Hi Quartz readers!
Whew, Saturday and Sunday just flew by—kind of like the sprinters in this weekend’s 100m races. Here’s what you might have missed.
Highlight reel
- Jamaican athletes took all three top spots in the women’s 100 meter final, as gold medal-winner Elaine Thompson-Herah set an Olympic record with her time of 10.61 seconds. She is now the second-fast woman in history.
- Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs surprised with an Olympic gold in the men’s 100 meter final. The athlete, who completed the sprint in 9.80 seconds, is the first to claim gold following Usain Bolt’s decade of wins. Bolt retired in 2017.
- Australian Emma McKeon became the first female swimmer to win seven medals at a single Olympics.
- The heat is also making a strong showing in one of the hottest Olympics on record; trackside temperatures hit 40C (104F).
- Simone Biles has dropped out of more events. She has yet to decide on a last appearance, the beam final on Tuesday.
Missing persons
The debate about a possible boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics is heating up: Parliamentarians in Canada, the UK, and the EU have officially called for it, accusing the Chinese Communist Party of human rights violations in its treatment of religious and ethnic minorities. Activists say that a strong showing from the international community in Beijing would be seen as a tacit endorsement of China’s policies.
There’s precedent for this: In 1936, Nazi Germany hosted the Summer Olympics in Berlin and the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. While some countries debated boycotting, most didn’t end up doing so, with the notable exception of the Soviet Union.
The Olympics are a massive platform that all host countries use to promote a positive image of themselves and paper over the bad stuff. In 2016, Rio de Janeiro put on a brave face as it hosted the Summer Olympics, but the country was in a deep economic crisis, with its president about to be impeached. The opening ceremony celebrated Brazil’s multiculturalism; it didn’t mention the hundreds of families who lost their homes as the government razed their favelas to the ground in order to make way for Olympic infrastructure.
In spite of the rules set out by Olympic organizers to ensure that the Games don’t become one giant exercise in political propaganda, to an extent, that’s what they are. And as opposition to the 2022 Beijing Olympics gains steam, that contradiction is coming to a head. —Annabelle Timsit
By the digits
2012: The first year all participating countries sent women to the Games
1924: Year the Olympics provided athletes with housing for the first time, though the Olympic Village as we know it wouldn’t open until 1932
151: Number of Olympic medals awarded for the arts; the last one was handed out in 1952
$150: Amount American beach volleyball player April Ross charges on celebrity shout-out platform Cameo
3.1: Ratio of athletes per medal for Azerbaijan, which sent 56 athletes and came home with 18 medals, at the Rio Games in 2016
90: Ratio of athletes per medal for Portugal, whose 90 competitors collectively earned just one medal in 2016
What to watch for
Monday marks the start of artistic swimming, known as synchronized swimming until 2017. While its history may not date back to the ancient Games in Greece, there is evidence to suggest the Romans enjoyed similar aquatic performances, with women dressed as water nymphs cavorting in flooded amphitheaters.
In modern times, synchronized swimming joined the Games in 1984, and Russian athletes have won every Olympic gold medal since 2000. This year, there are competitions for women’s duet and team events. Spanish artistic swimmer Ona Carbonell sparked a debate before the Games when she revealed Covid quarantine restrictions made it too difficult for her to bring her breastfeeding son with her to Tokyo.
Quotable
“I have huge respect for the stand Coca-Cola has taken on domestic civil rights issues. But are you willing to say you condemn the Chinese government’s policy of holding hundreds of thousands of people in concentration camps because of their ethnicity and religion?” —US representative Tom Malinowski during a Congressional Executive Commission on China hearing in which lawmakers pressed US companies to withdraw their sponsorship from the 2022 Winter Games
The secret code of Japanese mascots
The Japanese understand the value of a good mascot. Cute yuru-chara promote towns, malls, sports teams, and businesses, and serve as friendly avatars for government agencies and correctional facilities. Mascot-branded swag generates about $16 billion annually in Japan. The Tokyo 2020 Games’ Miraitowa and Someity are expected to bring in $130 million in merchandising and licensing deals.
Wearing them takes a special skill. In Japan, people enroll in a mascot school to learn the basics like waving, posing, and dancing—surprisingly technical feats when donning a hulking costume. Choko Oohira, the school’s founder, also hammers the code of mascots into her students. They include:
- Cuteness is primary.
- No talking.
- Don’t show any skin.
- Don’t change in and out of costumes in public.
- Don’t be rude.
✦ We’ve got a secret code of our own: It’s QUARTZGOLD, and it’s good for 40% off a Quartz membership.
Instant replay
🤳 Olympians are influencers now too
🚊 How a spectator-free Olympics upended Tokyo’s big transit plans
🛹 Japan’s Olympic golds show its rise as a skateboarding superpower
🎵 This email was produced while listening to (we know, we know) John Williams’s “Olympic Fanfare and Theme.”
Our best wishes for an inspiring day. Get in touch with us at needtoknow@qz.com and live your best Quartz life by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s email was brought to you by Annabelle Timsit, Anne Quito, Jordan Weinstock, and Liz Webber.