THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016 SPORTS S Korea seeks Zika protection in Rio, Brits go patriotic LONDON: South Korean athletes will mosquito-borne Zika virus, linked to designed by fashion brand Bean Pole. in.” In London, Britain presented a patri- McCartney also helped design. make their Rio Olympics entrance cov- numerous cases of the microcephaly “We designed the uniform with long otic, lightweight kit its athletes will com- It features plenty of logos and ered up in long sleeves and trousers, uni- birth defect in Brazil, has spread in Latin sleeves, long pants and socks so that it pete in at the Aug. 5-21 Olympics. British emblems, including a new British coat of forms its designers say were made to America and the Caribbean, causing pan- protects the entire skin down to the fashion designer Stella McCartney arms designed as “a unifying symbol” for protect them from Zika-carrying mosqui- ic and leading some athletes to consider ankles,” Kim Soo-jung, a designer at Bean unveiled the gear in the Union Jack’s red, the Olympic and Paralympic teams. toes. With 100 days to go until the Games whether to attend the Games. Olympic Pole, said. white and blue, alongside Olympic The new designs drew some negative start in Rio de Janeiro, South Korea’s medallists including taekwondo com- After the fashion show, Lee added: medallists such as Jessica Ennis-Hill and reaction. “I’m not a fan of the new Team Olympic Committee unveiled yesterday petitor Lee Dae-hoon strutted down a “The uniforms that used to be short- Tom Daley dressed in the sportswear. GB Olympic kit. Too busy,” former hep- the uniforms its athletes will be dressed short catwalk in blue jackets and white sleeved ended up with long sleeves The kit is said to be 10 percent lighter tathlete and Olympic medallist Kelly in when they arrive in Brazil and take trousers as well as white and blue and because of the zika virus ... But (they are) than the one worn by Team GB at Sotherton tweeted, adding that she part in ceremonies. An outbreak of the white and brown zip-up tracksuits, comfortable to wear and move (around) London’s 2012 Olympics, which would still be proud to wear it.— Reuters RIO DE JANEIRO: Picture taken during a sports event to mark the 100-day-countdown to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, at the Central do Brasil train staion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday. Greece yesterday handed the Olympic flame over to Rio Games officials setting off the 100-day countdown to the August 5 opening ceremony. — AFP US to top medal table, China and Russia next RIO DE JANEIRO: If the Rio de Janeiro issue updates again in June, July and August, Gleave has gone several steps beyond. He gold in the 100- and 200-meter butterfly and tage of being the host nation. Argentina will Olympics were held today, the United States just days before the Aug 5 opening. He expects tracks world championships, grand prix events, the 200-meter individual medley. He’s had to win only two medals, its worst performance would win the most medals - and the most a few minor changes, but nothing major. grand slams and even some continental cham- guess on which relays Phelps will swim, but he since 1992 in Barcelona when it won only one. golds. And American swimmer Michael Phelps Gleave is picking the United States to top the pionships - then gives more weight to the picks him for gold in the 4x100 medley and Spain’s medal total will fall for the fourth would collect five more gold medals and a table with 42 gold and 102 overall. China will most recent events, and the most important 4x200 freestyle. And he figures he’ll get bronze straight Olympics. The predictions are fun for bronze, bringing his overall total to 28 with a be second with 31 gold and 78 overall, which is events. Although Gleave has Russia placing in the 4x100 freestyle. “We are speculating to fans, but they also make money. career gold-medal haul of 23. the same 1-2 order as London four years ago. third in the gold-medal and overall standings, an extent on the relays,” Gleave said. “But I Gleave said Gracenote sells its data to Simon Gleave has been crunching the The next teams in order of gold are: Russia (22), some Russian athletes could be banned from don’t think that it’s a wild thing to guess.” A national Olympic committees, including the Olympic numbers for four years, putting them Australia (18), Britain (17), Germany (15), Japan the games over a doping scandal. “It’s a bit dif- few other highlights from Gleave’s predictions: United States, Australia and Britain. It also sells through a data-processing program as the (12), South Korea (12), France (10) and the ficult to know with Russia at the moment,” American gymnast Simone Biles will win four to media clients like the American television head of analysis for US-based Gracenote, a host-country Brazil (9). Gleave said. “We don’t know the sports they are gold medals, and one silver. network CBS, and Canada’s CBC. sports and entertainment data provider. “You could look at this as if these are the going to be competing in with all the stuff Australian swimmer Emily Seebohm will “We provide them with data, and they use “In terms of medal-count and order, it’s stories before they happen,” Gleave said in an that’s been going on around Russia.” win three golds and a silver. Chinese table-ten- it in their decision-making,” Gleave said. Gleave going to be close to what we have,” said interview with The Associated Press. For years, nis star Ma Long will win two golds. American laughed when he was told he was taking all Gleave, who in 2012, using a less sophisticated Italian Luciano Barra has predicted the medal WORST PERFORMANCE swimmer Katie Ledecky will take four gold the suspense out of the Olympics. “As we all program, predicted within four medals the count, basing his results on world-champi- Gleave also has Phelps down for six more medals. Brazil will set a national record with 25 know, sport doesn’t always work the way we results of 16 of the top 20 teams. Gleave will onships results leading up to the games. medals - five gold. He’s picking him to win medals overall and nine gold, taking advan- expect it to,” he said. — AP Rio shrugs off Olympic Games doubts for 100 day countdown RIO DE JANEIRO: Rio de Janeiro yesterday launched the 100 day countdown to hosting South America’s first Olympic Games with gov- ernment and global sports leaders insisting they can overcome Brazil’s political meltdown and troubled preparations. Countdown events were held around the world and Rio organizers were to take the Olympic flame in Athens for the start of its long journey, involving some 12,000 torchbearers, through Latin America’s biggest country to the Maracana stadium in Rio. New Zealand athletes staged a sunrise tradi- tional haka dance on an Auckland beach to mark the day. Britain unveiled its Olympic uniform designed by Stella McCartney. Despite the insistence of the Brazilian govern- ment and International Olympic Committee that the Games will be ready, storm clouds are gath- ering. President Dilma Rousseff appears likely to ATHENS: Hellenic Olympic Committee President Spyros Kapralos (C) holds the torch be suspended from office through impeach- with the Olympic flame prior to passing it to the Rio 2016 organising committee ment in the next few weeks. Even her vice presi- president during the handover ceremony at Panathinean stadium in Athens, yester- dent, Michel Temer, who would normally take day. — AFP over-and whom she accuses of mounting a coup-could face action. The economy is in deep decline for the sec- Rio gets Olympic flame ond straight year, unemployment has shot up to RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian Sport Minister Ricardo Leyser answers question during an interview 10.2 percent and Olympic organizers have had with AFP in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on April 24, 2016. — AFP ATHENS: The Olympic flame was handed peoples of South America,” he told a crowd to slash budgets. Despite this, they say that the to organizers of the Rio de Janeiro Games of several thousand Athenians. stadiums are 98 percent ready. years on Rio Olympics construction projects. Switzerland before arriving in Brazil’s capital yesterday, 100 days before the opening cer- In a highlight of the Greek torch relay, “It’s a frightening number,” said Robson Leite, Brasilia on May 3. emony. the flame made a symbolic stop Tuesday at DEADLY CITY inspector for the labor office in the Rio de Torchbearers will then carry the flame Dressed as a high priestess, actress a United Nations-run refugee camp in Crime remains out of control and Brazil’s Janeiro state, who said only eight workers were through Brazilian towns and cities ahead of the Keterina Lechou led the brief ceremony at Athens. The torch was carried by Syrian human rights record came under fire yesterday killed during construction of sites for the whole opening of the Games at the Maracana football the Panathenian Stadium, a horseshoe- refugee Ibrahim Al-Hussein. with a demand by Amnesty International for 2014 World Cup. stadium. On Tuesday, Ibrahim al-Hussein, a shaped marble venue where the first mod- After yesterday’s ceremony, the flame action over rising police killings, particularly in Syrian swimmer who lost part of his leg in a ern Olympics were held in 1896.