Get your news fix on happenings outside the pool with the latest ‘Beyond the Lane Lines.’ With each edition, we collect personal stories, little known facts and general items of interest from around the world. Read on and learn something new this week.
The Olympic Games may have been postponed until July 2021, but the spirit of 2020 lives on through the Olympic Flame. The flame will be on limited public display at Japan’s J-Village National Training Center in Fukushima throughout April to represent a ‘symbol of hope for all countries of the world during these most challenging of times.’
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach commented, “The Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.”
#2 Femke Heemskerk Gets Married Early
Dutch Olympian Femke Heemskerk was set to marry Guido Frackers later this year but plans changed in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
As posted to Instagram earlier this month, Hemskeerk stated, “A global crisis almost ensured that we couldn’t be together. So that’s why we got married last Tuesday!! 💍 Few months earlier than planned… But when life gives you lemons…”
Elaborating more to SwimSwam, Heemskerk said that she couldn’t cross the border from Canada into the United States just as Frackers’ fiancee, so “we got married on a Tuesday in Vancouver in a coffee shop.
“We got married 6 months earlier than planned. I was wearing a jogging suit and sweater, as I only had training clothes with me. Our witnesses were 2 people waiting for their coffee.”
Heemskerk joked, “I can tell you it takes longer to get a cappuccino than to get married in Vancouver, but we made it safely to Palm Springs as husband and wife.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9-jbVWBm42/
#3 – 2026 Asian Games Logo Revealed
The 2026 Asian Games are set for September 19th – October 4th in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan and they now have their logo decided. After more than 850 entries were received from throughout, the design of Aichi Sangyo University Associate Professor Hiroshi Miyashita was ultimately selected.
Per Inside the Games, Miyashita’s emblem contains the initial letters of “Asian”, “Aichi” and “Nagoya” with the A represented by the purple curve and the center line, and the N featuring through the purple and gold curves.
“The smooth curves describe the liveliness of sports,” the Aichi-Nagoya Organising Committee said.
“The centre line coloured by purple, gold and green inspires the image that people get together as one and go forward to the future by heading to bright red sun, the symbol of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).”
#4 Commonwealth Champion Aimee Willmott Gets Engaged
Despite the worldwide lockdown as a result of combatting the coronavirus (COVID-19), 2018 Commonwealth Games champion Aimee Willmott shared some exciting, positive news.
The 27-year-old University of Stirling swimmer said ‘yes’ to the marriage proposal of Harry Booker, Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach at Sport Scotland Institute of Sport.
“Yesterday this happened and I couldn’t be happier to be ‘in lockdown for life’ with anyone else,” read Willmott’s post.
Willmott took the 400m IM gold medal on the Gold Coast and is seeking to make her 3rd Olympic team for Great Britain.
Yesterday this happened… and I couldn’t be happier to be ‘in #lockdown for life’ with anyone else!
I love you @HarryBooker5 ❤️💍 pic.twitter.com/3z1r3sy377
— Aimee (Willmott) Booker (@aimee_willmott) April 4, 2020
#5 Thailand & Malaysia Sees Weightlifters Banned From Olympics
Chinese news outlet Xinhua has reported that the nations of Thailand and Malaysia have both been banned from sending weightlifters to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo due to multiple doping cases. The ban applies regardless of the Olympics being postponed one year due to the COVID-19 situation.
‘The Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association (TAWA) and the Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MFW) have also been suspended as members of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) for three years and one year, respectively,’ reads the report.
9 Thai weightlifters had tested positive for banned substances at the 2018 World Championships, leading to the nation withdrawing from international competitions, including the Olympic Games. Malaysia had 3 weightlifters caught doping in a calendar year, per Xinhua.
The nations have until April 22nd of this year to appeal the bans.
Good for her