Sumo wrestler removed from equestrian course for team event
TOKYO, Aug 6: A sumo wrestler that may have spooked the horses has been knocked out of the Olympic equestrian ring.
The statue and a nearby patch of cherry trees that riders thought might be startling the animals during the individual jumping event were among the obstacles swapped out for the start of the team competition Friday night.
Officials say designer Santiago Varela had planned on removing the sumo wrestler even before riders said the life-sized rikishi might be rankling their animals.
Several pairings in the early stages of Tuesday’s individual qualifying stopped short near the sumo wrestler, who was positioned next to the 10th obstacle on the 14-jump course. The hurdle was located right after a sharp turn, and the wrestler’s wedgied backside was the first thing in sight for horse and human.
“As you come around, you see a big guy’s (butt),” British rider Harry Charles said, adding “I did notice four or five horses really taking a spook to that.”
The jumping course is always reconfigured between the individual and team rounds, and several of the Japanese-themed barriers were swapped out. The new fences include a life-size samurai and jumbo-size sushi.
Despite the minor drama, jumpers have been overwhelmingly pleased with Varela’s design. (AP)
Hiroshima marks 76th anniv of US atomic bombing
Tokyo, Aug 6: Hiroshima on Friday marked the 76th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing, as the mayor of the Japanese city urged global leaders to unite to eliminate nuclear weapons, just as they are united against the coronavirus.
Mayor Kazumi Matsui urged world leaders to commit to nuclear disarmament as seriously as they tackle a pandemic that the international community recognizes as “threat to humanity.”
“Nuclear weapons, developed to win wars, are a threat of total annihilation that we can certainly end, if all nations work together,” Matsui said. “No sustainable society is possible with these weapons continually poised for indiscriminate slaughter.”
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. It dropped a second bomb three days later on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000. Japan surrendered Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.
But countries stockpiled nuclear weapons in the Cold War and a standoff continues to this day. The global Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons took effect in January after years of civil effort joined by the atomic bombing survivors, or hibakusha. (AP)