| Are you going to the Tokyo Olympics? I'm guessing that's a "no." Foreign spectators are banned from the Games, which kick off in a week. Japanese spectators are banned, too. Athletes and teams are testing positive and soon some of them will be banned. Friends and family of Team USA will be in Orlando courtesy of NBC. Tennis players just aren't interested. The U.S. men's basketball team isn't looking good, is down a few players because of Covid protocols and has had to cancel one of its last exhibitions. Journalists? We're going. That is, if we can successfully conquer the dense Covid bureaucracy that has been erected by the Tokyo Organizing Committee, which requires: two negative tests within 96 hours of departure; a negative test upon arrival; fingers crossed that no one on your flight tests positive; government approval of a "business activity plan"; avoiding interactions with the Japanese public; and on and on. Covering these Olympics means mastering a Covid rulebook that reads like "Bleak House" if it was written by Haruki Murakami: it's very complicated...and a little mystical. Nonethleless, we will be there in full force and good humor, and this newsletter will go daily when the Games begin. You know who's definitely going? Simone Biles. She tweeted her departure yesterday. Our Louise Radnofsky has a revealing WSJ. Magazine interview with Biles that brings you up to speed on the many obstacles she has had to overcome to get back to the Olympics. The amazing photoshoot gives you a glimpse of a Simone you haven't seen before: a confident woman in command of her world outside the gym. One of Biles' biggest challenges, of course, has been pushing past the bad legacy of the Larry Nassar scandal--which returned to the news this week. The Justice Department's inspector general released a scathing report on the FBI's botched investigation of Nassar in 2015 and beyond. The Journal first reported on the FBI's epic failings back in 2017. The inspector general's report shows that the FBI meltdown was even worse than was known. Agents ignored athletes' allegations of abuse by Nassar, and then lied to cover their tracks. England didn't bring football home after all, as the Three Lions lost the European Championship to Italy in the most English way possible: in a penalty shootout. But there's another group of athletes who know what it's like to go decades without winning a trophy the country obsesses over: English professional golfers. An English player hasn't won the British Open in England since 1969. They'll get another shot this weekend in Sandwich, where players obsess over the weather even more than the average Brit. Finally, one of the greatest records in all of sports--Eddy Merckx's 34 stage wins in the Tour de France--may fall today. British cyclist Mark Cavendish, whose career seemed over, has mounted an astounding resurrection to win four stages in this race. He now sits tied with Merckx at 34 wins and could go break the record today or Sunday. Cavendish is a sprinter whose success is in part due to the supporting cast of 'leadout men' whose hours of aerodynamic protection give Cav the luxury of focusing on the last 150 meters. Josh Robinson explains the complex choreography of a sprint champ's success. --Bruce Orwall, Global Sports Editor Reach me at [email protected] and Twitter: @BruceOrwall | 
