By Jenna Fryer - The Associated Press
First, the sun.
Now the wind and the rain.
The Tokyo Olympics, which were delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic and finally opened last week in oppressive heat, now fear another blow from nature:
a typhoon that arrives on Tuesday
and is expected that interrupts some competitions.
"We are trying to prepare for everything," said New Zealand rugby player Andrew Knewstubb.
Not to worry, the Japanese hosts say:
In US terms, the incoming weather is just a medium-grade tropical storm.
And surfers at Tsurigasaki Beach say Tropical Storm Nepartak could improve competition as long as it doesn't hit the beach directly.
But archery, rowing and sailing have already adjusted their Tuesday hours.
Games spokesman Masa Takaya said
no further changes were expected.
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"It is a tropical storm of three degrees out of five, so you should not worry too much about that, but it is a typhoon in Japan's interpretation," added Takaya,
"this is the weakest category, but it is still a typhoon,
for so we should not be too optimistic about the impact of the course ”.
On the beach, about 90 miles east of Tokyo, the competitors welcome the change of weather as
long as the rain and wind don't quite touch land.
The surfing competition was delayed on Monday due to low tide.
But if the storm hits as expected, it could generate
waves twice as high
as expected.
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“Since I'm a homeowner, I say, 'Oh no, don't come here!'” Said Kurt Korte, the Olympic surf meteorologist, “but as a surfer, I say 'Okay, you can train if you stay There. We all agree that a distant storm is the best. "
The Japan Meteorological Agency said Nepartak was heading northwest over the Pacific Ocean east of Japan on Monday and is expected to make landfall Tuesday afternoon.
The storm could bring
strong winds, up to six inches of rain and high waves
as it cuts through the northeast region of Japan.
In advance, the organizers made the first major modifications to the Olympic archery schedule due to the weather.
Here,
Tuesday afternoon sessions have been postponed until Wednesday and Thursday.
Brazilian Italo Ferreira maneuvers over a wave during the third round of the men's surfing competition at the Olympic Games, Monday, July 26, 2021, at Tsurigasaki Beach in Ichinomiya, Japan.AP Photo / Francisco Seco
"We've heard that the storm could be anything from rain to 80 mph winds," US goalkeeper Jack Williams said.
Brady Ellison, his teammate, added: "Unless there is lightning, right here, we jump in. We'll take care of whatever. The rain starts to make it harder overall."
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Beach volleyball plays under all conditions except when lightning strikes.
Both the women's final of the Beijing Games in 2008 and the men's final of the Rio Games were held under heavy rain.
At Ariake Tennis Park, the center court has a retractable roof that can be closed for inclement weather, but
play on the outside courts would have to be suspended.
"They can move in every game, I think, if there is really going to be a typhoon in the rain," said Daniil Medvedev, the world's No. 2 player.
"We don't know. I guess maybe they'll try to move six games, but it depends on how long they last."
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Any type of rain, typhoon, tropical storm or even a drizzle will be a wild change compared to the first three days of the Games.
Svetlana Gomboeva collapsed from heatstroke on the first day of archery,
but recovered and won a silver medal.
Novak Djokovic and Medvedev, among the best tennis players in the world, who complained that their first-round match was "one of the worst" matches they had ever played in, successfully relied on the International Tennis Federation to give the Olympic players overtime during breaks to compensate for the high temperatures.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had resorted to placing ice packs under her skirt and used a tube that blew cold air next to her seat.
Competition skateboard (
skateboarding
), intense sunlight turned the park into a furnace: concrete light colored radiated heat and made such a blinding effect that athletes complained that
the heat softened rubber wheels on axles and made the tables more difficult to control.
July and August in Japan are notoriously hot and humid.
Japan has faced criticism for not accurately describing severity, instead calling it mild and ideal during the bidding process.
Daytime highs regularly reach 95 degrees, but
have exceeded 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in some places in recent years.
The Ministry of the Environment began issuing heatstroke alerts in July 2020 for the Tokyo areas and in April for the entire nation.
