With less than a month to go, athletes prepare for Paris Olympics

Hello and welcome to Destination Paris, the show where we build up to the Summer Olympics, which are now less than a month away. Over the last few days, we've seen the city unveil at flashy new stops on the underground and organisers announced that the venues are very almost ready. But over the next minutes, we'll all be taking a look at where that leaves the athletes who have just then a few weeks left to get themselves into the shape of their lives. Well, Japanese gymnasts are preparing to get their revenge for the finest of margins that saw them settle for silver back home in Tokyo. In the 2020 edition of the Olympic Games, the men's team were beaten by Russia by .103 of a point as a sliver of a margin that cost them the title. Now with 22 Russian athletes invited so far to compete as neutrals, well, the Japanese team have one other nation insights, that's the neighbouring China. Russia, China and Japan have won every men's team gold medal ever since Helsinki back in 1952, with the exception of 1984. That was where the Soviet Union boycotted the addition. I want us to win gold in Paris as a team, for us to laugh and enjoy the view from the podium together. Based on our simulations, our level of difficulty is higher than China's. That was quite a surprise since China had long had a higher discord than Japan, but ours is now higher. Well, after withdrawing from the 200 metre Sprint, Olympic champion Elaine Thompson Harrow won't be defending her 100 metre title either this summer. This after winning both in Tokyo. Thompson Harrow was forced to withdraw from the Jamaican Charles due to an injury to her Achilles. A heartbreak for her, of course. She'd won the double in Tokyo, but also in Rio in 2016. Now she put out the simple message online here that she will be back and says that she will continue her sprinting career further down the line. Now teams across the world, our teams have been getting up close with the athletes preparations ahead of the games. These last two weeks will have been following one of India's most active wrestlers, and in this third episode to come, Anshu Malik showed them what the preparations are like for her in the kitchen, but also around the table with her family. In the calm of a village far away from the frenzy of competition and whistles, Anshu takes a break to cook on the menu parathas, flatbread stuffed with potatoes and spices. One last indulgence. Wrestlers have to maintain their weight before each competition. As with every meal, wrestling is on the table. 3 generations united around the same passion and she was 10 years old when her grandparents pushed her to take up lessons. The sport is part of their family heritage and her younger brother is making sure it won't disappear anytime soon. He's 15 and, like her, wants to become a professional wrestler. Fearless and tenacious, Shubham is full of praise for his older sister. One of the privileges of the childhood being able to fight like siblings without being reprimanded by their parents siblings. A few light moments for Anshu before she dives back into the competition for the final round. And that'll be our 4th and final episodes in that second series to come. Then next week, well, every week we also take a step aside from the Olympics and shine a light on the way that sports are practiced across France. Bali Bruton is a puck based game played in the western region of Brittany and a particularly experienced champion is about to explain the rules to you. Laura Moussey and Theofey de Vie went to meet him. I came up with Russo, Louie de Catella entrezant Pale alas de Neva Sasse who segment de Laplanche la parte de la parte we the the. That is how the French do it then. Well, meanwhile, the American Olympic champions Michael Phelps and Alison Schmidt have said that they've lost faith in the world's anti doping agency's commitment so riding the sport of cheats. Phelps, the most successful swimmer in history and a 23 time gold medallist at the games, made the comments amid the discovery in April that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance. The World's Anti Doping Agency at the time said that it couldn't refute Chinese authorities explanations that the athletes positive result was due to eating contaminated foods. Well, here at Phelps and Schmidt speaking to AUS House subcommittee right now, people are just getting away with everything. You know, there are people who are still testing positive. They're still having the opportunity to to compete internationally from all over the world. And how is that possible? I like just makes no sense. I, I, I'm, I'm one that if somebody does test positive, I would like to see a lifetime ban. There is no trust. And what we asked for is that trust for accountability and transparency. We don't have accountability and we don't have transparency as we have not seen the full files. The world's anti doping agency said that COVID-19 restrictions had prevented them from checking those tests and couldn't take that case any further. We'll see how things evolve over the coming weeks with the start of the Olympics and the swimming then to come very soon. Many of the details about the grand opening ceremony are being kept under wraps. We know that there'll be floats, there'll be athletes parading along the River Seine that runs through the centre of Paris. But the organising committee has allowed, as you can see here, some cameras to film a couple of minutes of some of the dancers rehearsals, a mix of ballroom, modern break dancing and more. That'll be taking up part then of the opening parade to come on the 26th of July. And finally, some news that's well, clearly is not news in a certain way since once again in skateboarding, Yuta Horigami has qualified to defend his title. No surprise should we say in this at the Paris Olympics after winning the street final in Budapest, the Japanese will be able to defend his title there after winning gold in Tocho and he managed to sign off there. His run with a not only 270 blunt slide here to finish things off with his incredible slide as usual, but take a look also here at 13 year old Jinwu on a on a dira also making it after coming second there. It was a trade flip front side board slide revert to finish things off. But let's hear from Yuto. Yuto who did have some difficulties recently, though also still managing to go in then two defenders title. But here he is speaking about that success. Then in Budapest, things hadn't been going well for the past two years and I had been feeling a bit depressed and there were times when I didn't want to skate at all. Then China happened and I thought I had no chance, but I was given another opportunity. If I could get first place in this Budapest competition, I had a chance to go to the Olympics, although it was a very small chance. I'm really glad that I believed in that possibility and skated until the end. You two back in form there for the Olympics. Good to see. Well, that's all that we have now for the moment on DESTINATION Paris. Join us again next week for more. Bye, bye for now.