The International Olympic Committee (IOC) launched “What Agnes Saw” – a film which features the oldest-living Olympic champion, Agnes Keleti, and the 13-year-old British skateboarding prodigy Sky Brown. The video juxtaposes the wisdom of age with the passion of youth to offer a light in the darkness and remind us of the moments of hope and inspiration that occur when the world comes together for the Olympic Games.
Agnes is a reminder of the power of resilience, and proof that one can experience the worst aspects of humanity and, against all odds, rise above it. This film is a part of the IOC’s StrongerTogether campaign and reminds us of the importance of having inner resilience. It reflects the Olympic motto: “faster, higher, stronger – together.
The film, voiced by actor and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: End Game), was directed by Martin Desmond Roe and Travon Free – the Academy Award-winning directors of the acclaimed short film “Two Distant Strangers” – and produced for the IOC in partnership with Oscar-, Emmy- and Gold Lion-winning studio Dirty Robber.
Revolving around a people-centric message that we are stronger together, the digital campaign emphasises the IOC’s belief in solidarity – that the world only moves forward when it moves together – and the power of the Olympic brand to unite people, communities and nations across the globe.
Sport Australia and Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) call out to volunteers this National Volunteer Week
Sporting legends call for more volunteers in sport
Volunteers are needed now more than ever to help rebuild sporting communities
Sport Australia Acting CEO Rob Dalton (pictured) is encouraging Australians to consider the many benefits volunteering in sport brings this National Volunteer Week.
“The job that changed my life didn’t come with a salary, but it has helped me earn everything I have,”
Rob Dalton – Sport Australia Acting CEO
Mr Dalton was 17 and upon arriving for his first day of training at Victoria’s largest hockey club, Camberwell, was told he’d be coaching a junior team. He chose the Under 10s describing it as his sliding doors moment and the day he discovered one of the most important jobs in Australian sport – volunteering.
“Volunteering has given me stronger family connections, professional networks, lifelong friends and skills I didn’t know I wanted or needed. Sport is incredibly lucky to have the largest volunteer base of any industry in Australia with 3.1 million volunteers donating their time to sport and physical activity each year.”
Mr Dalton said volunteers are needed now more than ever to help rebuild sporting communities following COVID-19.
“Without volunteers, sport would look very different, they are crucial to the enjoyment and participation of sport at all levels. Whether you’re coaching a team, marking the lines, an official or administrator at a sporting club or organisation or running the canteen, thank you for your dedication and commitment to Australian sport.”
Volunteering Australia CEO Mark Pearce said the partnership recognises the importance and ongoing contribution of volunteers to Australian sport.
“One of the most exciting parts of our partnership is investigating ways Australians of all ages and backgrounds can get involved in sport and sporting clubs.”
“They make possible those things which make communities and community activities great, and we certainly see this in the context of sport. It would be very hard to imagine how the vast majority of Australian sport could take place without the dedication of volunteers.”
AIS CEO Peter Conde added: “Australian volunteers make sport tick at every level. As Australians we love to celebrate sporting success, but behind every athlete and every sporting event is a huge assembly of volunteers. So, on behalf of the AIS and Australian high performance sport, we celebrate our millions of volunteers and thank you for the contribution you make to Australian sport every day.”
National Volunteer Week from May 17-23 celebrates the significant contribution of Australia’s almost six million volunteers who dedicate their time to help others.
The theme for National Volunteer Week is Recognise. Reconnect. Reimagine with sporting legends including Olympic swimming champion Libby Trickett and NRL immortal Mal Meninga joining the call for more volunteers in sport.
“I’m so grateful for all of the volunteers around the country who are able to get involved in sport, whatever sport it might be. I encourage everyone to get involved and be a volunteer if you can,” Trickett says.
Meninga added: “We all know how important sport volunteers are for our community so please get involved.”
Although this advertisement was released in December 2020, team AFT found this an interesting piece to cover.
This two-minute film was selected by Vimeo’s Staff Picks, and highlights “real-life experiences” of three female athletes from different backgrounds in Japan — one is Japanese, one is Korean, and one is of mixed race with an African father and Japanese mother. The film touches on bullying, race sentiments and shows how each girl “overcomes their daily struggles and conflicts to move their future through sports.”
This advertisement raised a few eyebrows in that it became a highly controversial talking point. Have a look at what was reported throughout the international media channels:
“It has about 25 million views on social media and almost 80,000 shares.”
“The video, viewed 14.1 million times on Nike Japan’s Twitter feed by noon Wednesday, had racked up 63,000 likes but also a cascade of critical comments from many who vowed never to buy Nike products again.”
While the film’s message clearly riled members of Japan’s online right – many of whom commented using pseudonyms – more measured critics said it misrepresented modern Japanese society.
On 25 September 2020, the famous white exterior sails of the Sydney Opera House became an enormous movie screen, showing footage of Australian Catherine Freeman’s 400-metre gold medal win on the very same day, 20 years ago at the Sydney Olympic Games 2000.
In 49.11 seconds, Freeman crossed the historical finish as the first Aboriginal athlete to win gold in an individual event at the Olympic Games. The cinematic event celebrated not only Freeman’s historic achievement but also its audiovisual preservation for future generations on an innovative, sustainable, long-term storage technology called “synthetic DNA”.
This has been made possible thanks to a partnership between the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH) and the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA). The synthetic DNA project is a world first, and Freeman’s 400-metre gold medal win is the first Australian video to be encoded. The master recording of the historic race has been stored by the OFCH in Switzerland on magnetic tape, a technology commonly used 20 years ago. It is part of the 6.6 petabytes (1 petabyte = 1 million gigabytes) of the IOC’s audiovisual archives, a massive volume that could nonetheless triple in another 10 years. Thanks to this collective effort between the OFCH and NFAS, the one-gigabyte digitised file of Freeman’s gold-winning race will now be kept on microscopic synthetic DNA in a vial the size of a AAA battery. This innovative, sustainable storage technology can be preserved for thousands of years without maintenance. “As the custodian of large digital collections, and with the growing amount of images produced at every Games edition – more than 7,000 hours are planned for Tokyo 2020 – plus the evolution towards 4k and 8k, data storage will soon become an issue for the IOC. We are therefore always looking for ways to improve technologies and test innovations,” said Yasmin Meichtry, Head of Heritage at the OFCH.
“Synthetic DNA storage is the avant-garde technology that could lead to cost efficiencies and more sustainable and environmentally responsible ways to increase the capacity of our data storage,” Meichtry continued. “We are thus thrilled to partner with the NFSA in experimenting with that ground-breaking scientific knowledge, using one of our emblematic Olympic moments.” NFSA Chief Executive Officer Jan Müller said, “Catherine Freeman’s triumph at Sydney 2000 was a key moment in Australian sporting history. It brought Australians of all ages and backgrounds together in celebration, and it was viewed by billions of people around the world. We see this moment as part of ‘Australia’s DNA’, ideal to be preserved in actual DNA and become Australia’s first usage of this new technology.”
Source: PRNewsGIG/IOC Video Courtesy National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
Sydney, Australia, 4 February 2021(AFTNN) –Amazon Prime Video and Swimming Australia today announced an exclusive, two-year live broadcast streaming deal, to distribute the Australian Swimming championship events globally on Prime Video at no additional cost to Prime members. Live streaming highlights will include the 2021 Australian Swimming Trials in the lead up to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, and the qualifying events for the 2022 FINA World Swimming Championships and the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Australia is renowned for producing world-class competitive swimmers, and swimming is one of the country’s most popular sports with more than five million people participating each year. This partnership will ensure that Australians and a global audience won’t miss any of the action as Australia’s elite swimmers compete in qualifying for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo later this year, and other global sporting events in 2022.
“We know live sport attracts passionate fan bases from around the world, many of whom are already Prime members,” said Marie Donoghue, Vice President of Global Sports Video at Amazon Prime Video.
“We are focused on giving our customers access to the best selection of content possible, including the ability to watch live sport when and how they want to watch it. Streaming the upcoming Swimming Australia championship events on Prime Video is a great step toward achieving that global vision, andoffers tremendous new value for Prime members in Australia and beyond.”
Swimming Australia President, Kieren Perkins said, “To be able to partner our sport with one of the biggest streaming services in the world provides us with fantastic opportunities to deliver premium live swimming content to Australians and a global Prime Video audience.
“Swimming is ingrained in our culture, and we know that millions of fans support the Australian Dolphins Swim Team when they compete. Also, our current generation of swimmers, including those who have an eye on competing in Paris 2024 and beyond, will love being able to live stream the sport wherever they are.”
“We’re excited to partner with Swimming Australia to bring live swimming events to Australian and global fans exclusively on Amazon Prime Video at no extra cost to Prime members,” said Hushidar Kharas, Head of Prime Video Australia.
“Sport is an intrinsic part of Australian’s lives, and Amazon Prime Video has already established itself as the home ofcaptivating Australian sports docu-series including The Test and the upcoming AFL docu-series Making Their Mark. The launch of live sports streaming on Prime Video in Australia is a natural progression for us, and we are proud to be partnering with Swimming Australia to bring the iconic and beloved sport to Prime Video customers.”
The first event available to stream on Amazon Prime Video will be the Australian Swimming Trials in Adelaide between 12-17 June. Key events in the swimming event calendar before thiswill be available to stream on Swimming Australia’s digital platform SwimTV, and will be announced at a later date.
“This is a great result for our community, including swimmers, clubs, state associations and fans,” added Mitch Larkin from the Australian Dolphins.
“Having our events streamed live on Amazon Prime Video will inspire the next generation of athletes who will be able to watch the best swimmers in the country compete.”
Watch the livestream interview with Nicol David on Friday, 5 February 2021 6:00am (KUL/PER +8 GMT) / 9:00am (SYD/MEL +11 GMT) / 4 February 2021 2:00pm (LA -8UTC) or 5:00pm (NYC/COLOMBIA -5 UTC). Register now.
Kuala Lumpur, Updated: 2 February 2021 / 1 February / 29 January 2021/ Originally published on 26 January 2021
Malaysian Nicol David 🇲🇾 has been named The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time! With a huge total number of votes, 318,943 she was voted as the greatest of the 24 sports legends that started the voting race on 8 January. Ireland’s Tug of war legend James Kehoe 🇮🇪 is the first runner-up with 113,120 votes, and Larysa Soloviova, Ukraine’s and The World Games Champion in powerlifting 2005-2017, second, with her 80,790 votes. Marcel Hassemeier of Germany, victorious lifesaver, with 79,760 votes got very close to 3rd place (Source: The World Games).
The retired professional squash player, Datuk Nicol Ann David DBPJNDSPNKMNAMN (born on August 26, 1983) spoke to AFTNNand when asked if she had a message for the young players, lifting inspiration from how she went from zero to hero, this is what she said:
“Firstly I’d like to thank everyone for their support, their help and encouragement. For the youngsters out there, give yourselves a chance, go out and try whatever you want to do and take care of yourself,”.
Nicol David
Standings at our last report on 1 February 2021
Nicol David MAS (squash) 304909votes (29/1: 227208)
James Kehoe IRL (tug-of-war) 109655 votes (29/1) 81076
Marcel Hassemeier GER (life saving) 78032 votes (29/1 65295)
Sofia Olofsson SWE (powerlifting) 67057 (29/1 52355)
David won three gold medals as well as a bronze at The World Games between 2005 and 2017. She also won eight World Championship titles and had an unprecedented nine-year reign as World No.1.
Birmingham, Alabama USA will host The World Games in July 2022 – photo twg2022.com
Career milestones
In 1997, 15-year-old David became the youngest woman to win a World Junior Championship. In 2001 she defended that crown, becoming the first woman to capture the junior championship title twice. David received international attention following her success in 2005, and in January 2006 she was officially ranked the number one female player in the world—a status that was never before held by an Asian woman.
President Zena Wooldridge of the World Squash Federation says: ”Nicol has beaten a number of distinguished athletes to first place and her victory is recognition of a wonderful career that saw her break numerous records and win everything there was to win in the sport.
David was appointed as the UN Development Programme Ambassador for Malaysia in 2002, and she has since set up her own foundation to enable young girls to take up sport, as a tool to help them establish their values.
When AFTNN reached out to find out how she felt on being nominated for the Greatest Athlete of All Time, Nicol said,
“It’s a huge honour to be nominated by the World Games for the Greatest Athlete of All Time and to gain so much support from everyone in Malaysia and the squash community. It came as a surprise to see me amongst these other top athletes and I’m grateful for this,”.
Nicol David
Video by the Professional Squash Association in May 2020
The World Games (TWG) is an international multi-sport global event since 1981 and takes place every four years after the summer Olympics. TWG features sporting events which are not contested in the Olympic Games such as aikido, billiards, dancesport, kickboxing, orienteering, parachuting and paragliding, squash, surfing, muaythai, tug of war and water skiing.
Voting began on January 8th with nominees from all editions of The World Games from 1981 until 2017 representing 24 different sports as nominated by their International Federations. What is common for all of them is that they are extraordinary athletes who have succeeded in an extraordinary way at one or more editions of The World Games.
The public could vote daily, once per 24 hours, for their favourite. “The first candidate they choose gets two votes, and the second candidate one vote. We started with this initiative a year ago, in order to get The World Games family to know each other better; after choosing your favourite, you will choose a candidate from another sport too. This way you will get to see who else is there and with what kind of background story,” TWG communication officer, Anna Jacobson explains.
“Normally we have a vote for the Athlete of the Year in January. This year, to celebrate the 40 years’ anniversary of The World Games, we wanted to do something special. When we decided to look for The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time, we did not realise we would find 24 such legendary athletes, and it has been a true pleasure for us to follow the vote as well. Nicol David truly deserves her victory! All the 24 candidates will be promoted throughout this year, as they are all legends in their own sport,” said Jacobson, also Head of Communications IWGA.
“If I get a chance to win this it would be amazing for me just to have the recognition through playing squash and hopefully it can elevate the attention for the future of squash and a proud moment to represent my country and Asia,”.
Nicol David
The voting ended on February1st and three best athletes will be awarded a trophy and a branded gift from the official sponsor Protective Life.
This article has been researched, compiled and written by the team at Asia Fitness Today News Network (AFTNN); Sneha Ramesh – Intern, Monash University (Sunway campus), Syuhada Adam – Editorial consultant, Nikki Yeo & Jasmine Low – Director/Producer.
Register and get notified about the live streamed interview with Datuk Nicol David on the Asia Fitness Today KURANG MANIS PODCAST. *AFTNN would like to shout out a word of thanks to Nicol who is currently in Colombia, her second base, TWG & PSA for making this interview possible.
[Editor’s Note: The featured video contains not only the “I believe” spec commercial but also its credits and making of. If you’re interested in how it’s made, it’s a good look.]
Studio Gata, the professional identity of writer/director/producer, Kevin Kamin, recently released the independently produced spec boxing commercial, “I believe”. As a minority and an advocate for diverse representation in media, it was personally important to Kamin that the commercial celebrated racial diversity and female empowerment. These values aligned perfectly with the subject: a female-owned, professional boxing gym where identity is never judged–– all that matters is how much fire you bring to the gym.
Production photo from Believer’s Boxing Gym commercial
This was a passion project. It was self-funded by Kamin and its sole purpose was to be a demo reel building endeavor. He firmly believes that productions should be composed of specialists that have the time and resources required to complete their jobs at a high level. This is in sharp contrast to the modern day trend with independent micro crews, where each crew member can wear a half dozen hats and often the results fall short. He assembled a crew of twenty seven and a cast of fifteen. Key roles were experienced professionals who mentored support roles composed of local emerging talent. Filming spanned two states and post-production occurred in three countries. It was made completely outside of an agency or studio system. The project was rife with challenges and the budget was modest, but the production was able to overcome these challenges and constraints with creative and innovative solutions
Kamin loves the sport of boxing and has trained for several years. As a director, he brings that intimate knowledge and passion to every decision in the commercial, from casting and scripting, to cinematography and editing. His attention to detail and respect for the art and science of boxing shows in the elevated, cinematic quality of the commercial.
Kamin currently works in the media industry, heading a post-production and animation department at a Fortune 100 company. He is shifting his focus back to his core passion, filmmaking and content creation.
The 2nd Tourism Selangor Golf Tournament 2020 descended at Templer Park Country Club, Rawang on Sunday, September 13th, which marked its second year of establishment following the 2019 debut.
The18-hole tournament welcomed a plethora of golfers; from golf industry players, top management in the private sector, celebrity golfers, Tournament Sponsors, golf enthusiasts, and members of the Media, to the representatives from Government-linked Companies (GLCs). The Tournament paved the way for the strengthening of existing or future relations among contesting golfers in a competitive yet enjoyable setting.
The 2nd Tourism Selangor Golf Tournament 2020 was supported byMenteri Besar Selangor Incorporated (MBI Selangor), Landasan Lumayan, Central Spectrum (M) Sdn Bhd, OPG Global Sdn Bhd, WB Event and Management Sdn Bhd, Worldwide Holdings Berhad, Gamuda Land, Sweet Spot Digital (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, and Roslan, Hazratul, Azman & Hisyam Peguambela & Peguamcara.
General Manager of Tourism Selangor, Mr. Azrul Shah bin Mohamad in a statement shared, “Tourism Selangor is proud to host this 18-hole Tournament which has entered its second year of establishment. It is of delight to see how the support and responses to this Tournament have grown over a couple of years”.
“Selangor is the leading, premier golf hub in Malaysia”, says Mr. Azrul Shah bin Mohamad, General Manager of Tourism Selangor
“Selangor is home to the highest number of Golf Clubs in Malaysia, with a total of 29 Golf Clubs across the State. Thus, from this fact alone, it cannot be denied, Selangor is the leading, premier golf hub in Malaysia”, Mr. Azrul Shah added.
The Tournament’s first tee was executed at 8.00 a.m on Sunday, on which such tremendous support received by the star-list was in favour of the Tourism Promotion Agency despite the Tournament’s second inception was held post Covid-19.
As Selangor is expected to become the host for more upcoming Golf Tournaments and Championships in the State post-pandemic, it is mandatory for organizers to strictly comply with the SOPs set by the Malaysian National Security Council (MKN) and the Ministry of Health Malaysia. Golfing in the rise of the new norms should not be less exciting yet it should be no-less of a safe setting either. One of the nearest Tournaments tailing from Sunday’s event is the Selangor Golf Classic 2020 making its debut on 29 & 30 September 2020, on which Tourism Selangor proudly becomes its Title Sponsor.
The State of Selangor through Tourism Selangor is committed to explore the opportunities and further leverage in the sports and golf tourism, as it poses as a key role in fuelling the State’s economy through domestic tourism. This tourism segmentation does not only benefit golf operators; retail, accommodation, hospitality and transportation providers will also attain a positive impact from the travels. The buzz created from golf tourism events will draw the tourists’ attention onto nearby tourism attractions such as the ones near to the Tournament’s venue in Rawang; Taman Eko Rimba Kanching and Taman Eko Rimba Komanwel.
“Pusing Selangor Dulu” is Tourism Selangor’s domestic tourism campaign
Golf tourism acts a catalyst to creating an influx of local sports tourists into the State. With the highest number of Golf Clubs in the nation, it is not an intricate effort to further penetrate the golf tourism segmentation. This is in line with Tourism Selangor’s Domestic Tourism Campaign, ‘Pusing Selangor Dulu’ (travel in Selangor first) which is growing in popularity among domestic travelers.
The penetration of golf tourism in Selangor improves the living standard of its residents, leads to the enhancement of sports facilities across the State and increases public interest in golf making Selangor the preferred golf destination in Malaysia.
For more information on Selangor’s latest and in-trend tourism attractions, log on to www.selangor.travel.
SportsPro, an international sporting media company based in the UK featured an online live events with interviews with some of the women in sports. This interview took place on 24 June 2020.
AFT has handpicked this event to share with you, focused on the topic:
Kaori Housako is a Japanese professional wrestler and actress. She is currently signed to WWE, performing on the Raw brand under the ring name Kairi Sane. She a former one-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion with Asuka, one-time NXT Women’s Champion and the winner of inaugural Mae Young Classic tournament. Kairi was born September 23, 1988 and is from Hikari, Yamaguchi, Japan.
The Kabuki Warriors – photo copyright WWE.com
It was on an episode of SmackDown Live in 2019 that retired English professional wrestler and actress signed to WWE under the ring name Paige announced that she would be managing a newly formed women’s tag team, consisting of Sane and Asuka, aka “The Kabuki Warriors”.
Kanako Urai aka Asuka was born September 26, 1981 from Osaka, Japan is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on the Raw brand. She is the current WWE Raw Women’s Champion and a former WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion.
Bull Nakano (Japan) – photo copyright WWE.com
Keiko Aoki is a Japanese retired professional golfer and professional wrestler better known as Bull Nakano. She began competing in All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling as a teenager under the ring name Bull Nakano. As a wrestler she was a villain, who often teamed with her mentor Dump Matsumoto. Keiko was born Jan 8, 1968 in Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan.
Visit www.wwe.com for more exciting updates on the world of professional wrestling! A sport so many millions in Asia-Pacific know as gusti and love to watch!
