Sumo and the Olympics

[Seiyashi 4,068]

No sign of a huge dohyo like at Nagano (my country's Speaker of Parliament just posted a picture of him in the stadium), but there is a vaguely circular section on a stage that may or may not be for a dohyo iri. 

In short, no clues one way or the other. 

[since_94 650]

Impossible to find a link to a live stream to this wonderful international event purportedly celebrating the spirit of camaraderie, inclusion etc. etc.

Lots of “content not available in your region” 

Whole think stinks of money.

IOC a bunch of corrupt, entitled fat cats.

I would rather watch a basho any day than the Olympics.

End of rant.

Edited July 23, 2021 by since_94

[Seiyashi 4,068]

So any word on whether Hakuho had an in at all?

[Kaioshoryu 62]

Haven't seen him yet.

[Morning 73]

There's of course also the chance for the closing ceremony.

[Ichimawashi 573]

In Canada we have had enough time for every Yokozuna still alive to perform a dohyo-iri just in the ad breaks so far...

[Seiyashi 4,068]

24 minutes ago, Morning said:

There's of course also the chance for the closing ceremony.

Not sure there's a point to a dohyo-iri at the closing, though, considering the meaning of the dohyo-iri.

[ryafuji 806]

Shame if he doesn't make an appearance - Japan's national sport and he's the greatest ever exponent of it. 

[Seiyashi 4,068]

The broadcast's just ended. Don't think he's showing up.

Somehow I'm almost expecting a retirement announcement from him soon. 

[Taikoubana 143]

How disappointing. At this rate we may never see sumo in an olympics opening ceremony again. I guess they thought Nagano 1998 was good enough to warrant never including it in the schedule a second time. (Half-joking.)

[Hakumadashi 5]

A shame really. It seemed like such an important thing for Hakuhō. I wonder when he knew he wasn't going to perform a Dohyo-iri. Maybe it made him angry enough to win the Zensho the way he did.

[Ichimawashi 573]

23 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

The broadcast's just ended. Don't think he's showing up.

Somehow I'm almost expecting a retirement announcement from him soon. 

Either that or a defiant announcement that he is now going to take his revenge by staying until he has either 50 yusho or Hanakaze’s record.  Something tells me that hinkaku and dubious tactics was not the only topic of conversation with Hakkaku the other day.  

[neonbelly 226]

3 hours ago, since_94 said:

Impossible to find a link to a live stream to this wonderful international event purportedly celebrating the spirit of camaraderie, inclusion etc. etc.

Lots of “content not available in your region” 

Whole think stinks of money.

IOC a bunch of corrupt, entitled fat cats.

I would rather watch a basho any day than the Olympics.

End of rant.

The Olympics, at least in anyone's living memory, is a titanic shakedown and kickback scheme.

[Churaumi 724]

Not to derail the thread, but I doubt Hakuho will retire over this snub. I bet the excitement of having a new yokozuna to compete against will keep him around at least one more basho. Especially one with almost as many ailments as Hakuho has.

[Dapeng 232]

Seems no appearance of sumo at all. 

Anyway, without audience watching and responding, it doesn't make much sense for a public yokozuna dohyoiri.

[Yamanashi 3,675]

1 minute ago, Dapeng said:

Seems no appearance of sumo at all. 

Anyway, without audience watching and responding, it doesn't make much sense for a public yokozuna dohyoiri.

But anyone who believes that the ceremonial side of Sumo is based on the Shinto religion would say, "Of course there is an audience watching -- the gods."

[Dapeng 232]

2 minutes ago, Churaumi said:

Not to derail the thread, but I doubt Hakuho will retire over this snub. I bet the excitement of having a new yokozuna to compete against will keep him around at least one more basho. Especially one with almost as many ailments as Hakuho has.

As long as his right knee holds on. I have a feeling that Teru may retire earlier than Haku. If Haku can finish the next basho with a decent record, he will continue well into 2022.

[neonbelly 226]

2 minutes ago, Dapeng said:

As long as his right knee holds on. I have a feeling that Teru may retire earlier than Haku. If Haku can finish the next basho with a decent record, he will continue well into 2022.

He's going to become the Fidel Castro of yokozunas. 

[Ichimawashi 573]

Eleven years ago, we had an Olympics in the city where I live.  The GOAT in Canada’s national sport was ten years retired, and had made our city’s team one of his frequent targets for stats padding in much of his prime, but we still let him light both the indoor and outdoor flames, because it was obviously the right thing to do.  This colossal snub today will look more petty and shameful as time passes.

[Kintamayama 44,201]

Nobody ever officially said anything that ties Hakuhou to the Olympics visa vis an appearance of any sort, except Hakuhou himself who merely addressed his desire to be part of it. I don’t get the mass disappointment regarding a non issue. Hakuhou mostly said he wanted to continue being active until the Olympics as a benchmark , and that was a few years ago. I’d like to see one instance where anybody other than him tied him in any way officially to the Olympics, and I don’t mean some random media outlet speculating.. Really? Someone really expected him to appear today? Dont you think we would have heard of preparations? When the winter Nagano Olympics were held and Akebono did the dohyoiri in freezing weather, we knew well in advance that it was going down.

Edited July 23, 2021 by Kintamayama

[Churaumi 724]

But hasn't there been a dohyo-iri at the other Japanese Olympics? I don't recall any official announcement of there being one before, but they also don't say much about opening ceremony plans anymore. If they did, maybe someone could have gotten them to shorten that tribute to glorified emoji.

[ryafuji 806]

Well there are always surprise reveals at Olympic opening ceremonies - Naomi Osaka lighting the flame certainly wasn't announced in advance. But yeah, more in hope than expectation for many of us I imagine. 

[Seiyashi 4,068]

20 minutes ago, Churaumi said:

But hasn't there been a dohyo-iri at the other Japanese Olympics? I don't recall any official announcement of there being one before, but they also don't say much about opening ceremony plans anymore. If they did, maybe someone could have gotten them to shorten that tribute to glorified emoji.

Are you referring to the pictogram sequence? I thought that was actually one of the nicer bits of the ceremony, though, homaging classic Japanese variety/talent shows. If anything should have been shortened to make space for Hakuho, it ought to have been the rambling circlejerk that was the speeches by Bach and Hashimoto.

And I don't want to sound like I'm jinxing Japan, but has no one thought of the symbolism of making Mt Fuji a cauldron of flame when it's a freaking active volcano????

[Asashosakari 18,652]

50 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

Nobody ever officially said anything that ties Hakuhou to the Olympics visa vis an appearance of any sort, except Hakuhou himself who merely addressed his desire to be part of it. I don’t get the mass disappointment regarding a non issue.

Me neither. Enjoyable opening ceremony, but then I must be the rare sumo fan who was going to watch it regardless of any potential sumo parts. (I didn't expect any of that anyway after the near-complete lack of Kyokai involvement in anything Olympics since last year's postponement.)

Edited July 23, 2021 by Asashosakari

[Dapeng 232]

Anyway, Olympic is a good opportunity for NSK to promote themselves. Whatever the reason, NSK declined or was declined this opportunity.