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🌏 The Tokyo Olympics Begin, Norway's Women's Handball Team Fined For Wearing Shorts And More

All the world news you should know about this week

Jul 25, 2021 — 4 min read

Happy end of the week! Here’s your weekly email to help you stay updated and make sense of important stories happening around the world including:

Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games, kicking off the much-delayed Summer Games on Friday July 23.

The 23-year-old four-time Gland Slam winner was speculated to have been chosen for the honor after organizers requested her first match set for Saturday July 24 be delayed to Sunday.
Osaka carried the torch up a pyramid of steps that had been designed to resemble Mount Fuji and lit the cauldron, before fireworks concluded the ceremony.
“Undoubtedly the greatest athletic achievement and honor I will ever have in my life,” Osaka tweeted after the event. “I have no words to describe the feelings I have right now but I do know I am currently filled with gratefulness and thankfulness.”
This was Osaka’s first major public appearance after she withdrew from the French Open and took a break for her mental health.

🇬🇧 A Northern Irish gymnast debunked a rumor that the beds at the Olympics were “anti-sex” because they were made out of recyclable cardboard.
🇺🇬 A Ugandan weightlifter who disappeared from the Tokyo Olympics has returned to Uganda and will be interrogated by police. Julius Ssekitoleko reportedly left behind a note saying he didn’t want to go back to his country because life was too hard there.
🇵🇱 Poland sent six swimmers back from Tokyo after accidentally bringing too many.

🇨🇳 More than 20 women, several underaged, said one of China’s biggest stars, rapper Kris Wu, lured them into having sex with him, sparking a #MeToo movement and dozens of brands to drop or suspend partnerships with Wu. The age of consent in China is 14.
🇨🇳 Central China was hit by its worst rainfall in 1,000 years, causing extreme flooding that trapped hundreds of people in the underground metro trains and stations.

Norway’s women’s handball team chose to wear shorts instead of the required bikini bottoms to a match to protest the double standards faced by women athletes. They were fined 150 euros each for the violation.

Women players are officially required by the International Handball Federation to wear bikini bottoms “with a close fit and cut on an upward angle toward the top of the leg and the sides must be under 4 inches.”
Male players can wear shorts as long as they are four inches above their knees and aren’t “too baggy,” according to the New York Times.
The head of the Norwegian Handball Association said it would be paying the fine, adding that the organization had been complaining about the bikini bottom requirement to the International Federation since 2006 but nothing happened.

🌏 Women’s soccer teams around the world are taking a knee before their Olympics matches to protest racial inequality and discrimination. The movement started when Great Britain’s team dropped to one knee before its match against Chile and the Chilean team responded in kind. Since then, teams from the USA, Norway and New Zealand have all done the same.
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Welsh Paralympian Olivia Breen spoke out after an official said the sprint brief she wore to a long jump competition were “too short and inappropriate.” The incident has led to an outpouring of support for Breen and women’s athletes.

Calvin Krause, a student from Australia, created a TikTok rating emergency alarm sounds from around the world and it is unexpectedly funny.

Krause told Almost that he didn’t his video to go viral but “the more people I can entertain and make laugh, the better.”

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