British commentator Piers Morgan weighed in on an MMA match from the weekend which saw an openly male-to-female transgender athlete handily beat a female opponent, calling the match “sickening” and warning that the trend of allowing biological male athletes to compete in women’s sports could prove “deadly.” As The Daily Wire reported earlier Monday, “Alana McLaughlin — a biological male and former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces — beat Celine Provost with a rear-naked choke in the second round.” “In order for McLaughlin to compete, the fighter had to pass a hormone panel, which McLaughlin did. McLaughlin said that it was difficult to find a female opponent willing to get into the ring for the fight, regardless,” The Daily Wire noted. Morgan, though, pointed out that it wasn’t necessarily the outcome of the match that was concerning — that McLaughlin defeated Provost — but that McLaughlin was allowed to compete against biological females, adding that the match was “sickening to watch,” since it appeared to Morgan as though officials were simply allowing a man to beat up a woman.
Sports & Fitness
The latest call for Canada to consider boycotting the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games is unlikely to spur Ottawa to confront tensions with China in the Olympic arena, due to an apparent lack of support for such an approach among most political parties. Yet on the eve of an expected federal election call, Canada’s major political parties are expressing their ongoing concerns about human rights in China — including the treatment of its Muslim minority Uyghur population — as well as the plight of Canadians pulled into the fray of deteriorating relations between the two countries. Beijing’s Winter Games are less than six months away, and have faced repeated calls for a boycott over human-rights issues, including from federal Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole earlier this week. O’Toole made a renewed call for Ottawa to consider boycotting the Winter Games, citing concerns for Canadians’ safety in China amid a handful of high-profile detainments involving Canadian citizens — one of whom faces a death sentence.
Despite sizzling summer temperatures, America’s enthusiasm for the Tokyo Olympics fizzled out faster than a 4th of July firecracker. Even though the United States came out on top with 113 medals, NBC’s ratings were less than half of what they were during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Reasons for lower ratings are complicated, but cultural wars, different time zones, and the pandemic’s lingering effects undoubtedly took their toll. Media moguls and advertisers are already pondering what might be done to increase viewership of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, but the real question to be answered is why anyone would want to watch, celebrate, or attend them. Due to the COVID-caused delay of Tokyo’s 2020 games, it will be less than six months before athletes begin their journey to the winter Olympics. The Biden administration has an important choice to make: to Beijing, or not to Beijing? That is the question, and the answer is both simple and necessary: the time has arrived for this country to prove to Xi Jinping and his Chinese Communist Party that America is more than a paper tiger.
Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole said during a press conference on Tuesday that Canada should seriously consider boycotting the 2022 Beijing Olympics over China’s decision to uphold the death sentence for Canadian Robert Schellenberg, as well as the continued detention of Canada’s two Michaels. “The denial of Robert Schellenburg’s appeals must be seen as what it is, a foreign government planning to take the life of a Canadian for political reasons,” said O’Toole, calling the action “inexcusable.” On Tuesday, Chinese courts rejected Schellenburg’s drug conviction appeal of a death sentence. Schellenburg was given the death sentence in a retrial after Canada’s detention of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. O’Toole said that tensions between Canada and China could see a boiling point that would make it unsafe for Canadian Olympic athletes to travel to China for the event. “The outcomes of the [two Michaels’] cases will help answer that question,” said O’Toole. During that same press conference, O’Toole outlined features of the Conservatives’ Canada recover plan.
A Chinese state media interview with an Olympic gold medallist asking when she would get married and have children has sparked backlash online. The CCTV segment with Gong Lijiao, who won the women’s shot put final on Sunday, also described her as a “manly woman”. Netizens have criticised the interview calling it sexist and narrow-minded. They discussed it online with the hashtag: “Is marriage the only thing that can be talked about women?” The questions have led many to object to what they see as ingrained expectations of Chinese women as well as outdated ideals of beauty and femininity. The clip, filmed on the sidelines of the Tokyo Olympics, begins with a female CCTV journalist telling the camera that Gong “gave me the impression that she is a manly woman, until one breakthrough moment”.
A sumo wrestler that may have spooked the horses has been knocked out of the Olympic equestrian ring.
The statue and a nearby patch of cherry trees that riders thought might be startling the animals during the individual jumping event were among the obstacles swapped out for the start of the team competition Friday night.