July 23 Tokyo 2020 Olympics news and results

US hammer thrower Gwen Berry co-signed an open letter to high-ranking International Olympic Committee (IOC) members, calling for amendments to the IOC rule that threatens to punish athletes for protesting or demonstrating on medal podiums at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

Berry signed the letter along with famed former US sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who raised gloved fists on the podium during the medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics. They are among more than 150 other athletes, human rights and social justice experts and sports organizations, who have also signed the letter.

The 32-year-old is slated to begin her Olympic competition on July 31.

Berry drew much attention when she refused to face the American flag as the National Anthem played at June’s US Olympic Track and Field trials.

The letter calls upon the IOC to “refrain from imposing sanctions on athletes protesting and demonstrating in accordance with internationally-recognized human rights frameworks … in any Olympic/Paralympic sites, venues or other areas – including the podium." 

Days ahead of her first appearance at the Summer Games, Berry tweeted her support of the petition, saying: “We need to take STAND.”

After a 10-month consultation process with more than 3,500 athletes, who represent 185 different national olympic committees, and all 41 Olympic Sports, the IOC decided to uphold the rule that bans protests in April.

However, on July 2, the IOC amended the rule and loosened previous guidelines, allowing athletes to express their views in mixed zones, press conferences, during interviews, as well as prior to the start of competition.

While offering appreciation for the strides the IOC made in promoting athlete expression, the open letter claims the changes made do not “reflect a commitment to freedom of expression as a fundamental human right nor to racial and social justice in global sport.”

The letter added:

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CNN has reached out to the IOC for comment on the group’s request for policy change and full freedom of expression.

The Olympic torch relay has been downgraded for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, with Covid-19 turning the flame's traditionally public journey from Olympia, Greece, into a largely private affair.

While past Olympic Games have seen the torch carried undersea by a diver or flown through the air by a ski jumper, this year's relay was instead composed of isolated ceremonies around Japan ahead of Friday's opening ceremony.

Yet, many of the rituals were preserved. As always, the flame burst to life in Olympia using sunlight reflected off a parabolic mirror, representing the might of the sun god Apollo. Since March, it has been making its way to Tokyo via plane and road (though there were none of the camel or parachute journeys seen in adventurous relays of the past).

Read more:

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Surfing will make its Olympic debut this year — an extraordinary moment for a sport that traces its origins to at least 2,000 BC in ancient Polynesia, according to surf historian Matt Warshaw in his book, "A Brief History of Surfing."

Who is competing? Some 40 surfers — 20 men and 20 women from 18 countries — will make history as the first to represent their sport on the Olympic stage.

Carissa Moore and John John Florence of Hawaii, Caroline Marks of Florida and Kolohe Andino of California will represent the US in surfing's Olympic debut.

Floridian Kelly Slater, widely considered the greatest surfer of all time, has been named as the official alternative for Andino and Florence, who are both recovering from injury-induced surgeries.

In the women’s competition, Lakey Peterson of California is the back-up for both Moore and Marks.

When and where? The competition is slated to begin Saturday, July 24, according to the International Surfing Association, the sport's governing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). However, there's a 16-day window in which the two-day competitions could occur to maximize chances for the best possible waves on a shoreline known for sometimes fickle and diminutive surf in summer. 

The competition will occur at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, one of the closest surfable beaches to Tokyo — about a 1.5-hour drive away. 

How does it work? The Tokyo Olympics will feature the surfing discipline of shortboarding, which developed in tandem with California skateboard culture and is now the dominant style of competitive surfing worldwide. Shortboarding emphasizes quick turns and radical maneuvers in steep, hollow waves, as well as aerials performed above the lip of the wave. 

The women’s and men’s contests will be composed of six heats lasting 20 to 35 minutes, depending on conditions, in order to narrow the field down to gold, silver and bronze medalists, according to the IOC.

Heats will be judged by a panel of five judges who will score each wave ridden on a scale of one to 10, based on six criteria such as difficulty, innovation, variety, speed, power and flow. The judges’ highest and lowest scores will be discarded and athletes will be given the average of the three scores remaining. A surfer's two highest-scoring waves in a heat will be combined for a total score — with no limit on how many waves a surfer may ride.

Russian archer Svetlana Gomboeva is recovering after fainting from heatstroke at the Olympics on Friday, her team said in a statement.

Gomboeva was seen by doctors after fainting, who gave her water to drink and then sent her to rest. She will return and continue competing at a later date, the statement said.

The incident was not altogether surprising, as the Tokyo Olympics are forecast to be one of the hottest Summer Games in decades. While the average high temperature in Tokyo during the period of the Olympics is 86-88 degrees Fahrenheit (30-31 degrees Celsius), temperatures in recent years have approached as high as 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in the city.

In early 2019, the International Olympic Committee both acknowledged and addressed some of the hot weather concerns by moving the marathon and various outdoor events to the cooler northern city of Sapporo — which is located about 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Tokyo. However, temperatures in Sapporo were forecast to hit highs of 87 degrees Fahrenheit (31 degrees Celsius) over the next week, according to CNN Weather.

Gomboeva is representing the Russian Olympic Committee. Russian athletes aren’t competing under their national name at the Tokyo Games due to sanctions over doping. The official Russian team was banned from taking part in the 2020 Olympics by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for not complying with the organization's investigations.

The Tokyo Olympics are finally happening and Abdihakim “Abdi” Abdirahman is ready — despite new rules, no fans, and many protests against hosting the Games during a pandemic.

He’s sympathetic to concerns about keeping residents, athletes and their support staff safe during the massive 16-day event.

He also really wants to compete in the marathon — the race he’s been training for, for over a year. Qualifying for the Games was hard, and staying healthy and in shape during a pandemic was arguably even harder.

Read more about Abdirahman's journey:

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Tokyo's skyline goes as far as the eye can see, but from the air, the $1.5 billion stadium built for the 2020 Olympics stands out in the Japanese capital's urban sprawl.

It can hold nearly 70,000 people, but for Friday night's opening ceremony, most seats will be empty. Organizers said only about 950 VIPs will attend.

CNN toured Tokyo via helicopter to see the stadium from above. Watch here:

The first Olympic record of the Tokyo 2020 Games has been set. An San of South Korea scored a record 680 in the women's archery individual ranking round. 

She shot 36 10s and 16 Xs to break the previous record held by Lina Herasymenko of Ukraine, who scored 673 at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Authorities have identified 110 Covid-19 cases tied to the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the event's organizers said Friday.

Three of those new cases were reported from Tokyo's Olympic Village, one of whom was an athlete. Twelve cases have now been identified in the village, according to Tokyo 2020.

One other athlete was reported to have contracted the virus Friday but was not a resident of the village, according to organizers. The remaining new cases were identified as media, contractors and Games staff.

Tokyo 2020 is not revealing the names or nationalities of those who have been infected.

Anti-Games protesters and Olympics fans gathered Friday in front of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building as the Olympic torch reached its final destination ahead of the opening ceremony on Friday.

Dozens of protesters held “no Olympics anywhere” signs, chanted “get out IOC” and banged on tambourines, demanding the Games be called off amid a heavy police presence.

Overhead, other members of the public gathered on a bridge overlooking a main road leading to the building, hoping to catch a glimpse of the torch.

A significant portion of the Japanese public opposes holding the Olympics in the middle of a pandemic. Japan has struggled to rein in new cases and Tokyo remains under a state of emergency due to Covid-19.

The final stretch: The ceremony marking the torch’s final destination in Tokyo will be held behind closed doors. Takako Kobayashi, an 80-year-old who saw the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games on television, said she had ventured out of her home to try and see the torch.