Tokyo strikes gold, silver and bronze with e-waste Olympic medals

Yahoo – AFP, February 8, 2019

Tokyo's organising committee in 2017 launched a project to collect assorted
electronic waste -- including old smartphones and laptops -- from the public
to collect metal for the medals.

All medals for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be made from metal collected by recycling electronic waste, games organisers said on Friday.

Tokyo's organising committee in 2017 launched a project to collect assorted electronic waste -- including old smartphones and laptops -- from the public to collect metal for the medals.

Recycled metal has also been collected from local Japanese businesses and industry.

In a statement issued on Friday, organisers said the collection was expected to reach its goal and will end in late March.

By November last year, municipal authorities had already collected 47,488 tonnes of discarded devices, with the public handing in another five million used phones to a local network provider.

Organisers had set a target of 2,700 kgs (about 5,950 pounds) of bronze, 30.3 kgs (67 pounds) of gold and 4,100 kg (about 9,040 pounds) of silver.

They hit the target for bronze last June, and by October had more than 90 percent of the gold and 85 percent of the silver.

"It is estimated that the remaining amounts of metal required to manufacture all Olympic and Paralympic medals can be extracted from the devices already donated," the organisers said.

Recycled metals have been used in previous years to make Olympic medals, including in Rio where some 30 percent of the silver and bronze in medals came from recycled materials.

The designs for the Tokyo 2020 medals will be unveiled later this year.

Google Doodle flies gay flag for Sochi Olympics

Yahoo – AFP, 7 February 2014

Google has marked the Winter Games in Sochi by flying the gay flag in a search
page Doodle that linked to a call for equality in the Olympic Charter (AFP Photo/)

 San Francisco (AFP) - Google marked the Winter Games in Sochi by flying the gay flag Thursday in a search page Doodle that linked to a call for equality in the Olympic Charter.

Showcasing the flag and the excerpt served as an online rebuttal to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who warned spectators and athletes against promoting gay rights during the Olympics, saying it was forbidden by the Olympic Charter and Russian law to spread propaganda during a sporting event.

Beneath the Rainbow Flag was the following paragraph attributed to the Olympic Charter:

"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play."

Clicking on the Doodle triggered a search for news related to the Olympic Charter, with stories about what was being interpreted as a Google protest of an anti-gay atmosphere caused by officials in the host country of Russia.

Google declined to comment.

Amid growing furor over Russia's new law forbidding the dissemination of "gay propaganda" to minors, Kozak once again argued that there was no discrimination based on sexual orientation in Russia.

President Barack Obama told US Olympic host broadcaster NBC he had included openly gay athletes in the US Olympic delegation to show the United States would not accept discrimination in sport or anywhere else.

One day ahead of the official opening of the Games, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a powerful call for equality, saying "we must all raise our voices against attacks" on gays.

Related Article:

Olympic athletes tweeting their own trumpets

Deutsche Welle, 10 Aug 2012

Coverage of the Olympics used to be controlled by the media. But at London 2012 athletes are in control - with social media like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Up to a point.

London 2012 has been the Olympics at which athletes have held control of their own coverage in the palm of their hands.

More and more, athletes have been using social media, like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, to tell their fans about all the important - and less important - things in their lives. The platforms offer new opportunities for self-promotion.

Soon after his enthralling sprint for gold over 100 meters, Usain Bolt celebrated with his fans on FaceBook and Twitter - publishing a photo of his successful sprint as well as a few trademark, self-confident comments.

The reactions came in like a flash.

"Amazing, Usain! Surely you are the greatest of all times," a fan said on Twitter. And Bolt promptly retweeted the comment to his 984.000 followers.

Leaving nothing to chance

Four years ago at the Olympics in Beijing, Facebook and Twitter were regarded as a niche phenomenon - they were a minor issue for the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Jamaican runner Usain Bolt - a keen self-promoter - has declared himself
"the greatest"

This year in London, however, things are very different.

In preparation, the Games organizers created their own platform - the Olympic Athletes' Hub. It bundles Facebook comments and tweets from many of the athletes.

But the IOC has left nothing to chance. It drew up four pages of guidelines to govern the athletes' use of social media.

Athletes are forbidden to publish audio and video of their events. All comments have to be written as first person diary entries. And advertising on behalf of sponsors has also been strictly prohibited.

Most athletes have stuck to the IOC's rules. They have supplied fans with photos of medals, thanked them for cheering them on, or bemoaned their own failure.

But social media has proved to be a law unto itself - it cannot be controlled as easily as the IOC would hope.

Michel Morganella was expelled from the Olympics for posting an offensive
message on Twitter

In the first week of the Olympics, Twitter was the social media of choice for athletes who wanted to complain about their experiences in London. Social media was also the conduit for scandal.

Upon arriving in London, some athletes used Twitter to complain about an "odyssey" they had been forced to endure while travelling by bus to the Olympic village in East London.

Then, a Greek triple jumper published a racist slogan and a football player from Switzerland allegedly incited hatred against an opponent - they both had to leave.

In the US, some athletes also protested against the advertising ban.

Control where possible

There is no way for the IOC to keep total control of the thousands of tweets and Facebook comments that have been posted.

Instead, it has tried to create such a positive buzz about the Olympic Athletes' Hub that any negative news is blasted out of significance.

But this brave new world of social media means the next Olympics in 2016 will have an even greater task on its hands.

While Britain's national broadcaster has attempted to offer audiences full coverage of the Olympics for the first time - of every event on more than 20 channels - the feeling is that traditional radio and TV are out. And mobile distribution is in.

Related Articles:

China Microbloggers Post Almost 400 Million Olympic Messages

Social media proves a force in consuming Olympics

Phelps gets gold in social media at London Games