes — all deemed “unnecessary” by Games organizers — advice they often ignore in the heat and joy of competition. They cannot watch sports other than their own or wander around the city.
The dining hall in the athletes’ village where most of them are confined has hospital-like cleanliness. Matilda Kearns, a water polo competitor from Australia, detailed the sanitary procedures in a TikTok posting. They not only sanitize their hands but also wear plastic gloves before touching food trays that have also been sanitized, she said.
They then eat in small cubicles, which they wipe down with disinfectant wipes, separated by see-through plastic screens that make meal-time chat “pretty difficult because it’s hard to hear through them,” Kearns said. She added that they also have an additional team rule “that once the mask is off, you only have 10 minutes to eat to reduce exposure.”
Preventive measures extend also onto fields of play.
Table tennis has barred players from blowing on the ball before they serve, which some used to do to rid it of dust, and from wiping sweaty palms on the table. Before the pandemic, players were only allowed to wipe themselves down with towels after every six points, to avoid slowing play. Now, they can use towels liberally, to avoid sweat on the table. Players also must wear masks and gloves when selecting their stock of balls before matches.
In badminton, when players need to replace a damaged shuttlecock, they now get a new one themselves from a dispenser, so they are no longer handled by the match official who used to distribute them.
At the Olympic boxing arena, uniformed cleaners attack the ring between most fights to wipe down the ropes, corner pads and canvas of any sweat or blood, before the next pair of boxers forces them to do it all over again. In weightlifting, the bar is disinfected with surgical alcohol between lifts.
READ: At an extraordinary Olympics, acts of kindness abound
Outside the Olympic bubble, fueled by the more contagious delta variant, infections in Tokyo have logged new daily records and nearly tripled in the first week after the Games opened on July 23. Japanese officials say the surge is unrelated to the Olympics.
Inside the Olympians’ bubble, infections have been limited. Since July 1, 222,000 tests on athletes and team officials yielded 32 positives, a strike rate of 0.01%, Games organizers say.
Fully vaccinated and as careful as he can be, Finnish wrestler Elias Kuosmanen said he felt safe enough to shut off his mind to the risk of infection when he competed and got all sweaty in the men’s Greco-Roman heavyweight class.
“We’re tested all the time, so I am pretty sure that the opponents and everyone are COVID-19-free,” he said. “I don’t need to stress about it.”
Without the crowd's roar, Tokyo Olympians search for spirit
The beloved American gymnast Sam Mikulak flipped off the parallel bars, stuck the landing and blew a kiss toward the camera. Those watching the men’s Olympics gymnastic competition on television back home knew they’d seen magic.
“Beautiful!” the broadcast announcer exclaimed. “Wow, that was fantastic!”
But all around Mikulak, the stretches of wooden benches meant to seat thousands sat mostly empty. Cheers erupted from a far back corner of the stands, where Simone Biles and the rest of the women’s team screamed as loud as lungs could muster to cut through the eerie quiet of the pandemic Olympic venue.
Read: Pandemic Olympics endured heat, and now a typhoon's en route
In arenas across Tokyo, athletes accustomed to feeding off the deafening roar of the crowd are searching for new ways to feel Olympic enthusiasm.
They’re rooting for each other as loudly as they can. Some are trying to envision fans at home in their living rooms, leaning into TV screens. They’re blasting playlists in backstage training rooms. The lucky few permitted to compete with headphones keep their phones in their pockets, tuned to songs with a beat to replace the thrill of applause.
But others were surprised to find the silence motivating — like another day at the gym rather than the most prestigious competition on Earth. For them, the emptiness numbs the nerves and lets them fully focus on their sport.
“It’s kind of nice,” said Mikulak, a three-time Olympian whose parallel bar routine helped usher him to finals. It barely feels like an Olympics to him, he said, but when he stuck that landing and heard his own team cheering, that felt like enough.
“We created our own bubble. We had our own cheering section,” he said. “We created our own atmosphere. That’s what we thrive in, having each other’s backs.”
Read: Olympics Archery: Bangladesh eliminated from mixed team event
The next day, they returned the favor. The US men’s gymnastics team stood in the back waving an American flag and screaming for their female counterparts before the stadium fell quiet again, like the others scattered across Tokyo.
At the Sea Forest Waterway rowing venue, grandstands that stretch for nearly 2,000 meters (yards) are empty all the way to the finish line. The events are so quiet, rowers can hear the ripple of their own wake and the flap of hundreds of national flags whipping in the breeze on the shoreline. What is typically a swelling crescendo of chants and rush of adrenaline over the final 250 meters to the finish line replaced by the labored breathing wracking their lungs.
“When you cross the line and you’re hurting, and you feel like you are going to pass out and you don’t hear the ‘USA! USA!’, chant it hurts a little bit more,” said ÚS women’s rower Ellen Tomek, competing in her third Olympics and reminding herself that people are rooting from her from home. “Everyone is cheering us on, but when you are hurting and sad and you can’t look up for you mom in the stands, it sucks.”
Read: Tokyo Olympics 2020: Meet the Bangladesh Athletes
Other athletes, too, are trying to capture the energy of those fans at home, absent here but still somewhere in the world cheering them on.
Japanese gymnast Mai Murakami said she was thrilled that her home country hosted the Olympics because she hoped many of her admirers could see her perform in person. When even Japanese citizens were barred from attending, she was devastated.
“I get influence from the crowd, and that motivates me,” she said through a translator. The silence rattled her, she said, and she made a mistake in her bars performance. “This is my first experience without crowds, so I haven’t had that experience before. I couldn’t imagine how it would be, so I tried to have no emotion.”
She tried to picture her fans watching on TVs and computers, applauding her from across the city. That brought comfort.
Ágatha Bednarczuk, a Brazilian beach volleyball player, won a silver medal in front of her home country in 2016. This Olympics, she said, feels very different.
“In Brazil, we had the biggest support. There were many, many people cheering for us, and here we had silence,” she said, drawing a flat line with her hand. “We need to put our emotion in the game, because we can’t receive emotion from them. For me, it’s very important to play with emotion so I had to bring it from inside.”
Many say they are reminding themselves that they made it here — to the Olympics, a lifelong dream for many despite extraordinary odds including a pandemic that has killed millions and postponed the Games, and for a time threatened to sink them entirely.
“I think that Olympic Games is enough of its own,” said Greece men’s water polo goaltender Emmanouil Zerdevas. “It’s a bit sad, but it is my first time in the Olympic Games, so I’m still happy to be here.”
At the silent skateboarding venue, U.S. skater Jagger Eaton found a mood booster in the phone he occasionally fished out of his right pocket while competing to change the music. Skateboarders, unlike other athletes, are able to shut out the quiet by wearing headphones as they compete. Eaton chose the aptly named “Rollin N Controllin” by rapper Dusty Locane as his soundtrack to launch himself into the first-ever Olympic skateboard event, men’s street.
“It got me right in the groove,” said Eaton, who struggled to skate for an empty crowd. “That’s why I am wearing headphones. When I wear headphones, I can create my own hype.”
But others have been surprised to find peace in the silence — and a stronger connection to their sport than they tend to feel when the pressure is on.
“Normally, coming into the finish line, when qualification is on the line, it’s deafening,” said U.S. women’s rower Michelle Sechser. “It’s the hardest part of the race. Your heart is pounding, your legs are pounding, your breathing is rapid. And it’s absolutely silent. It makes it almost like Nirvana.”
Why the 2020 Medal Project could be Tokyo's most precious legacy
Although the Tokyo Olympics began with a muted ceremony in a near-empty stadium amid anger and disbelief in much of Japan, Games medals made from recycled electronics have finally got a chance to shine.
Japan had turned obsolete electronics into Olympic, and Paralympic medals, one of the most coveted prizes in sport, in an "act of 21st-century alchemy" before the virus-delayed Tokyo Summer Olympics finally opened Friday.
Tokyo 2020 medallists have become the first in the history of the Games to hang medals made from recycled electrical goods around their necks.
Chinese air rifle shooter Qian Yang became the first athlete to step to the podium and have a gold medal placed around her neck after the first events started Saturday. Qian is also the first athlete to receive a gold medal made from recycled electronics.
READ: Pandemic Olympics endured heat, and now a typhoon’s en route
The precious prizes – 5,000 gold, silver and bronze medals – have been crafted from around 80,000 tonnes of small electrical goods – including 6.21 million used phones.
The medals started as just a pile of old tech when the Tokyo 2020 Medal Project sourced small electronic devices from all over Japan, the organisers said.
In a two-year nationwide campaign, Japan extracted enough gold, silver and bronze from old gadgets to make Games medals. Before taking the round glossy shape of an Olympic medal, electrical goods had to be sorted out, dismantled, smelted and refined, according to Tokyo 2020.
Around 90% of Japanese cities, towns, and villages participated in the medal project by setting up donation pick-up sites where thousands of people donated obsolete consumer electronics.
Electronic waste (e-waste) is the fastest-growing part of the world's domestic waste stream. The world generated a record 7.3kg per person of e-waste in 2019, according to the UN.
However, most of this waste never reaches collection centres. Only 20% of discarded electronics are recycled; the rest is either dumped or burned.
The Tokyo 2020 organising committee saw this as an opportunity and invited people to donate their old electronic devices.
The campaign finally produced 32kg of gold, 3,500kg of silver and 2,200kg of bronze from nearly 80,000 tonnes of electronic devices, which were then moulded into glittering Olympic medals.
READ: Prof Yunus gets highest viewership in Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, says Yunus Centre
"The Tokyo 2020 Medal Project aims towards an innovative future for the world. From April 2017 to March 2019, small electronic devices, including mobile phones were collected to produce the Olympic and Paralympic medals," the organisers said.
Making medals from recycled electronics is not new. In Rio 2016, 30% of the sterling silver to make the gold and silver medals came from recycled materials, including leftover mirrors, old car parts, and X-ray plates.
But Tokyo has elevated it to a different level – the first ever Games where all of the medals that both the Olympians and Paralympians will go away with are made from recycled e-waste, a particularly dangerous concern for the environment.
By going all the way, they have essentially demonstrated that not an ounce of these precious metals have to be extracted from the earth again, in order to serve the Olympics. It is a triumphant demonstration of Japanese society's advanced thinking around matters relating to the environment, as well as their powers of execution.
READ: Tokyo Olympics 2020: Meet the Bangladesh Athletes
Paris and Los Angeles, slated to host the next two Summer Games, and champions of environmentalism in their own right, must already know that as the torch passes to them, it will come with the responsibility to carry forward this most precious legacy of Tokyo 2020.
‘The greatest honor’: Osaka lights Olympic cauldron
What a moment for Naomi Osaka. For the new Japan. For racial injustice. For female athletes. For tennis.
The four-time Grand Slam winner lit the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
Read: Tokyo Olympics begin with muted ceremony and empty stadium
It was a choice that could be appreciated worldwide: In Japan, of course, the country where Osaka was born and the nation that she plays for; in embattled Haiti because that’s where her father is from; and surely in the United States, because that’s where the globe’s highest-earning female athlete lives and where she has been outspoken about racial injustice.
Plus, everywhere in between, because Osaka is a superstar.
But she has often received an uncomfortable welcome in Japan because of her race, with her family having moved to the U.S. when she was 3. Her emergence as a top tennis player has challenged public attitudes about identity in a homogeneous culture that is being pushed to change.
It’s always a mystery until the last moment who gets the honor of lighting the cauldron.
Sadaharu Oh, Shigeo Nagashima and Hideki Matsui were among the baseball greats who took part in bringing the flame into the stadium. And in a country where baseball is the No. 1 sport, Osaka was not necessarily expected to be given the ultimate honor.
But there she was at the center of the stage when a staircase emerged, the cauldron opened atop a peak inspired by Mount Fuji and Osaka ascended with the Olympic and Japanese flags blowing in the breeze off to her left. She dipped the flame in, the cauldron ignited and fireworks filled the sky.
“Undoubtedly the greatest athletic achievement and honor I will ever have in my life,” Osaka wrote on Instagram next to a picture of her smiling while holding the flame. “I have no words to describe the feelings I have right now, but I do know I am currently filled with gratefulness and thankfulness.”
Read: Olympics ceremony uses music from Japanese video games
It capped quite a series of events over the past two months for the 23-year-old Osaka.
Going into the French Open in late May, Osaka — who is ranked No. 2 — announced she wouldn’t speak to reporters at the tournament, saying those interactions create doubts for her.
Then, after her first-round victory, she skipped the mandatory news conference.
Osaka was fined $15,000 and — surprisingly — publicly reprimanded by those in charge of Grand Slam tournaments, who said she could be suspended if she kept avoiding the media.
The next day, Osaka withdrew from Roland Garros entirely to take a mental health break, revealing she has dealt with depression.
She sat out Wimbledon, too. So the Tokyo Games mark her return to competition.
“The Olympics are a special time, when the world comes together to celebrate sports. I am looking forward most to being with the athletes that had waited and trained for over 10 years, for celebrating a very hard year (2020) and having that happen in Japan makes it that much more special,” Osaka wrote in an email interview when she was selected as the 2020 AP Female Athlete of the Year. “It’s a special and beautiful country filled with culture, history and beauty. I cannot be more excited.”
There was a big hint that Osaka might have an important role in the ceremony when her opening match in the Olympic tennis tournament was pushed back from Saturday to Sunday without an explanation earlier in the day.
She was originally scheduled to play 52nd-ranked Zheng Saisai of China in the very first match of the Games on center court Saturday morning. But clearly by lighting the flame as midnight approached, she wouldn’t have had enough rest for an early morning match.
Osaka became the first tennis player to light the Olympic cauldron. She’s also one of the few active athletes to be given the honor. Australian sprinter Cathy Freeman lit the cauldron for the 2000 Sydney Games and went on to win gold in the 400 meters.
Osaka — along with top-ranked Ash Barty — is a favorite to win the women’s singles title in a tennis tournament that also features Novak Djokovic aiming to become the first man to win a Golden Slam by holding all four Grand Slam trophies and Olympic gold in the same year.
Whatever the final results on the court, Osaka has already become part of Olympic history.
10 new Covid cases reported at Olympic village
Ten more people involved in the Summer Olympics in Japan, including an athlete, have tested Covid-19 positive, the organising committee said Wednesday.
Among those who contracted the virus are a foreign athlete, one foreign staff member and eight other people involved in the Olympics.
Read: Olympics, pandemic and politics: There's no separating them
The new infections have brought the Games-linked Covid-19 cases in Japan to 81 since July 1, while more international athletes are testing positive at home and unable to travel.
The virus has also been detected in four athletes and accompanying personnel from training camps located outside Tokyo, the organisers added.
Health experts in Japan have warned of the Olympics becoming a "super-spreader" event bringing tens of thousands of athletes, officials and workers during a local state of emergency.
However, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday, "The Tokyo Olympics should not be judged by the tally of Covid cases that arise because eliminating risk is impossible."
Read: WHO head says Olympics virus risk inevitable
"The mark of success is making sure that any cases are identified, isolated, traced and cared for as quickly as possible and onward transmission is interrupted," Tedros said in a speech to an International Olympic Committee meeting.