The head of France's professional handball league has been taken in for police questioning in a child sexual assault and pornography probe, French prosecutors said Wednesday, the latest sports scandal in the country ahead of next year's Paris Olympics. The Paris prosecutor's office said Bruno Martini was taken into custody Monday morning on suspicion of attempted sexual assault on a 15-year-old, of corrupting a minor and recording pornographic images of children. The president of the National Handball League was then released Tuesday night ahead of an expected plea deal on the child corruption and pornography charges, the prosecutor's office said. Before moving into handball management, Martini was a star player, keeping goal in 202 appearances for the French national team. He's the latest leader of an Olympic sport in France under police investigation in the countdown to the 2024 Games, which open in Paris in just under 550 days. French soccer federation president Noël Le Graët is under investigation for sexual harassment and “moral harassment." French rugby federation president Bernard Laporte is appealing a two-year suspended sentence that a Paris court handed down last month. He was found guilty of passive corruption, influence peddling, illegal interest-taking and misuse of corporate assets. Read more: Olympics Football: Bangladesh Women's team put in Group B The head of the Paris Games organizing committee, Tony Estanguet, expressed hope Wednesday that the various cases will progress quickly “so we can turn the page.” “French sports need stability,” he said. “We hope things quickly return to normal.” The National Handball League’s executive committee held an emergency meeting Wednesday to consider Martini’s position and said it was expecting his resignation as president, calling it “probable and desirable." Handball is a popular sport in France. The country's men and women are the reigning Olympic champions. News of the probe involving Martini, a two-time Olympian and two-time world champion with the national team, came as France's men were preparing to play Germany on Wednesday for a semifinal spot at the world championships.

The Olympic flame for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, which has been burning in the National Stadium for 16 days, was extinguished at the closing ceremony here on Sunday. The flame, burning in a torch placed in the middle of a giant snowflake-shaped cauldron, gradually went out to the songs by a chorus of children. Their singing transitioned from Beijing 2008's theme song, You and Me to Snowflake, that of Beijing 2022, highlights the historic achievement of the Chinese capital as the first city to host both Summer and Winter Olympic Games. Read:Beijing’s ‘invisible’ Olympics: Muted but watched online IOC chief declares Beijing Winter Olympics closed International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach declared the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games closed here on Sunday. Bach called the Beijing Winter Olympics "truly exceptional" in his speech at the closing ceremony held at the National Stadium. "The Olympic spirit could only shine so brightly, because the Chinese people set the stage in such an excellent way - and in a safe way," said the IOC chief. Olympic flag handed over to Milan-Cortina 2026 The Olympic flag has been handed over to mayors of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, the host cities of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, at the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Games here on Sunday. Beijing mayor Chen Jining passed the Olympic flag to International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, who then handed it to the mayors of the 2026 host cities. Recognition of the volunteers On behalf of the athletes, newly elected member of the IOC Atheltes' Commission presented lanterns to representatives of the volunteers, as a tribute and mark of gratitude for their work carried out during the Games. Victory Ceremony at the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Victory Ceremony of the cross-country skiing women's 30km mass start free event during the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Victory Ceremony of cross-country skiing men's 50km mass start free event during the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Read:How China got blue skies in time for Olympics Athletes parade at the closing ceremony Athletes parade during the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Flag bearers parade at the closing ceremony Flag bearers parade during the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.  Children perform at the closing ceremony Children perform at the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Xi attending closing ceremony of Beijing Winter Olympics Chinese President Xi Jinping is attending the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, held at the National Stadium in Beijing on Sunday night.

Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva’s right to compete in the imminent women’s event at the Beijing Olympics will be decided at an urgent hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The International Testing Agency — on behalf of the IOC -- said Friday it would fight a decision by Russia’s anti-doping agency to allow the 15-year-old Valieva to skate. The Russian agency had provisionally banned Valieva this week because she failed a doping test in December. Valieva is the heavy favorite in her event which begins Tuesday after setting world record scores this season and landing the first quad jump by a women at an Olympics when the Russian Olympic Committee won the team event Monday. The ROC said it will fight to keep that gold medal. The ITA confirmed reports that Valieva tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at the Russian national championships in St. Petersburg six weeks ago. The positive test was flagged by a laboratory in Sweden only on Tuesday — the day after Valieva helped the Russians win the team event and just hours before the medal ceremony, which was then postponed. Whether the Russians will lose that gold medal will be decided later. Also read: US-born freeskier Gu wins Olympic big air gold for China An AP request for an interview with the Swedish lab has gone unanswered. Valieva was hit with an immediate interim ban from the Beijing Olympics by the Russian anti-doping agency known as RUSADA, which oversaw testing at the national championships. On Wednesday, a RUSADA disciplinary panel upheld her appeal and overturned the skater’s interim ban. The rushed hearing at CAS will only consider the question of the provisional ban at these Games, said the ITA, which is prosecuting on behalf of the IOC. The ITA was formed by the IOC in 2018 in the wake of the Russian doping scandal to manage international testing and to design the anti-doping program for the Olympics. “The IOC will exercise its right to appeal and not to wait for the reasoned decision by RUSADA, because a decision is needed before the next competition the athlete is due to take part in,” the testing agency said. As a 15-year-old, Valieva has protections in the sports’ rule book – the World Anti-Doping Code. Under these guidelines she could ultimately receive just a simple reprimand. When a minor is implicated in doping rules violations, the rules state her entourage, such as coaches and team doctors, must be investigated, too. That isn’t typically the case for athletes aged over 18. Also read: How China got blue skies in time for Olympics “Such cases are not helpful to the Games,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. “These cases need to be prosecuted properly, taken care of properly and due process needs to be gone through. Otherwise I think the confidence of people would be even less. So I think it’s very important for everybody concerned, not least the 15-year-old athlete that’s concerned, that we have due process, that it’s seen to be done properly, and that people can have confidence in the decisions that are taken.” Valieva will likely be stripped of her Russian national title in December. “The Russian Olympic Committee will take comprehensive measures to defend the rights and interests of the ROC team and to keep the honestly-won Olympic gold medal (in the team event),” the ROC said in a statement. It added that a doping test Valieva took while at the Olympics came back clean - all medalists are tested at the Olympics. “The ROC also assumes that a full investigation will be carried out, as a result of which all significant legal and factual circumstances regarding what has happened will be established.” For the second straight day, Valieva worked out early at the main rink inside Capital Indoor Stadium as if nothing was amiss. She was flanked by Russian teammates Alexandra Trusova and world champion Anna Shcherbakova, both of whom are also coached by Eteri Tutberidze, During the 45-minute session, Valieva threw down four quad jumps, including one in a potentially high-scoring combination with a triple salchow. Despite missing on that combo at the Rostelecom Cup in November, when she did a quad-double, Valieva still set a world record there for her free skate. She also set the world record for the short program and total score at the same Grand Prix event in Russia. A ruling on the Olympic team event likely will take much longer, preventing any medals being awarded in Beijing before the closing ceremony on Feb. 20. RUSADA will first investigate the full merits of the doping case and give a judgment. That verdict would lead to an appeal and could also end up at CAS. “The decision on the results of the ROC team in the Team Figure Skating event can be taken by the ISU only after a final decision on the full merits of the case has been taken,” the ITA said. The latest doping case involving a Russian athlete could have broader implications for the country’s sports program. Russia is competing in the Beijing Olympics as ROC, short for Russian Olympic Committee, without its anthem or flag. That’s because of the fallout from years of doping disputes including steroid use and cover-ups at the 2014 Winter Olympics, which Russia hosted. Another scandal could extend its two-year ban beyond the scheduled December end.

The blue skies greeting Olympic athletes here this month are a stark change from just a decade ago when the city’s choking air pollution was dubbed an “Airpocalypse” and blamed for scaring off tourists. Beijing’s air still has a long way to go, but is measurably better than past years when smog often made it difficult to see nearby buildings and people wore masks to protect themselves from pollution, not COVID-19. The city’s notorious pollution also made news in 2016, when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a photo of himself jogging in the haze through Tiananmen Square with a smile on his face. Some mused on social media that he was trying to ingratiate himself with Chinese authorities. Yet at this month’s Beijing Games, the air is clear enough for athletes to see the mountains surrounding the city. A look at what’s behind the transformation. Also read: Emboldened China opens Olympics, with lockdown and boycotts WHAT CHANGED? After pollution hit record levels in 2013 and became a source of international attention and widespread public discontent, China launched an ambitious plan to improve its air quality and said it would fight pollution “with an iron fist,” according to a recent report from the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago. That was also around the time the country bid on this month’s Winter Games. The ensuing efforts were similar to the measures China had previously taken to ensure clear skies for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, but on a larger scale, the report notes. Tougher emissions standards were imposed on coal-fired plants and the number of cars on the road was curbed to cut vehicle emissions. Local officials were given environmental targets, and coal-fired boilers in homes were replaced with gas or electric heaters. The government’s reporting of air quality data also improved. Jia Pei, a 30-year-old Beijing resident who enjoys exercising outside, said the improved air quality puts him in a better mood. “In the past when there was smog, I would feel that I was inhaling dust into my mouth,” he said. IS BEIJING’S AIR CLEAN NOW? Despite the progress, Beijing’s annual average air pollution last year was still more than six times the limit laid out by the World Health Organization’s guidelines. And the concentration of coal-burning industries that still surrounds the city means it remains susceptible to bad air days, said Lauri Myllyvirta at the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air in Helsinki, Finland. When those happen can depend on factors like car traffic or how much wind there is to blow away smog. Also read: Clap, don't chant: China aims for 'Zero COVID' Olympics Still, Chinese officials hail the country’s achievements. Last year, they say there were 288 days of good air quality days in Beijing, compared to 176 days in 2013. HOW IS HEALTH AFFECTED? The effects of air pollution can be visceral and include irritated eyes and difficulty breathing. “You could hear people coughing all over because of it,” said Myllyvirta, who was living in Beijing until 2019. Children, older adults and people with health conditions including asthma are more likely to feel the effects. The very fine particles that make up air pollution can get deep into people’s lungs and have been linked to health problems including irregular heartbeats and decreased lung function. Poorer people might also be more vulnerable if they can’t afford air purifiers or need to work outdoors, said Guojun He, a researcher at the University of Hong Kong and co-author of the report from the Energy Policy Institute at Chicago. WHAT’S NEXT? China has committed to being carbon neutral by 2060. And though the country still relies heavily on coal for electricity, He said it has made significant progress in curbing emissions and is rapidly developing clean energy from sources like wind and solar. “When it’s possible, I think in general, the transition is going to be happening and it’s actually happening right now,” He said. In the meantime, he noted the government can also take short-term measures when it wants, such as temporarily shutting down factories. That can help ensure clearer skies for big political or social events, like the Olympics.

Not enough food. Inedible meals. No training equipment. Some Olympic athletes unlucky enough to test positive for the coronavirus at the Beijing Olympics feel their quarantine conditions are making a bad situation much worse. “My stomach hurts, I’m very pale and I have huge black circles around my eyes. I want all this to end. I cry every day. I’m very tired,” Russian biathlon competitor Valeria Vasnetsova posted on Instagram from one of Beijing’s so-called quarantine hotels. Her problem wasn’t with any symptoms of the virus. It was the food. Vasnetsova posted a picture Thursday of what she said was “breakfast, lunch and dinner for five days already” — a tray with food including plain pasta, an orange sauce, charred meat on a bone, a few potatoes and no greens. She said she mostly survived on a few pieces of pasta because it was “impossible” to eat the rest, “but today I ate all the fat they serve instead of meat because I was very hungry.” She added she lost a lot of weight and “my bones are already sticking out.” The quarantine hotels are increasingly the target of criticism from athletes and their teams, who are lobbying organizers for improvements. There’s a lack of transparency, too, with only some virus-positive athletes forced into quarantine hotels where their teams don’t have access, while teammates in similar situations are allowed to isolate within the Olympic village. The rules for athletes who test positive say those without symptoms go to a dedicated hotel for isolation. Anyone who has COVID-19 with symptoms will go to a hospital. In both cases, they’ll be unable to compete until cleared for discharge. Teams have started going public with criticism. Read: Italy's Sofia Goggia ready for Olympics After Eric Frenzel, a three-time gold medalist in Nordic combined, tested positive, German delegation head Dirk Schimmelpfennig lambasted the “unreasonable” living conditions. Germany wants larger, more hygienic rooms, and more regular food deliveries so athletes who are eventually released are still fit to compete, Schimmelpfennig said in comments reported by the FAZ newspaper. The pressure can pay off. Belgian skeleton racer Kim Meylemans was brought back from a quarantine hotel to isolation in the athletes’ village after she made a tearful post on social media. Her main gripe was the lack of information. She was loaded into an ambulance and transported from one quarantine facility to another on a day she thought she was being released. Vasnetsova passed her time in quarantine with a little detective work. When fetching the food left outside her door, she took a glance at the boxes left outside other rooms in her corridor, whose doors were labeled with signs to distinguish Olympians from other people working at the Games who tested positive, such as team staff. She concluded the athletes were getting worse food, and underlined it with a picture of food served to her team doctor, who had also tested positive and was living two floors below. He had fresh fruit, a salad and prawns with broccoli. “I honestly don’t understand, why is there this attitude to us, the athletes?!” she wrote. Two days on from her criticism, Vasnetsova is still in quarantine but things are looking up. Russian biathlon team spokesperson Sergei Averyanov posted a picture of what he said was an improved meal delivered to Vasnetsova’s room including salmon, cucumbers, sausages and yogurt. A stationary bike will be delivered soon, he added. Vasnetsova, he wrote, “is already smiling, and that’s the main thing.”

China accused the United States of violating the Olympic spirit on Tuesday after the Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Games over human rights concerns. Rights groups have pushed for a full-blown boycott of the Games, accusing China of rights abuses against ethnic minorities. The U.S. decision falls short of those calls but comes at an exceptionally turbulent time for relations between the powerhouse nations and was met with a barrage of criticism from China. The U.S. is attempting to interfere with the Beijing Games “out of ideological prejudice and based on lies and rumors,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters. The boycott “seriously violates the principle of political neutrality of sports established by the Olympic Charter and runs counter to the Olympic motto ‘more united,’” Zhao said. As he did the previous day, Zhao vowed that China would respond with “resolute countermeasures” but offered no details. “The U.S. will pay a price for its practices. You may stay tuned for follow-ups,” Zhao said. On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the Biden administration will fully support U.S. athletes competing at the Games but won’t dispatch diplomats or officials to attend. Psaki said the U.S. has a “fundamental commitment to promoting human rights” and that it “will not be contributing to the fanfare of the Games.” Read: Court to rule on graft appeal by Malaysian ex-premier Najib The diplomatic boycott comes as the U.S. attempts to thread the needle between stabilizing difficult relations with Beijing and maintaining a tough stance on trade and political conflicts. The U.S. has accused China of human rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs in northwest Xinjiang province, suppressing democratic movements in Hong Kong, committing military aggression against the self-ruled island of Taiwan and more. Beijing has denounced U.S. criticisms and punitive sanctions as interference in its internal affairs and slapped visa bans on American politicians it regards as anti-China. Zhao warned the U.S. to “stop politicizing sports” and cease what he said were actions undermining the Beijing Winter Olympics, “otherwise it will undermine the dialogue and cooperation between the two countries in a series of important areas and international issues.” The Chinese Embassy in Washington dismissed the move as posturing in a tweet. “In fact, no one would care about whether these people come or not, and it has no impact whatsoever on the #Beijing2022 to be successfully held,” the embassy said. China’s mission to the United Nations called the boycott a “self-directed political farce.” Even the ruling Communist Party’s notoriously opaque Central Commission for Discipline Inspection issued a response in the form of a lengthy screed on its website entitled “The Spirit of the Olympic Charter Cannot be Tarnished.” “Some Western anti-China politicians” have shown a “defensive Cold War mentality aimed at politicizing sport,” the article said, calling that a “clear violation of the Olympic spirit and a challenge to all people who love the Olympic movement.” People on the streets of Beijing were overall dismissive of the U.S. move. Read: China’s leader Xi warns against ‘Cold War’ in Asia-Pacific “I don’t think it matters at all if they would come or not. The Olympic Games are not about one country or a couple of countries,” said coffee shop employee Deng Tao. “Such remarks from someone we never invited are simply a farce. And I don’t think it will have much impact on the holding of the Winter Olympics,” Lu Xiaolei, who works in trade. It wasn’t clear which officials the U.S. might have sent to Beijing for the Games and Zhao said Monday that no invitation had been extended by China. Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, whose relations with China have nosedived in recent years, said Wednesday his government would join the U.S. in the diplomatic boycott. New Zealand said Tuesday it won’t be attending the games at a diplomatic level, but that it made the decision earlier due mostly to pandemic travel restrictions. The country told China in October about its plans not to send government ministers, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said. “But we’ve made clear to China on numerous occasions our concerns about human rights issues,” Robertson said. The attitudes of other U.S. allies were less clear. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday that the country would make its own decision “from the perspective of national interests, taking into consideration the significance of the Olympic Games and the significance of Japan’s diplomacy.” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said a decision on officials attending would be made “at an appropriate time.” “In any case, Japan hopes that the Beijing Winter Games will be held as a celebration of peace in line with the principles of the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Matsuno said. South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Choi Young-sam declined to comment on the U.S. decision and said the ministry had not received any request from its ally not to send officials. South Korea hopes the Beijing Olympics will “contribute to peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia and the world and help improve relations between South and North Korea,” Choi said. The dispatching of high-level delegations to each Olympics has long been a tradition among the U.S. and other leading nations. Then-President George W. Bush attended the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Summer Games. First lady Jill Biden led the American contingent to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo this year and second gentleman Doug Emhoff led a delegation to the Paralympic Games.

Sunisa Lee’s gymnastics are stunning. They’re just not “perfect.” Not technically, anyway. Thousands of hours of practice. Dozens upon dozens of competitions. And not once has a judge watched the new Olympic all-around champion do her thing — not even on uneven bars, where the 45-second set she plans doing in Sunday’s event finals is a free-flowing series of connections and releases that make it seem as if she is floating — and thought “that’s flawless.” Lee is not alone. No elite gymnast — not even American star and six-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles — has received a perfect score since the sport moved off the “10” system to a new Code of Points in 2006. Scores are now a combination of the difficulty of the routine (which is open-ended) and the execution, which is based on a 10.0 scale. In theory, “perfect” execution is possible. It’s just that no one has ever done it. A reality that long ago led Lee to make peace with the idea that a faultless routine is a myth, no matter how it may feel to her or how it may look to everyone other than the two people in blue blazers sitting at the judge’s tables. Instead, she shoots for what she considers her best, perhaps out of a sense of self-preservation more than anything. Her 15.400 on bars during the team final was the highest of the night by any athlete on any event and a spectacular display that helped the U.S. claim silver. It also included 1.4 points of deductions, and she could sense them piling up even as her teammates roared encouragement. Hard to blame her for sounding relieved on Friday when talking about her impending switch to competing collegiately at Auburn. “(I want to) kind of get away from this elite atmosphere just because it’s so, like, crazy,” Lee said. It’s a mental and physical grind. Gymnastics can wreak havoc on the body and cast doubt in the mind. Every single turn in every single rotation in every single practice every single day of your career can be tweaked. “It’s hard in that sense because it is such a sport where you’re trying to reach perfection, but perfection is unattainable,” said three-time Olympian Ellie Black of Canada. “I still struggle sometimes. It’s not like you ever get something and it’s easy for the rest of your life and the rest of your career.” Read: Olympics Latest: 6 banished for breaking COVID rules For Lee, a release of sort awaits. NCAA training is limited to 20 hours a week. The difficulty and length of routines are a step down from what Lee is used to and the 10-point scoring system remains very much alive. A shot at drilling a routine and being rewarded for it awaits, even if Lee called it “weird to think about it.” Such is the delicate psychological dance between the world’s best gymnasts and their sport. Lee has been competing under the international code for so long, she can’t even fathom the idea of seeing a score flash that doesn’t include being nitpicked to within an inch of its life. It takes copious amounts of mental strength to thrive when nothing — from a technical standpoint anyway — is up to the ultimate standard, which puts it at odds with most other sports. Tom Brady can throw a 50-yard spiral for a touchdown. Steph Curry can swish a 3-pointer. Those moments don’t exist in gymnastics. Black believes the code of points makes up for it in other ways. The open-ended nature of the system allows for more creativity in putting together routines. “That’s the part of it that’s kind of addicting,” said Black, who qualified for the Olympic all-around final before an ankle injury forced her to sit out. “There’s something new to try.” Besides, Black figures, “if you could just hit something perfectly, you’d probably lose some of that interest or motivation to keep going.” So Black — just like every other gymnast on the planet — searches for tiny moments of bliss. The stuck dismount. The mastery of a new skill. The smooth connection from one element to another. Still, the inner voice — the one that can feel the wobble or sense the imperfect hand placement — can be tough to turn off. American Chellsie Memmel won a world all-around title in 2005 and was part of the silver-medal winning U.S. team in Beijing in 2008. Memmel retired and went into coaching and judging before beginning returning to training during the pandemic. Even as her skills returned, turning the “judge” switch off was difficult. She records every routine then does a video review with her father Andy, who also serves as her coach. She loves the immediate feedback on what’s going right and what’s going wrong while trying to make a point to not be too hard on herself. Read: ‘OK not to be OK’: Mental health takes top role at Olympics “You have to give yourself some leeway and not beat yourself up about it,” said the 33-year-old Memmel, who competed at the U.S. championships in June. “You have to look at it like: ‘OK, that was fine, but where can I make those improvements? What needs to be fixed?’” Even if the fixing can feel relentless. Biles has come closer than anyone to cracking the code. During the second day of the 2015 U.S. gymnastics championships, the then-18-year-old’s Amanar vault drew an audible “ooooh” throughout the arena when her feet suction-cupped to the mat on her dismount. It looked perfect. It felt perfect. It wasn’t. She received a 9.9-E score. Asked later whether she knows where the deduction might have come from, she shrugged and laughingly suggested her toes were crossed. It’s that same vault — a roundoff/back handspring onto the table followed by 2 1/2 twists — that Biles bailed on during the first rotation of team finals in Tokyo after getting lost in the air. Her availability for the rest of the Games is in question. She already has pulled out of the all-around, uneven bars, vault and floor exercise finals. Maybe she returns for one final bow during the beam final on Tuesday, though time is running out for her bout with “the twisties,” as she described them, to subside. It’s a phenomenon that occasionally plagues gymnasts regardless of skill level, even the greatest of all time. It also highlights the sport’s own Sisyphean pursuit of an ultimate goal that can never be achieved. Maybe that’s not the point anyway. “People need to understand we’re not robots,” said all-around silver medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil. A concept Biles, Lee and all the others who gathered in Tokyo have long understood. If they were consumed with perfection, they would have bailed years ago. Go out there. Do you what you can as well as you can for as long as you can. The battle after all, isn’t with the judges. It’s with yourself. “I usually don’t even try and think about the score,” Lee said. “Because that’s when I come out on top.” And what could be more perfect than that?

Turkmenistan was a part of the Soviet Union and their athletes formerly participated with the Soviet Union team. Turkmenistan competed in the 1996 Olympic Games for the first time after gaining independence. However, they are the only post-Soviet country that has never competed in the Winter Olympics. They've competed in seven Olympic competitions, including the ongoing event. Polina Guryeva earned the country's first-ever Olympic medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. She earned a silver medal in the women's 59 kg weightlifting event on July 27, 2021. In this article, we discussed how Polina Guryeva earned a silver medal in the Olympic Games.   Polina Guryeva is the First Olympic Medalist From Turkmenistan    Polina Guryeva is an ethnic Russian who was born in Ashgabat on October 5, 1999. She began her career with artistic gymnastics before switching to weightlifting. The 21-year-old earned gold at the Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017. She won a silver medal for her country Turkmenistan at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, making her the first Turkmenistan athlete to win an Olympic medal. She won the medal in the women's 59kg category. Read: Olympics Archery: Ruman Shana eliminated from recurve singles Guryeva dominated the snatch and clean and jerk events. During the pull, she lifted 96kg. She had to lift 96 kg twice but failed the first time she attempted that weight, but succeeded the second time. Guryeva excelled in the clean and jerk, lifting 121 pounds. Among contenders, that figure was also second best. Chinese Taipei's Hsing-Chun Kuo won gold in the event. She lifted 103kg in the snatch and 133 kg in the clean and jerk respectively and set two Olympic records. Mikiko Andoh of Japan took home the bronze medal. Countries with a Highest Medal Tally at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 The United States, China, and the host Japan are all performing well at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The United States dominated the medal table after the first six days of competition, with a total of 30 medals, including 10 gold. China is in second place, followed by Japan. Russia, Australia, and the United Kingdom are also doing well. The Olympics main attraction Athletics will begin on July 30. (Friday). Read: Naomi Osaka eliminated from Tokyo Olympics tennis tournament Meanwhile, Bangladesh's chances of securing a medal were crushed when Ruman Shana was eliminated from his two events. Ruman Shana was eliminated in the Round of 32 of the Men's individual event and the Round of 16 of the mixed team event, leaving Bangladesh with little chance of winning a medal this year.       Updated Tokyo Olympics 2020 Medal standings (Top 10 as of July 28, 2021) Rank Team Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 United States of America 10 11 9 30 2 People's Republic of China 11 5 8 24 3 Japan 12 4 5 21 4 ROC (Russia) 7 8 5 20 5 Australia 6 1 9 16 6 Great Britain 5 6 4 15 7 Italy 1 6 8 15 8 Republic of Korea 4 2 5 11 9 Netherlands 2 6 3 11 10 Canada 2 3 4 9                     Source: https://olympics.com/en/ Bottom Line Polina Guryeva of Turkmenistan earned an Olympic medal in weightlifting, which is a great achievement for the country. On the other side, Flora Duffy has won the first Olympic gold medal for Bermuda and Hidilyn Diaz has earned the Philippines' first-ever gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Bangladesh's participants will very likely return home empty-handed. Because Bangladesh’s best opportunity of winning an Olympic medal was from Archery.  

The Summer Olympic Games are major international sporting event in which competitors from all over the world participate in a variety of sports. The Olympic Games are held every four years and are regarded as the most important sporting event. The coronavirus epidemic prevented the 2020 Summer Olympics from taking place as planned. One year later, the Tokyo Olympics 2020 has finally started on July 23, 2021, and the tournament will end on August 8. This year's event has a total of six Bangladeshi participants. Let's take a look at the Bangladeshi athletes who have qualified for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. List of Bangladeshi Athletes Qualified for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 Six Bangladeshi athletes are competing in archery, athletics, shooting, and swimming, at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Archery Participant: Mohammad Ruman Shana, 26 Event: Men's individual & Mixed Team Ruman Shana has won several international competitions, including gold in the 2014 First Asian Grand Prix, bronze in the 2019 World Archery Championships, and gold in the Asia Cup ranking tournament. He and Diya Siddique won silver in the recurve mixed team event at the Archery World Cup on May 23, 2021. Archery is the only sport in which Bangladesh has the possibility of winning a medal in the Olympics. Read WHO head says Olympics virus risk inevitable Participant: Diya Siddique, 17 Event: Women's individual& Mixed Team Born on 19 February 2004, Diya Siddique is one of the youngest participants in this year's event. She earned a medal in the 2021 Archery World Cup at a young age. At the Archery World Cup, Diya and Ruman Shana took silver in the recurve mixed team event.  Read Olympics Archery: Bangladesh eliminated from mixed team event Athletics Participant: Mohammad Jahir Rayhan, 20 Event: Men's 400 m Jahir set a personal best of 46.86 seconds in the 400m race at the 42nd National Championships in 2019, while his best time in international competition is 47.34 seconds. In 2017, Mohammad Jahir reached the Asian Youth Athletics Championship semi-finals in Thailand. Read Olympics Archery: Bangladesh qualify for mixed doubles Shooting Participant: Abdullah Hel Baki, 31 Event: Men's 10 m air rifle Abdullah Hel Baki is a Bangladeshi shooter with a lot of international experience. Abdullah Baki was a silver medalist in the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games, as well as a bronze medalist in the 2010 Games. Read Olympics Shooting: Baki eliminated from 10-meter Air Rifles Swimming Participant: Mohammed Ariful Islam, 22 Event: Men's 50 m freestyle 22-year-old Navy swimmer Mohammed Ariful Islam is another Bangladeshi athlete competing in the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Ariful has been participating in a French solidarity scholarship program since 2018. He has been selected to participate in the 50m freestyle event. Read In swimming, it’s different strokes for different folks Participant: Junayna Ahmed, 18 Event: Women's 50 m freestyle 18-year-old Junayna Ahmed has achieved considerable success on the international stage. She earned bronze medals in the women's 400-meter individual medley, 800-meter freestyle, and 200-meter butterfly events at the 2019 South Asian Games in Nepal. Read As Tokyo Games open, can Olympic flame burn away the funk? Bottom Line Despite the fact that Bangladeshi athletes have competed in the Summer Olympics on a regular basis since independence, they have yet to win a single medal. There is a slim chance of winning a medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 for Bangladeshi participants. The main goal of the Bangladeshi athletes will be to advance to the next round. We must try to improve sports in Bangladesh as a whole in order to win a medal in a major event like the Olympics. Read Female surfers overcome sexism’s toll to earn Olympic berth

Belated and beleaguered, the virus-delayed Tokyo Summer Olympics finally opened Friday night with cascading fireworks and made-for-TV choreography that unfolded in a near-empty stadium, a colorful but strangely subdued ceremony that set a striking tone to match a unique pandemic Games. As their opening played out, devoid of the usual crowd energy, the Olympics convened amid simmering anger and disbelief in much of the host country, but with hopes from organizers that the excitement of the sports to follow would offset the widespread opposition. “Today is a moment of hope. Yes, it is very different from what all of us had imagined,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. “But let us cherish this moment because finally we are all here together.” “This feeling of togetherness — this is the light at the end of the dark tunnel of the pandemic,” Bach declared. Later, Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka received the Olympic flame from a torch relay through the stadium and lit the Olympic cauldron. Trepidations throughout Japan have threatened for months to drown out the usual packaged glitz of the opening. Inside the stadium after dusk Friday, however, a precisely calibrated ceremony sought to portray that the Games — and their spirit — are going on. Early in the ceremony, an ethereal blue light bathed the empty seats as loud music muted the shouts of scattered protesters outside calling for the Games to be canceled. A single stage held an octagon shape meant to resemble the country’s fabled Mount Fuji. Later, an orchestral medley of songs from iconic Japanese video games served as the soundtrack for athletes’ entrances. Mostly masked athletes waved enthusiastically to thousands of empty seats and to a world hungry to watch them compete but surely wondering what to make of it all. Some athletes marched socially distanced, while others clustered in ways utterly contrary to organizers’ hopes. The Czech Republic entered with other countries even though its delegation has had several positive COVID tests since arriving. “You had to face great challenges on your Olympic journey,” Bach told the athletes. “Today you are making your Olympic dream come true.” Organizers held a moment of silence for those who had died in the pandemic; as it ticked off and the music paused, the sounds of the protests echoed in the distance. Protesters’ shouts gave voice to a fundamental question about these Games as Japan, and large parts of the world, reel from the continuing gut punch of a pandemic that is stretching well into its second year, with cases in Tokyo approaching record highs this week: Will the deep, intrinsic human attachment to the spectacle of sporting competition at the highest possible level be enough to salvage these Olympics? Time and again, previous opening ceremonies have pulled off something that approaches magic. Scandals — bribery in Salt Lake City, censorship and pollution in Beijing, doping in Sochi — fade into the background when the sports begin. Read: Olympics ceremony uses music from Japanese video games But with people still falling ill and dying each day from the coronavirus, there’s a particular urgency to the questions about whether the Olympic flame can burn away the fear or provide a measure of catharsis — and even awe — after a year of suffering and uncertainty in Japan and around the world. “Today, with the world facing great challenges, some are again questioning the power of sport and the value of the Olympic Games,” Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, said in a speech. But, she said of the Games’ possibilities, “This is the power of sport. … This is its essence.” Japanese Emperor Naruhito declared the Games open, with fireworks bursting over the stadium after he spoke. Outside, hundreds of curious Tokyo residents lined a barricade that separated them from those entering — but just barely: Some of those going in took selfies with the onlookers across the barricades, and there was an excited carnival feeling. Some pedestrians waved enthusiastically to approaching Olympic buses. The sports have already begun, and some of the focus is turning toward the competition to come. Can the U.S. women’s soccer team, for instance, even after an early, shocking loss to Sweden, become the first to win an Olympics following a World Cup victory? Can Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama win gold in golf after becoming the first Japanese player to win the Masters? Will Italy’s Simona Quadarella challenge American standout Katie Ledecky in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle swimming races? For now, however, it’s hard to miss how unusual these Games promise to be. The lovely national stadium can seem like an isolated militarized zone, surrounded by huge barricades. Roads around it have been sealed and businesses closed. Inside, the feeling of sanitized, locked-down quarantine carries over. Fans, who would normally be screaming for their countries and mixing with people from around the world, have been banned, leaving only a carefully screened contingent of journalists, officials, athletes and participants. Olympics often face opposition, but there’s also usually a pervasive feeling of national pride. Japan’s resentment centers on the belief that it was strong-armed into hosting — forced to pay billions and risk the health of a largely unvaccinated, deeply weary public — so the IOC can collect its billions in media revenue. “Sometimes people ask why the Olympics exist, and there are at least two answers. One is they are a peerless global showcase of the human spirit as it pertains to sport, and the other is they are a peerless global showcase of the human spirit as it pertains to aristocrats getting luxurious hotel rooms and generous per diems,” Bruce Arthur, a sports columnist for the Toronto Star, wrote recently. How did we get here? A quick review of the past year and a half seems operatic in its twists and turns. A once-in-a-century pandemic forces the postponement of the 2020 version of the Games. A fusillade of scandals (sexism and other discrimination and bribery claims, overspending, ineptitude, bullying) unfolds. People in Japan, meanwhile, watch bewildered as an Olympics considered a bad idea by many scientists actually takes shape. Japanese athletes, freed from onerous travel rules and able to train more normally, may enjoy a nice boost over their rivals in some cases, even without fans. Judo, a sport that Japan is traditionally a powerhouse in, will begin Saturday, giving the host nation a chance for early gold. The reality, for now, is that the delta variant of the virus is still rising, straining the Japanese medical system in places, and raising fears of an avalanche of cases. Only a little over 20% of the population is fully vaccinated. And there have been near daily reports of positive virus cases within the so-called Olympic bubble that’s meant to separate the Olympic participants from the worried, skeptical Japanese population. For a night, at least, the glamor and message of hope of the opening ceremonies may distract many global viewers from the surrounding anguish and anger. “After more than half a century, the Olympic Games have returned to Tokyo,” Hashimoto said. “Now we will do everything in our power to make this Games a source of pride for generations to come.”