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Saturday 31 July 2021
New top story from Time: Simone Biles Opts Out of the Floor Final at the Tokyo Olympics
(TOKYO) — Simone Biles will not defend her Olympic gold medal on floor exercise.
USA Gymnastics announced Sunday that the six-time Olympic medalist has opted not to compete on floor, where she won gold in Rio de Janeiro and placed second in qualifying last week.
Jennifer Gadirova of Great Britain will replace Biles in the finals, which are scheduled for Monday.
USA Gymnastics said Biles has not decided whether to participate in the balance beam final, which is scheduled for Tuesday. She earned bronze on the event in Brazil five years ago.
READ MORE: Simone BIles Has the Twisties. What Are They, and Why Are They So Dangerous?
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Biles has already chosen not to compete in the uneven bars and vault finals, set for Sunday evening at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre. She was not expected to medal on bars, but is the Olympic champion on vault.
Biles is dealing with a mental block that in gymnastics is referred to as “the twisties.” In other words, Biles is having trouble figuring out where her body is in relation to the ground when in the air.
Biles has been dominant on floor exercise during her elite career, winning five world championships along with her triumph in Rio. Her innovative tumbling has redefined what is possible on the podium. She has two tumbling pass dismounts named after her in the sport’s Code of Points.
Read more about the Tokyo Olympics:
- Naomi Osaka: ‘It’s O.K. to Not Be O.K.’
- Motherhood Could Have Cost Olympian Allyson Felix. She Wouldn’t Let It
- Simone Biles’ Olympic Team Final Withdrawal Could Help Athletes Put Their Mental Health First
- ‘Unapologetic and Unafraid.’ Sue Bird Stares Down Olympic Glory in Tokyo and Equity Off the Court
- Meet 6 Heroes Who Helped Battle COVID-19 Before Competing in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics
- Here’s How Many Medals Every Country Has Won at the Tokyo Summer Olympics So Far
- 48 Athletes to Watch at the Tokyo Olympics
- The Olympic Refugee Team Was Created to Offer Hope. Some Athletes Are Running Away From It
New top story from Time: Team USA Swimming’s Tokyo Olympics Medal Haul Fell Just Short of Rio. But Fresh Faces Offer Hope for the Future
“When you think of swimming, you think Australia and USA,” Caeleb Dressel told reporters in Tokyo. “The two powerhouses of swimming.”
And in the final day of competition at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, that proved true as every race was won by swimmers from the two countries. While the night for Team USA ended on a high note, with gold and a world record in the men’s 4×100-m medley relay, its total swimming medal tally of 30 at the Tokyo pool fell just short of its 33 from Rio, when Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky alone contributed 11 medals to the haul.
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Tokyo represents a transition year for Team USA swimming, as well as a crucible, as the first Olympics in modern history occurring in the middle of a pandemic. New leaders like Dressel emered as the foundation for a team of fresh faces including Lydia Jacoby, Regan Smith, Bobby Finke and Erica Sullivan. And while Rio’s team featured several swimmers racing multiple events, Tokyo’s team is slightly more specialized; Ledecky and Dressel were the only swimmers to win more than two medals.
With 11 teens, 10 of them women, the team was rich with promise but shallower in experience, which may have showed in the new mixed relay event on the next to last day of racing in the fifth place finish. There were flashes of brilliance over the nine-day meet, which hinted at the promising future ahead with a new batch of stars in the pool—Jacoby’s gold in the 100-m breaststroke, Sullivan’s silver medal finish behind Ledecky in the 800-m freestyle, and Finke’s stunning last lap in the 800-m freestyle that pulled him from fifth to first.
Read more: Katie Ledecky’s Incredible Olympic Legacy
Finke’s gutsy swim, in fact, was a turning point after the team’s sluggish start in the first few days. “People don’t understand that there is momentum in swimming, and all it takes is one performance to really get that X factor, the extra sense of power—one performance can spark everyone,” says Nathan Adrian, five-time Olympic gold medalist, who is watching every race from his home in California.
Adrian says a number of factors might have contributed to the slow start, beginning with the flipped schedule that has swimmers racing in finals in the morning, and in qualifying preliminary heats in the evening. While most have said the schedule hasn’t affected them, the reality is that some have posted faster times in the evening than in the morning finals.
A final night of medals
The Team USA cheering squad filled a section closest to the pool on the final night of the meet, with most of the U.S. swimming team, including Ledecky, in the stands, clad in navy USA T-shirts and waving fan sticks.
Then the U.S. women’s 4×100-m medley relay of Smith, Jacoby, Torri Huske and Abbey Weitzeil touched just behind Australia for the silver. Jacoby, whose goggles came off during the mixed medley relay the day before, swam an impressive breaststroke leg to bring the Americans from third to first; Huske kept the lead during the fly and Weitzeil was just out-touched at the wall during the freestyle leg by a surging Cate Campbell from Australia as the Australians set a new Olympic record of 3:51.60. Team USA came in second at 3:51.73 and the Canadians finished third. The U.S. has captured gold or silver in the event at every Olympics since 1960.
Then it was the men’s turn. The U.S. men also owned the world record heading into the event, set back in 2009 at the world championships. Swimming in lane 1 after qualifying 7th in preliminary heats, Ryan Murphy, Andrew, Dressel and Zach Apple proved to be the outside spoilers. Murphy was fastest off the blocks for the backstroke leg with an impressive 0.50 reaction time, and brought the U.S. to the wall first. Andrew dove in for the breaststroke and dropped back to third by the time Dressel took off for the butterfly leg. At 50 m, Dressel had brought Team USA to second, behind Team Great Britain, and pulled ahead in the next 50 m to touch the wall first. All Apple had to do was bring it home, which he did as the freestyle anchor. The win—and a world record time of 3:26.78—maintains the golden dominance of the U.S. men in the event; Team USA won every Olympics except 1980, which the U.S. boycotted.
The relay medals were a welcome boost on the final day, after a disappointing fifth place finish in the first-ever mixed medley relay the day before. “If you ask anyone on the relay, of course we’re not happy with where we finished,” said Dressel, who swam the anchor leg and pulled the team from 8th to fifth place. “Fifth place is unacceptable for USA Swimming and we’re very aware of that. The standard is gold, and that’s what we’re always shooting for in every race and we didn’t execute well. But we know what we need to do moving forward.”
The pandemic’s impact on USA Swimming
Heading into Tokyo, the pandemic posed some training challenges for swimmers. Lockdowns and infectious disease precautions meant many swimmers couldn’t train properly in the water for months, and still haven’t resumed full access to recovery, stretching and other facilities. It also meant no racing for most of the year, which robbed coaches and athletes of critical markers for determining how swimmers’ times stacked up.
Delaying the Games by a year also disrupted the normal routine of intense practice and tapering, a carefully orchestrated decrease in training before crucial meets, that are the guiding force of a competitive swimmer’s career. Dressel noted that he’s still not back at his usual gym for strength training, working instead in his trainer’s garage. Adrian says the lack of access of facilities could have other consequences as well, since it’s not just the pool that swimmers require to stay in top shape. “Normally you can show up early, take a nice shower, sit in the hot tub or stretch, work on your flexibility or do meditation,” he says, all important elements to the overall package of training. “With COVID-19 restrictions you can’t show up more than five minutes early, and you have to leave immediately after you’re done training.”
Simone Manuel, the 50-m and 100-m freestyle gold medalist in Rio, was diagnosed with overtraining syndrome and attributes part of it to not recovering the way she normally does over the past year. Manuel fell short of a U.S. spot in the 100 m, and failed to qualify for the 50-m final in Tokyo. In ways both direct and indirect, says Adrian, “100%, absolutely COVID-19 had an impact.”
That impact wasn’t all negative; some countries never closed their pool as states in the U.S. did, and while that strategy ran the risk of exposing athletes to COVID-19, their training never came to an abrupt halt as it did in the U.S. “It’s certainly something I think about when I look at the performance in these Games,” says Adrian. “Who knows if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s certainly a thing.”
The delay in the Tokyo Games means that the next Olympics is actually only three years away, and Ledecky for one is thinking ahead to training for 2024 in Paris. “I’m definitely going through to Paris, maybe beyond as well,” Ledecky said after her 800-m freestyle race. “I recognize how difficult it is to keep going back [to the Olympics], so I told myself before the race, soak it all in because you just never know if you’ll be back on the Olympic pool deck. I remember having that thought even in Rio.”
That seemed to be the theme of this Games—for veterans like Ledecky, who earned silver in the 400-m freestyle behind Australia’s rising talent Ariarne Titmus, and for Lilly King, who was the defending gold medalist in the 100-m breaststroke and earned bronze in that event and silver in the 200-m breastroke. The always outspoken King criticized media that characterized her finishes as somehow inferior to her results in Rio, calling the lack of respect for silver and bronze medalists “bullsh-t.” “You get to bring a medal home for your country and just because we compete for the United States and maybe we have extremely high standards for this sort of thing doesn’t excuse the fact that we haven’t been celebrating silver and bronze as much as gold,” she said. Of Team USA’s 30 medals at the pool, 19 were silver or bronze.
Ledecky is well aware that a new generation is ready to challenge her and she’s ready to fight for her spot on the next squad. “There’s never a guarantee when you’re competing against U.S. swimmers with how competitive our Trials are,” she said. And that’s a good thing.
Read more about the Tokyo Olympics:
- Naomi Osaka: ‘It’s O.K. to Not Be O.K.’
- Motherhood Could Have Cost Olympian Allyson Felix. She Wouldn’t Let It
- Simone Biles’ Olympic Team Final Withdrawal Could Help Athletes Put Their Mental Health First
- ‘Unapologetic and Unafraid.’ Sue Bird Stares Down Olympic Glory in Tokyo and Equity Off the Court
- Meet 6 Heroes Who Helped Battle COVID-19 Before Competing in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics
- Here’s How Many Medals Every Country Has Won at the Tokyo Summer Olympics So Far
- 48 Athletes to Watch at the Tokyo Olympics
- The Olympic Refugee Team Was Created to Offer Hope. Some Athletes Are Running Away From It
New top story from Time: Caeleb Dressel Claims 4th Tokyo Gold With 50-m Freestyle Olympic Record
Securing his place as one of the biggest stars of the Tokyo Olympics, Caeleb Dressel won his fourth gold medal with a victory in the 50-meter freestyle Sunday.
Dressel cruised to a relatively easy win in the frenetic dash from one end of the pool to the other, touching in an Olympic record of 21.07 seconds.
When the 24-year-old Floridian saw his time and, more important, the “1” beside his name, he splashed the water and flexed his bulging arms.
Dressel swept the 50 and 100 freestyle races, to along with a world-record triumph in the 100 butterfly and a leg on the winning U.S. team in the 4×100 free relay. And he still had one more chance to make it five medals on the final day of swimming at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
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A few minutes after Dressel climbed from the pool, Australia’s Emma McKeon completed her own freestyle sweep. She touched in 23.81 seconds to take the women’s 50 free, adding to her victory in the 100 and her sixth medal overall at these games.
In keeping with the theme of the day, Bobby Finke pulled off his own sweep in the two longest freestyle races.
With another strong finishing kick, Finke became the first American man in 37 years to win the 1,500 freestyle. He added to his victory in the 800 free, a new men’s event at these games.
In the men’s 50, France’s Florent Manaudou finished behind Dressel to repeat as the Olympic silver medalist in 21.55, while Brazil’s Bruno Fratus claimed the bronze in 21.57 — edging American Michael Andrew for the final spot on the podium.
In the ready room shortly before the race, Dressel paced back and forth anxiously while most of the other swimmers relaxed in their chairs.
Then, he was cool as can be in swimming’s most furious lap. Popping up from the water with the lead, as is always the case with his impeccable underwater technique, Dressel was clearly in front all the way in a race that is often too close to call.
Dressel had one more event — the 4×100 medley relay, a race the United States has never lost at the Olympics. He was swimming the butterfly leg in a race that caps nine days of swimming competition at a 15,000-seat that, sadly, was largely empty throughout the meet.
If Dressel claims a fifth victory, he would join Americans Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz and Matt Biondi, as well as East Germany’s Kristin Otto, as the only swimmers to win as many as five golds at a single Olympics. Phelps did it three times.
McKeon also has a shot at history after winning with an Olympic-record time of 23.81.
The silver went to Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström in 24.07, while defending Olympic champion Pernille Blume of Denmark settled for bronze this time in 24.21.
American Abbey Weitzeil finished last in the eight-woman field.
McKeon has a chance to earn her seventh medal in the 4×100 medley relay. No female swimmer has ever captured that many at a single games.
Just as he did in winning the 800 free, Finke stayed close throughout the 30-lap race and turned on the speed at the end. He touched in 14 minutes, 39.65 seconds.
Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk took the silver in 14:40.66, while the bronze went to Germany’s Florian Wellbrock in 14:40.91. Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri faded to fourth in 14:45.01.
The top four were close nearly the entire race, often separated by less than a second. But that was right where Finke needed to be. After his closing lap in the 800, he knew he had the speed at the end to beat everyone else.
Finke has been perhaps the biggest American surprise at the pool. Relatively unknown before the U.S. trials, he became the first American male to win the grueling event since Mike O’Brien at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
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Paul Newberry is an Atlanta-based national writer and sports columnist covering his 14th Olympics. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/pnewberry1963 and his work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/paulnewberry
New top story from Time: Kevin Durant Becomes Top Scorer in U.S. Men’s Olympic History
SAITAMA, Japan — Kevin Durant is now the leading men’s scorer in U.S. Olympic basketball history.
Durant made a 3-pointer in the second quarter Saturday night against the Czech Republic to give him 337 points in his Olympic career, passing Carmelo Anthony.
Anthony scored 336 points in his four Olympics. Durant is playing for the third time.
He was the Americans’ leading scorer in both 2012 and 2016, scoring 30 points in the gold-medal game both times. He wasn’t off to a strong start in Japan but was already up to 11 points midway through the second quarter.
Durant has scored in double figures in all of his 19 appearances in the Olympics.
Durant is still a long way from the top scorers in Olympic history. Brazil’s Oscar Schmidt scored 1,093 points and Andrew Gaze of Australia had 789. Both of them appeared in five Olympics.
Pau Gasol of Spain and Luis Scola of Argentina are currently playing in their fifth and own the third and fourth spots.
Friday 30 July 2021
New top story from Time: Katie Ledecky’s Incredible Olympic Legacy
On her most challenging day of competition in a career filled with them, Katie Ledecky thought about her grandparents.
The 24-year-old American with a record haul of world championship medals had just finished a disappointing fifth in the 200 meter freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics. In about an hour, she was due to dive back into the pool for the final of the 1,500m freestyle—a grueling test of stamina and resolve. Somehow she had to wash off the loss and reset for the mile-long swim to come.
“I went blank a little, and was trying to find some positive things to get me moving forward,” Ledecky said. “The easiest thing for me to think about are my grandparents; my two grandmothers are still alive, but we lost my two grandfathers quite a few years ago. It makes me really happy to think about them; they are the four toughest people I know. I knew if I was thinking about them during the race I wasn’t going to die, and that I wasn’t going to have a bad swim and they would power me through.”
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They did. Behind a relentless pace, Ledecky earned the first Olympic gold in the women’s 1500m, which was making its debut in Tokyo, and was even able to share the glory with teammate Erica Sullivan, who surged to finish second for silver. And three days later, Ledecky defended her 800m freestyle title in decisive fashion, staking out an early lead and never relinquishing it even as budding rival Ariarne Titmus of Australia closed in.
READ MORE: Why Katie Ledecky Swims So Fast
Ledecky didn’t reach the heights in Tokyo that she did at the 2016 Games in Rio—Titmus thwarted her defense of gold in both the 200m and 400m freestyle—but her performance was spectacular nonetheless. Her final haul of four medals—gold in 1,500m and 800m, silver in the 400m and a silver medal as part of the 4x200m freestyle relay in which Ledecky swam a masterful come-from-behind anchor leg—cement her as one of the greatest and most consistent swimmers in history.
“There will never be another Katie Ledecky,” says Rowdy Gaines, a three-time Olympic gold medalist who covers swimming for NBC. “She is incredibly humble, and incredibly focused and grateful for the gift that she has. She’s a once-in-a-lifetime athlete. Trust me, there will never, ever be another Katie Ledecky. Not in my lifetime.”
Embracing the pain of training for gold
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised in suburban Maryland, Ledecky made her Olympic debut at 15, at the 2012 London Games. She stunned the swim world by winning gold in the 800m, setting a fast pace that has become her trademark in distance races. In the years that followed, Ledecky continued to carve seconds off her previous personal best times, most of which were world records, and for a while, she set new records each time she dove into the pool.
“I approach each race with the belief in myself that I can swim a best time, and that’s pretty darn tough,” she said in Tokyo after her gold medal swim in the 1500m. “It’s a real blessing and a curse that I have that attitude, because it’s not easy when your times are world records in some events, and you can’t just keep dropping time with every single swim. It’s what’s served me well over the years, and why I’ve broken so many world records and swum so many fast times. But it’s also a really hard attitude to maintain for nine years.”
Ledecky admits that her perspective has changed some, even if her ultimate goal — to swim faster each time she races — remains the same. “I’ve learned a lot over the years; my times may not be my best times, but I’m still really, really happy to have a gold medal around my neck.”
Ledecky said she is already looking forward to training for the next Olympics, in Paris in 2024, taking a little solace in the fact that the pandemic delay means the next Games will be in three years instead of four. She could make history there as well if she wins a fourth 800m title.
READ MORE: Katie Ledecky Adds Another Gold to Her Medal Haul
Distance is a particular strength. Ledecky is able to push through longer swims, at a more rigorous pace, better than anyone else in the world. “She embraces pain,” says Gaines. “I think she embraces the monotony of it all. She pushes herself where it’s not sustainable for other swimmers.” Where most swimmers aren’t ready to commit to the time and effort it takes to swim the mile, Ledecky says she took to it almost immediately. “I was probably 12 or 13 when I swam my first mile,” she said in Tokyo. “I realized I was pretty good at it, and enjoyed it more than some of my peers. So I kind of owned it, and continued to race it and continued to enjoy it. I like the work you have to put in.”
Like all swimmers, Ledecky struggled to find pool time when the world shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. When the Olympics were postponed by a year, she was in her last year at Stanford University, so she made a pact with teammate and Stanford alum Simone Manuel to stay in California and find ways to continue training together, including getting some laps in at a backyard pool. “It bonded us,” Ledecky said of the experience.
The extra year also gave Ledecky the opportunity to finish the credits she needed to earn her degree, and she took classes in public health during which she learned more about the challenges of preparing for threats like COVID-19. Her swimming schedule prevented her from attending her own graduation in June, however, since she was in Omaha, Neb. earning a spot on the Olympic Team. She did bring her cap and gown to Trials, and donned them for pictures to celebrate at the most appropriate place for her — on the pool deck.
Training for the Olympics and managing her academic commitments hasn’t been easy, particularly over the last 18 months. Deciding to remain in California meant that Ledecky wasn’t able to see her parents since she left for school in 2019, before pandemic lockdowns began. She admits that the year has taught her to be more adaptable. “I think I’ve grown a lot, both in and out of the pool. I’m experienced now and just know how to manage both the physical and mental aspects of the sport. If I have a bad practice, I don’t let it get to me.”
That expanded perspective was on display after Ledecky failed to reach the podium in the 200m. “I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me, or feel silver or any other medal besides gold is a disappointment or anything. I would much rather that people be concerned about people who are really truly struggling in life,” she said. “It’s a true privilege to be at the Olympics, let alone an Olympics in the middle of a pandemic. So many people in the world are going through a lot of hard things; I’m just lucky to be here.”
Read more about the Tokyo Olympics:
- Naomi Osaka: ‘It’s O.K. to Not Be O.K.’
- Motherhood Could Have Cost Olympian Allyson Felix. She Wouldn’t Let It
- Simone Biles’ Olympic Team Final Withdrawal Could Help Athletes Put Their Mental Health First
- ‘Unapologetic and Unafraid.’ Sue Bird Stares Down Olympic Glory in Tokyo and Equity Off the Court
- Meet 6 Heroes Who Helped Battle COVID-19 Before Competing in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics
- Here’s How Many Medals Every Country Has Won at the Tokyo Summer Olympics So Far
- 48 Athletes to Watch at the Tokyo Olympics
- The Olympic Refugee Team Was Created to Offer Hope. Some Athletes Are Running Away From It
New top story from Time: Simone Biles Pulls Out of Olympic Vault and Uneven Bars Finals
Simone Biles has withdrawn from the event finals for vault and uneven bars at the Tokyo Olympics.
USA Gymnastics announced the news in a statement on July 31, adding that Biles will continue to be evaluated to determine if she will compete in the women’s floor exercise and balance beam finals. The floor exercise will take place on Aug. 2 and the balance beam final will be held on Aug. 3
Biles pulled out of the team and individual all-around competitions, citing the need to focus on her mental health. She has also shared that she is experienced the “twisties,” a condition in which gymnasts lose their sense of orientation while flipping and twisting in the air. Biles lost her bearings during her first vault during the team competition on July 27 and immediately made the decision to withdraw from that event.
Biles, the defending Olympic gold medalist, was expected to repeat in Tokyo and cement her status as the greatest gymnast in history. Her surprise withdrawal opened the door for her teammate, Suni Lee, to win the individual all-around gold medal.
Read more about the Tokyo Olympics:
- Naomi Osaka: ‘It’s O.K. to Not Be O.K.’
- Motherhood Could Have Cost Olympian Allyson Felix. She Wouldn’t Let It
- Simone Biles’ Olympic Team Final Withdrawal Could Help Athletes Put Their Mental Health First
- ‘Unapologetic and Unafraid.’ Sue Bird Stares Down Olympic Glory in Tokyo and Equity Off the Court
- Meet 6 Heroes Who Helped Battle COVID-19 Before Competing in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics
- Here’s How Many Medals Every Country Has Won at the Tokyo Summer Olympics So Far
- 48 Athletes to Watch at the Tokyo Olympics
- The Olympic Refugee Team Was Created to Offer Hope. Some Athletes Are Running Away From It
New top story from Time: Katie Ledecky Adds Another Gold to Her Medal Haul in Tokyo
Distance is where Katie Ledecky feels at home. There’s no one better at powering through the long (and tedious) races, and Ledecky reaffirmed that with a decisive win in the 800-m freestyle, the event that started her Olympic experience back in 2012.
The win capped off Ledecky’s Tokyo Olympics; it was her last individual after racing four freestyle distances—the 200 m, 400 m, 800 m and 1,500 m—and medaling in three events. Days earlier, she made history by winning the first women’s 1,500-m ever raced at an Olympics—and she did it about an hour after swimming the 200-m freestyle.
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In typical Ledecky fashion, she pulled out ahead of the field after the first turn, and never gave up the lead. Rowdy Gaines, Olympic champion and NBC commentator, tells TIME that no one is better than Ledecky at finding “fresh water”—meaning she’s far enough ahead of the pack that she’s not wasting energy battling anyone’s wake or splash.
Ledecky swam past growing freestyle rival Ariarne Titmus of Australia, who attempted to pull off what Ledecky had done in Rio and sweep the 200-m, 400-m and 800-m freestyle races. But fell short in the 800-m, finishing 8:12.57. Ledecky also held off her young teammate, Katie Grimes, who like Ledecky did in 2012, is only 15 years old and appearing in her first Olympics to race in the same event Ledecky had, and finished fourth.
While Ledecky wasn’t able to beat her own world record, which she’s done four time since setting her first one in 2013, her swim was the 17th fastest time in history, and she still owns the 10 fastest times for the 800-m freestyle.
Read more about the Tokyo Olympics:
- Naomi Osaka: ‘It’s O.K. to Not Be O.K.’
- Motherhood Could Have Cost Olympian Allyson Felix. She Wouldn’t Let It
- Simone Biles’ Olympic Team Final Withdrawal Could Help Athletes Put Their Mental Health First
- ‘Unapologetic and Unafraid.’ Sue Bird Stares Down Olympic Glory in Tokyo and Equity Off the Court
- Meet 6 Heroes Who Helped Battle COVID-19 Before Competing in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics
- Here’s How Many Medals Every Country Has Won at the Tokyo Summer Olympics So Far
- 48 Athletes to Watch at the Tokyo Olympics
- The Olympic Refugee Team Was Created to Offer Hope. Some Athletes Are Running Away From It
New top story from Time: Caeleb Dressel Wins 100-m Butterfly and Sets New World Record
The 100-m butterfly had been largely dominated by Michael Phelps at the Olympics since 2004. Now it’s Caeleb Dressel’s turn.
Dressel won the race at 49.45 on Saturday in Tokyo, nabbing his third gold medal of the Summer Games and breaking his own world record by .05 seconds.
Keeping to himself in a corner of the ready room before the race, Dressel didn’t sit in the chair reserved for him, choosing to stand off to the side. A self-described “loner” and “weirdo,” Dressel prefers not to talk to many people at meets, but talked to himself as he walked onto the deck to cheers from his fellow Team USA swimmers. It’s a strategy that’s worked well for him. The only swimmer who went under 50 seconds in qualifying, Dressel led from the start, holding off rising star Kristof Milak of Hungary, who won the gold in the 200-m butterfly earlier. Dressel, however, owns the 100-m distance, and popped off the blocks with one of the fastest reactions times of .60 seconds. Dressel hit the wall at 50 m in 23.0, and continued his blistering pace through the finish.
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Dressel now owns the five fastest times in the event, that’s been no small feat, given that the record he broke in 2019 belonged to none other than Michael Phelps, who was the first to break the 50-second barrier at the world championships in 2009, which Phelps swam in a super suit. Dressel’s time puts him in the company of other great American swimmers in the event, from Phelps to Ian Crocker, Pablo Morales and Mark Spitz, each of whom contributed to faster and faster races that set the stage for Dressel’s impressive time.
The gold is the second individual one for Dressel, who also claimed the 100-m freestyle title in Tokyo. It’s his third gold of the Games, including his win with teammates Blake Pieroni, Bowen Becker and Zach Apple in the 4×100-m freestyle relay. Dressel has one more individual final, the 50-m freestyle, on the last day of the swimming competition in Tokyo, and may be selected to swim a few more relays as well.
Read more about the Tokyo Olympics:
- Naomi Osaka: ‘It’s O.K. to Not Be O.K.’
- Motherhood Could Have Cost Olympian Allyson Felix. She Wouldn’t Let It
- Simone Biles’ Olympic Team Final Withdrawal Could Help Athletes Put Their Mental Health First
- ‘Unapologetic and Unafraid.’ Sue Bird Stares Down Olympic Glory in Tokyo and Equity Off the Court
- Meet 6 Heroes Who Helped Battle COVID-19 Before Competing in the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics
- Here’s How Many Medals Every Country Has Won at the Tokyo Summer Olympics So Far
- 48 Athletes to Watch at the Tokyo Olympics
- The Olympic Refugee Team Was Created to Offer Hope. Some Athletes Are Running Away From It
New top story from Time: ‘Cube Crawls’ and ‘Frat Bro’ Culture: California’s Huge Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Alleges Yet Another Toxic Workplace in the Video Game Industry
On July 20, California filed an explosive workplace discrimination and harassment lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, publisher of immensely popular video games including World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and the Call of Duty franchise. It has resulted in a shockwave of response from employees, other games studios and players.
The lawsuit alleges a “frat bro” culture was allowed to flourish in the office, creating an environment in which women were sexually harassed and discriminated against in advancement and compensation decisions.
Activision Blizzard is one of the largest video game publishers in the world, owning studios who have created and released some of the most popular titles over the past decade. Its 2016 acquisition of Candy Crush publisher King, expanded its audience by millions more. As of this year, the holding company has 435 million monthly active users worldwide and reported a net revenue of over $2 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
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The lawsuit, filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), and initially reported by Bloomberg Law, marks the latest round of accusations in the gaming industry of abusive behavior being ignored, tolerated or outright participated in by upper management within prominent game studios. But this lawsuit is also potentially precedent setting, as the DFEH might be keen to make an example of one of the largest video game companies in the industry, according to The Washington Post.
Here’s what to know about the Activision Blizzard lawsuit, and what it reveals about accusations of rampant workplace abuse in the video game industry.
What does California’s lawsuit allege?
Court documents claim to reveal a culture of gender discrimination at Activision Blizzard that invaded nearly every aspect of the work experience for women at the company, who make up only about 20% of the 9,500 employees, including “compensation, assignment, promotion, termination, constructive discharge and retaliation.”
A two-year investigation by DFEH concluded that the company allowed a “frat bro” culture to take hold, according to the lawsuit, and create an environment that allowed sexual harassment to subsist with impunity. Widespread complaints from women included their appearance regularly commented on and being groped by male employees, as well as being pursued romantically by male supervisors.
In the most extreme case of alleged employee abuse, one woman killed herself on a company trip after being subjected to sexual harassment, according to the lawsuit.
The DFEH investigation also uncovered that women were less likely to be promoted, were more likely to be terminated, and were consistently paid less for performing the same work (or more work) than male employees. Complaints of unequal pay for women resulted in the holding company’s hiring of legal counsel for analysis of compensation multiple times, but no corrective action was taken, according to the court documents.
The lawsuit also alleges that women of color were particularly vulnerable to discrimination at Activision Blizzard. One Black woman reported it took her longer than men hired after her to be made a permanent employee. This employee and another Black woman both reported being micro-managed about their time, with one woman claiming her manager made her write a one-page summary of how she would use time off. Both women left the company as a result of the discriminatory treatment.
The lawsuit claims women who reported concerns were not only unsupported by HR, but their complaints were also not kept confidential, resulting in retaliation which included being unwillingly transferred to another unit, being cut out of work projects, and being laid off.
According to the documents, this frat house work environment included “cube crawls,” in which male employees would drink “copious amounts” of alcohol, crawl through cubicles and behave inappropriately toward women in the office.
Only two individuals were named directly in the lawsuit: Blizzard President J. Allen Brack and Alex Afrasiabi, a former creative director for World of Warcraft. Documents claim Afrasiabi’s widespread harassment was not only witnessed by supervisors, but widely known enough that his hotel room during a company event was nicknamed the “Crosby Suite” [sic] after Bill Cosby. Since the controversy of the lawsuit drew attention last week, the company told Kotaku in a statement that Afrasiabi had already been fired for mistreatment of other employees in the summer of 2020.
How did Activision Blizzard respond?
An official response from Activision Blizzard stated that the DFEH included “distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past,” and accused the agency of rushing its report.
Brack sent out a mass email to employees on July 22 condemning the discriminatory behavior, and stated that he disdains “bro culture” and has “spent [his] career fighting against it.”
Activision Blizzard executive Fran Townsend pushed back against the DFEH’s allegations in an email to employees on July 23, stating that the suit presented “a distorted and untrue picture of our company.” She called the lawsuit “meritless and irresponsible.”
How has the lawsuit impacted Activision Blizzard employees and the games industry?
Activision Blizzard employees circulated an open letter on July 26, calling Townsend’s statements “abhorrent and insulting.” Afterwards, hundreds of employees held a walkout at Blizzard’s Irvine campus, demanding greater pay transparency, employee participation in determining hiring and promotion practices, the option to select a third party HR auditor, the ending of forced arbitration, and other changes. The open letter was signed by over 2,000 current and former employees, according to CNN.
On July 27, Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard’s CEO backtracked on the company’s initial response, which he called “tone deaf,” and promised quick action to address discrimination and harassment claims with the assistance of law firm WilmerHale.
“It is imperative that we acknowledge all perspectives and experiences and respect the feelings of those who have been mistreated in any way,” Kotick stated. “I am sorry that we did not provide the right empathy and understanding.”
While Kotick said WilmerHale was hired to address systemic issues, it has also been reported that WilmerHale has a reputation for being a union-busting firm. A public response from employees noted that Kotick did not address the other demands of the walkout.
Game developers around the world have shown their support for the workers of Activision Blizzard. Most notably, over 500 employees at Ubisoft, which owns the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry franchises, among others, signed an open letter standing in solidarity. Employees at Ubisoft, who have recently been witness to their own whirlwind of harassment accusations, expressed a desire for industry-wide change.
Some games media outlets and players have thrown support behind outraged Activision Blizzard employees as well. News sites including The Gamer and Prima Games have opted to discontinue covering Activision Blizzard games. Some Twitch streamers and players also chose to participate in a boycott of Activision Blizzard games in order to support the walkout.
How widespread are workplace harassment claims in video games?
The details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit sound disturbingly familiar to many past and recent allegations of workplace abuse within prominent video game studios.
Employees of Riot Games, best known for its League of Legends franchise, walked out in 2019 in response to the company’s persistent sexual harassment allegations, as well as its policy of forced arbitration. An extensive Kotaku report unveiled the company’s fraternity-like culture, which included eerily similar allegations to the Activision Blizzard lawsuit. While Riot has since made efforts to alleviate its workplace issues, the company was also subjected to a $10 million settlement paid out to female employees after being sued by the state of California.
Ubisoft, another massive developer and publisher, came under fire last year after public sexual harassment allegations were made, criticizing a toxic work environment the company allowed to fester. Although some executives at the company were fired for inappropriate conduct, the aforementioned letter sent by employees from 32 Ubisoft studios demands further accountability. It states the company “only fired the most public offenders” and that the culture at Ubisoft has not sufficiently evolved.
Claims of sexual harassment and toxic workplaces have sprung up around many other games studios. In 2019, Warner Bros. Interactive’s NetherRealm, the studio behind the Mortal Kombat franchise, was accused of cultivating a toxic work environment rife with fraternity-like culture and abusive worker practices.
Reports of senior employees behaving inappropriately have also been a problem at other studios, such as Gearbox, where CEO Randy Pitchford has received multiple accusations of varying types of misconduct, some of which have been dismissed by courts. David Cage, the studio head of Quantic Dream, maker of Detroit: Become Human, was accused in 2018 of making sexist and racist comments, as well as fostering an environment that tolerated sexual harassment, according to Polygon.
While Activision Blizzard’s lawsuit details arguably some of the most disturbing consequences of unchecked sexual harassment, and seems poised to set a precedent as a landmark gender discrimination case, it also mirrors allegations within the games industry as a whole. If one of the largest video game makers in the world can draw such a large public lawsuit, it could embolden other agencies and employees to expose work abuses that have remained hidden for years.
If you or someone you know may be contemplating suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line. In emergencies, call 911, or seek care from a local hospital or mental health provider.
New top story from Time: Who’s Ariarne Titmus? The Australian Swimmer’s Rivalry With Katie Ledecky Has Captivated Olympics Fans
Before this week, many people knew Katie Ledecky as one of the most dominant names in swimming for the last decade. So they might have been surprised by the success of Australia’s 20-year-old Ariarne Titmus during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, who has now bested Ledecky twice to snatch gold medals.
In Tokyo, Titmus’ rivalry with Ledecky has been one of the most captivating parts of the Tokyo swimming program. The rivalry between the two star swimmers dates back to the 2019 world championship, when Titmus became the first woman to beat Ledecky at the international level. They’ll have one more chance to race in Tokyo, this time in the 800-m freestyle on July 31. She isn’t the favorite this time, however. Ledecky is undefeated in the 800 m, holding the fastest 24 times in the event’s history as well as the world and Olympic records, which she set during her winning race at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
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Titmus, who grew up in the small island territory of Tasmania, is at her first Olympics, but she has already snagged two golds for her country. First, she won the women’s 400-m freestyle against Ledecky on Sunday, marking the American’s first Olympic loss in an individual event. (Her coach Dean Boxall also grabbed headlines for his wildly enthusiastic reaction to her win. Titmus said “he’s very passionate.”)
On Monday, Titmust then trounced Ledecky again, in the 200-m freestyle; Ledecky finished fifth, while Titmus set a new Olympic record, at 1:53.5 seconds.
Ledecky rebounded the next night in the women’s 4×200-m freestyle relay. Team Australia, which Titmus led off, was widely expected to take gold and break the world record. And while they were faster than the previous world record—set by Australia in 2019—so were Team USA and China, who took silver and gold in the race, respectively. Key to the U.S. second-place finish was Ledecky’s anchor leg; she chased down a tremendous gap to overtake Australia (and almost caught China). “Everyone counted us out,” Ledecky said in a poolside interview with NBC.
They are not the first American-Aussie matchup to garner widespread attention, either. This year, besides the Ledecky-Titmus matchup, U.S. swimmer Caeleb Dressel was also matched against his regular opponent Australian Kyle Chalmers, the reigning Olympic champion in the men’s 100-m freestyle. When the long-awaited race finally came to pass in Tokyo after much hype, it was Dressel who claimed the top prize. The two countries both field top swim teams year after year, and are accustomed to facing off during championships. Famously, Michael Phelps was often pitted against Aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe during their Olympic careers. (Thorpe has five Olympic golds, the most golds ever for an Aussie competitor at the Games.) Though ultimately diplomatic, Thorpe was not bullish in his view of Phelps’ quest for medals, and Phelps was known to choose his events in order to face off against the rival.
The relays have long been a place where the team rivalries come to the fore. Back in 2000 during the Sydney Olympics, the Australia-Team USA matchup during the men’s 4×100-m freestyle relay became particularly heated after U.S. swimmer Gary Hall Jr. suggested the Americans would “smash [the Australians] like guitars” in the water. That did not end up being the case, and Hall was—some believe unfairly—villainized for his remarks. Twelve years later in London, the Australian team came up short with their fewest medals in two decades; in the relays, often their dominant event, the men took home only a bronze in the medley. But that disappointing result seemed to fuel the Australian squad, who rebounded in Rio—and have remained the ones to beat in Tokyo too.
The rivalry though comes with a lot of mutual respect. “I wouldn’t be here without her,” Titmus said of her opponent Ledecky after her first Tokyo win. “If I didn’t have someone like her to chase, I definitely wouldn’t be swimming the way I am.” Ledecky shared a similar appreciation for Titmus after the 400 m in Tokyo; the two chatted in the pool afterward, on affable terms. “She said she couldn’t have done it without me, and I could say the same about her,” Ledecky told NBC after the race. “She’s really pushed me. I think it’s great for the sport.”
New top story from Time: 4 Takeaways From Billie Eilish’s New Album Happier Than Ever
Last January, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas responded with audible groans when their album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, was awarded Album of the Year at the Grammys. “We didn’t make this album to win a Grammy… we didn’t think we would win anything ever,” Finneas, who produced the album, told the crowd in a sheepish acceptance speech. “We stand up here confused and grateful.”
Eighteen months later, the pair has returned to a much bigger audience and much higher expectations, as Eilish’s sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, arrives on all streaming platforms. Eilish, at just 19, is one of the most adored pop stars in the world, a seven-time Grammy winner and the subject of her own documentary (The World’s A Little Blurry on Apple TV). And in its first day, the 16-track Happier Than Ever (Interscope) immediately shot to the top of Apple Music’s albums chart in the U.S. and many other countries; the album sees her expanding her musical palette, exploring personal trauma and abuses of power, and tweaking her unique fashion sensibilities. Here are the main takeaways from Happier Than Ever.
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Eilish’s expanding musical palette includes crooners-era pop, electronica and pop-punk
Eilish’s music has long been difficult to place into a neat genre box; she and Finneas have drawn from Soundcloud rap production, Laurel Canyon folk harmonies and techno. Happier Than Ever retains many of Eilish’s signature sounds—languid ballads, lingering, whispered syllables, dreamy synthesizer pads—while expanding outward into a disparate array of genres and eras. Eilish has talked about her love for jazz and pop torch ballad singers from the ‘50s and ‘60s like Julie London and Peggy Lee, and it’s not hard to hear their influence on songs like “Halley’s Comet” and “Everybody Dies.”
The album also swerves into sonic pockets more suitable for the dance floor: the outro of “I Didn’t Change My Number” is nearly overwhelmed by an abrasive sawtooth bass, while “Oxytocin” recalls the dark twitchiness of Britney Spears’ Blackout era. And on the second half of the title track, Eilish and Finneas switch to a punk-pop setup, turning up tom-tom drums and electric guitars until they seize with feedback, while Eilish unleashes several guttural howls reminiscent of Phoebe Bridgers’ “I Know the End.” “I screamed my lungs out when we recorded this song. I’ve wanted to get those screams out for a long time,” Eilish said in a Spotify interview accompanying the album.
Her lyrics address male toxicity and beauty standards
As the teenage Eilish has navigated the music industry over the last four years, she has become increasingly vocal about the way in which young women are preyed upon and taken advantage of. “I don’t know one girl or woman who hasn’t had a weird experience, or a really bad experience,” she told Vogue earlier this year. Many of the album’s lyrics touch on similar themes of vulnerability and abuse. “They’re gonna tell you what you wanna hear/ Then they’re gonna disappear/ Gonna claim you like a souvenir/ Just to sell you in a year,” she warns someone younger than herself on “Goldwing.” On “Your Power,” she addresses an abuser directly: “She said you were a hero/ You played the part/ But you ruined her in a year/ Don’t act like it was hard.”
The album also includes “Not My Responsibility,” a short monologue from 2020 that addresses toxic beauty standards, the male gaze, and the paparazzi. After she released the monologue, Eilish was the subject of a torrent of bodyshaming when a photo of her in a tank top went viral. Eilish addressed the sequence of events in the album commentary on Spotify, saying that the interlude was “some of my favorite words I’ve written, and I feel like nobody listened.”
“I put it out and everyone was like, ‘Yas queen! Body positivity!’ And like three months later, there was a picture of me in a tank top and the whole internet was like, ‘FAT!’” she said, laughing.
Eilish sings about her personal life with startling candor
Eilish has said that while much of her previous music was based on characters, Happier Than Ever is much more autobiographical; it deals with a breakup, abuse, identity crises, the perils of fame and losing any semblance of privacy. “I’ve had some trauma, did things I didn’t wanna/ Was too afraid to tell ya, but now, I think it’s time,” she sings on the opener, “Getting Older.” Eilish, as she is wont to do, laces these heavy topics with flippant humor: she laughs off needing therapy in “Male Fantasy” and recounts how legal documents have become a part of her love life on “NDA.”
The album also recounts a breakup with some startling specificity. In the documentary The World’s A Little Blurry, footage captures Eilish with her previously-secret boyfriend, Brandon Adams, as they fall in love and ultimately fall out. One scene shows Eilish unhappily confronting Adams about driving home drunk—on the album’s title track, Eilish sings of an extremely similar situation: “You call me again, drunk in your Benz/ Drivin’ home under the influence/ You scared me to death but I’m wastin’ my breath/ ‘Cause you only listen to your f-ckin’ friends.”
The album marks a new era for Eilish’s fashion
When Eilish became a public figure a few years ago, her fashion sensibility was unmistakable: spiky chains; dichromatic green-black hair, oversized hoodies, homages to punk, goth and skateboarding styles. She has since tested many different looks, leaning into eccentric haute couture and pin-up throwbacks. For this album’s rollout, she has chosen an elegant, muted approach in which she sports voluminous blonde hair, plush fabrics and lies across Persian rugs. It’s a marked shift from a previous era in which her chains were always audible in interviews—in which she ate spiders and talked about her penchant for sucking on dirty jewelry. But while some may clamor for the old Billie, the look fits the album’s more refined sonic approach—and will likely be only one of many stylistic shifts by a young star in the process of building a durable and unpredictable career
