Today it's about the top gymnast Simone Biles, who has become the defining figure of the Olympic Games - because she puts her mental health before performance.
Berlin is debating new rules for return trips and the interpretation of incidence figures.
And Poland's government is in conflict with the EU.
Simone Biles is shaping the Olympic Games with her waiver
The
2020
Olympic Games
, which will take place in Japan in 2021, are
a strange event in this pandemic
: with no spectators, in a country where the majority of the population is against the Games, and with an Olympic village that is already home to 17 athletes have infected with Corona. But now this sporting event has found a star:
the American gymnast
Simone Biles
is the defining figure of the Olympic Games.
Not because she would have won, but precisely because she did not win and
rejected the pressure to perform
. Instead, she now wants to focus on her mental health.
Biles, 24, is a superstar of her sport,
she has won 19 European Championships and four times Olympic gold in her career
- and now she stopped at the Olympic team final on Tuesday after the first of four machines, after a failed exercise, and then declared that he would no longer compete in the following competition. The association had first spoken of "medical problems". Biles himself made it clear that her problems do not affect the body, but the soul: she no longer trusts herself as she once did. She gets more nervous when she does gymnastics, and she "doesn't enjoy it as much".
She spoke of a fight against demons.
And she said, “I wanted to do something for myself in these Olympics.
I've only ever done something for others.
What I love in my heart, other people have taken away from me. "
The episode is interesting, first, because
mental health has become a huge social issue in the pandemic
.
And at these Olympic Games,
the relationship between performance and mental health is also being determined
negotiated. A wave of solidarity reached Biles: Former First Lady Michelle Obama tweeted her support, NGOs, the White House. Former swimmer Michael Phelps said seeing Biles like this "broke his heart". Three years ago he made his own depression and suicidal thoughts public after the 2012 Summer Games. Before Biles, Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka said she was struggling with depression. The successful meditation app "Calm" posted tiles on Instagram with sentences like "What Simone Biles did in Tokyo required more courage than any of her gold medals #mentalhealthishealth".
Second, the episode is interesting because it tells a lot about competitive sport itself: on the one hand, it is a place of social mobility. The athletes often come from below (Biles' mother was addicted to drugs and alcohol), they are usually very young when they start.
In competitive sport, however, there is often a triad of abuse, pressure to perform and self-alienation.
Simone Biles was once sexually abused by her own team doctor. The question now is: Are competitive athletes allowed to deal with trauma, are they allowed to show weaknesses? In spite of everything, it has not really been answered yet. The US Gymnastics Federation announced that Biles will now be "rated daily" with a view to the upcoming competitions. A ruthless, cold language:
So one talks about a performance machine, about a medal supplier that has become unreliable.
On Tuesday, a video made the rounds on Twitter that showed the German judoka Martyna Trajdos, who was shaken and slapped twice by the trainer before the competition.
It was quite a remarkable document.
Superstars Biles, Osaka, Huston: The Load of Games
The compulsory test for return travelers comes - but when?
There are increasing
signs that
returnees
will soon only be able to enter Germany with a negative test -
even overland
. It is apparently under discussion whether this has to be a more expensive and more complex
PCR test
. A quick test, as before, would then no longer be sufficient. It remains to be seen whether the comprehensive compulsory test should apply equally
to vaccinated and unvaccinated people
. And also when it should come. Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder announced the regulation on Tuesday evening, before the federal government, and named August 1 as the start date. Health Minister Jens Spahn let it be known that if it were up to him, the obligation to test would have long been in effect.
Given the great political pressure, it would be surprising if the next prime ministerial conference on August 10th would be before the decision was made.
The green candidate for Chancellor Annalena Baerbock is also in favor of an extended test obligation.
It is not to be expected that every border crossing will soon be checked
- but the mere knowledge that the Federal Police could theoretically be anywhere, demand proof and impose high fines, will probably have the desired effect.
Corona pandemic: What will become of the mandatory test for returnees to Germany?
Does the incidence value have to be "reinterpreted"?
There is also a debate on the question of whether the
incidence
values should be evaluated politically as before: In an assessment of the situation, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) demanded that the number of infected people per 100,000 inhabitants should continue to be the "leading indicator for infection dynamics" in the future . In contrast, CSU boss Söder called for the value to be "reinterpreted" in view of the large number of people who had been vaccinated - since this week, half of the German population has been vaccinated twice. Söder now wants to know from which incidence value the hospitals are overloaded. He said on ZDF: "Someone who has been vaccinated twice must - regardless of the incidence value - have access to shops and restaurants."
This topic also shows that no one can avoid
the big political question these days
: namely:
Should unvaccinated people also take responsibility for their independent decision not to be vaccinated?
Or should they be allowed to make this decision at the expense of the general public?
The mystery of falling case numbers: why are the numbers of infections falling again in the UK and the Netherlands?
Will Poland give way in the dispute with the EU?
There are signs of a
remarkable U-turn in Warsaw:
there are increasing signs of a Polish relenting on the rule of law with the EU.
In the course of the judicial reform of the national-conservative PiS government, the system was rebuilt in such a way that the political independence of the Polish judiciary is no longer guaranteed. European courts have therefore ruled several times against parts of the reform - but
Poland's courts and government have not yet recognized these rulings
. The EU Commission was therefore recently considering withdrawing billions of euros or fines from Poland in this conflict.
But now, after years in which the right-wing conservative Poland has been able to say goodbye to the community of values of the EU without having to forego the advantages of membership, there is movement.
Apparently the pressure has become so great that even the ideologically very stable PiS realizes: It can't go on like this.
Warsaw must have given in by August 16 to avert EU penalties.
It is possible that the government will now initiate a comprehensive reform of the reform.
This would not have saved the rule of law in Poland for a long time.
But it would be proof that Brussels can achieve something with a determined stance.
Pressure from the EU and protests in their own country: is Poland now facing the judicial turning maneuver?
Winner of the day ...
... is
Svetlana Tichanowskaja
, the exiled Belarusian politician. She was received in the White House by US President Joe Biden - no Belarusian politician has managed that before. Tichanovskaya, who was cheated of winning the election by President Alexander Lukashenko last year in an election with massive irregularities, is now living in Lithuanian exile in Vilnius; her husband Sergej Tichanowski, who was originally supposed to run for election, is still a political prisoner in Lukashenko's dungeons.
The meeting with Biden was not announced and came as a surprise - but for Tichanovskaya it is the greatest possible form of recognition.
And a reason to be happy for the Belarusian opposition.
The great honor that Tichanowskaya was bestowed on the Ukrainians a little bit offended, who already feel betrayed by their partners because of the German-American deal for Nord Stream 2: Because Tichanowskaya was now even allowed to meet Biden before Volodymyr Selenskyj, the Ukrainian President who has been waiting for a meeting with Biden for a long time - and will get one on August 30th.
The latest news from the night
Corona pandemic in Germany: Union politicians are calling for vaccinations to be much faster.
Bundestag President Schäuble is "extremely sad", CSU boss Söder is annoyed: Both complain about the falling vaccination rate in the fight against the coronavirus - and make suggestions to counteract this
Biden's trillion project clears an important hurdle in the US Senate: for
months there was a dispute over the US President’s infrastructure package.
Now the Senate has announced a breakthrough - with many Republican votes.
Joe Biden called the deal "historic"
Bob Odenkirk in stable condition after collapse:
The concern was great: Bob Odenkirk
collapsed
while filming the series "Better Call Saul".
Now his team reports on the actor's heart problems.
He is still in the hospital, but his life is not in danger
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I wish you a good start to the day.
Sincerely,
your Mathieu von Rohr