No. 153 / Sep 6, 2021
There were various controversies at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, such as forced food ingredients from Fukushima, terrorists’ participation, poor athletes’ villages, and zero attendance. Among these aspects, the controversy in Triathlon became a hot topic. Triathlon is an endurance sport in the order of swimming, road cycling, and marathon. The distance of each event varies, but both men and women swim 1,500m, cycle 40 km, and run a 10 km marathon. There is no break time from start to finish, and both men’s and women’s events are held without preliminaries. The first player to cross the finish line wins the final. Controversies arose over water pollution and progress in these triathlon games.
The triathlon match was held in Odaiba, where the water quality was poor two years before the competition. In fact, more than twice as much E. coli was detected as a result of the investigation. Specifically, Tokyo’s sewage treatment system is said to empty waste into the sea without processing it if it exceeds the limit of treatment due to heavy rain. In particular, sewage treatment plants near Odaiba have jurisdiction over downtown Tokyo, which was built in 1931. When it rains, sewage is discharged into Tokyo Bay without purification. It was forecasted to rain heavily in Tokyo on the day of the triathlon. Eventually, the risk of sewage leakage increased. Australia’s Fox Sports expressed its concern by publishing an article titled, “Swimming in poo: Fears of sewage leak in Olympic venue.”
Since then, Japan’s Olympic Organizing Committee (JOC) had covered sand and installed special screens to improve the water quality. It had also prepared a large reservoir tank to prevent leaks from sewage in case of rain. However, the stench and controversy over the water quality persisted. Eventually, the triathlon went as scheduled, and the majority of the players who reached the finish line, including top-ranked Christian Blumenfeld of Norway, collapsed or threw up soon after, thereby raising controversy over whether the Odaiba water quality had affected the athletes. Dan Wetzel, a columnist at Yahoo Sports in the United States (U.S.), who witnessed this situation, said “It was like a battlefield.” In addition, controversy arose over the progress of the game. The first restart in Olympic history occurred as half of the athletes’ swim starting lines were blocked by the organizers’ filming boats. In response, some players were asked to restart, and the request was accepted, leading to a happening in which players who had already dived were brought back to the starting line. However, only a minute was given to reorganize.
Despite these controversies, the Tokyo Olympics was finally over. However, given that there have been many controversies in the triathlon game, it seems necessary to revise the management method to prevent a recurrence.
By Yu Woo-sang, AG Reporter
tom6070@ajou.ac.kr
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