Tokyo Olympics: A quick update

• First the big news: The Indian men’s hockey team are coming home with the bronze medal after beating Germany 5-4.
• Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad both broke the world record in the 400 metre hurdles. But McLaughlin went home with the gold at 51.46 seconds, while Muhammad had to settle for silver.
• Georgian weightlifter Lasha Talakhadze set three world records and retained his title as #1 in the over-109 kg men’s weightlifting category. He lifted a record 223 kgs in the snatch, and 265 in the ‘clean and jerk’.  
• Wrestler Ravi Dahiya has assured India of at least one silver medal by securing a place in the final. He is up against Russia’s Zaur Uguev today. World silver medalist Deepak Punia is still up for the bronze.
• Neeraj Chopra executed one of the best javelin performances by an Indian at the Olympics—and directly qualified for the finals with a 86.65 metre throw. The Hindu has an excellent piece on Chopra—and his determination to make it on his first throw. Watch him here. 
• Indian boxer Lovlina Borgohain lost 0-5 to the reigning world champion Busenaz Surmeneli of Turkey and will be coming home with a bronze. She’s the third Indian boxer after Vijender Singh and Mary Kom to win a medal at the Olympics. She said: “Accha to nahi lag raha hai. I worked hard for a gold medal so it is a bit disappointing." Indian Express has a recap of the match. Read her entire statement here.
• The women’s hockey team lost to Argentina 1-2, despite a gritty performance. They will now take on Great Britain on Friday for the bronze. 
• 12-year-old Kokona Hiraki from Japan won the silver in skateboarding and 13-year-old Brit Sky Brown took the bronze—they are both now the youngest medalists in their respective country's Olympic history.
• Greece’s entire synchronized swimming team is out after four members tested positive for Covid.
• The football teams of Sweden and Canada have asked organisers to move the women's gold-medal match on Friday to later in the day—to avoid the sweltering heat and preserve the players’ health.
• Australian football and rugby players returning from the Olympics were called out for "excessive alcohol consumption" and "loud and disruptive" behavior on their flight home. Also this: "And then there was also the issue of at least one person being sick in the toilet and leaving that inoperable for the remainder of the flight.”
• Competitors are complaining about a life-size statue of a sumo wrestler positioned near an obstacle on the equestrian course—because it is spooking the horses: “It is very realistic. It does look like a person, and that’s a little spooky. You know, horses don’t want to see a guy, like, looking intense next to a jump, looking like he’s ready to fight you.” See a worried-looking horse below:

A big crisis at Vodafone

Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has decided to step down from his post—which is more confirmation that the telecommunications company is in big trouble. Mint notes:

“Birla’s move to step down as the chairman of Vodafone Idea comes a day after it became known that he had written to cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba, offering to relinquish Aditya Birla Group’s stake in the company to any government-approved entity. In his letter, Birla cited the dire financial position of Vodafone Idea and its imminent collapse as the chief reasons for the offer.”

The decision has set off a wave of panic in the telecom industry—and the Vodafone Idea stock plunged 18.5%. Why this matters: Unless the government makes a plan to bail out Vodafone, we will end up with just Airtel and Jio left in the arena—a situation that will not only restrict consumer choice but also lead to sharp tariff hikes. Even Airtel CEO isn’t keen on Vodafone’s imminent exit, saying: “I think from a national perspective, it would be appropriate to see a structure where three players not just survive, but thrive.’’ Mukesh-bhai is saying nada.

Kerala Court redefines rape

In a landmark judgment, the Kerala High Court held that even if an act is non-penetrative, if it provides sexual gratification similar to that of penetrative sex, it will be termed as rape under the Indian Penal Code. It made the ruling in a case that involved a man rubbing his penis against the thighs of a victim. This widens the ambit of the rape law as it is no longer specifically limited to orifices. The News Minute has details of the case. (TW: they are fairly graphic)

In related news: Bumble is offering free trauma counseling services to survivors of assault or abuse who met their abuser on the dating app. They get access to courses created by and for survivors—and receive up to six therapy sessions and one-on-one chat support. The courses will be initially available in English and Spanish, followed by French, Hindi, Arabic, and Urdu next year. (Mashable)

In other gender-related news: The latest data shows that Indian women have received about 47% of the 481 million vaccine doses administered—nearly in line here with the gender ratio in the country. Men have now received 13% more doses than women, compared with about 17% in early June. One likely reason for the improvement: We started vaccinating pregnant women in July. (Reuters)

In lighter vaccine-related news: There is now a Barbie modeled on Dame Sarah Gilbert who helped develop the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine. Gilbert said: “I am passionate about inspiring the next generation of girls into Stem careers and hope that children who see my Barbie will realise how vital careers in science are to help the world around us.” She is one of six Covid heroes being honoured by Mattel. See the entire line up below. (The Guardian)

Also thinking of gender: Meghan Markle who celebrated her 40th birthday by launching a 40X40 campaign—where 40 famous women give 40 minutes of their time to mentor women going back to work. The would-be mentors include singer Adele, poet Amanda Gorman, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau (the spouse of Justin Trudeau) and fashion designer Stella McCartney. See her promo video with Melissa McCarthy below:

Two space things

One: Boeing has been waiting for over eighteen months to unveil its spacecraft called Starliner—which is supposed to fly to the International Space Station and back. But its launch has been stalled again—this time due to an “unexpected valve” problem that prevented liftoff. The last attempt in December 2019 also ended in failure when—after a successful liftoff—a software issue sent the capsule into the wrong orbit and it had to be brought back home. Making everything worse: Since then, SpaceX has already successfully flown three crewed flights! (Washington Post)

Two: NASA's Curiosity rover is wandering around Mars’ surface and discovering all sorts of cool things. For example: a “whimsical” rock arch—which is a dainty 6.5 inches but appears to be highly resistant to erosion. And like all good tourists, Curiosity took photos and sent them home:

An ancient ‘intersex’ (re)discovery

In 1968, Finnish archaeologists discovered a 1000-year old grave that they thought contained either a high-ranking female or a double burial of a man and woman. But thanks to DNA testing, we now know that the person had a genetic condition where males are born with an extra X chromosome—called Klinefelter Syndrome—and would have been what we describe as ‘intersex’ today. And the person was a high-ranking warrior—wearing typical feminine clothes of the Middle Ages and buried on a soft feather blanket with valuable furs, trinkets and brooches. (Daily Mail)

Another big mystery solved: Scientists may finally have figured out how Earth got its oxygen. The answer: The planet’s rotation slowed down, causing its days to get longer. And that longer, continuous daylight kick-started microbes called cyanobacteria into producing lots of oxygen. Associated Press explains why this is big news.

An insane case of inflight rage

A drunk passenger attacked three flight attendants—he punched one and groped the breasts of two others on a flight from Philadelphia to Miami. He also repeatedly cursed other passengers and said that his parents were worth “two million goddamn dollars.” The crew finally used packing tape to literally stick him in his seat. Interfering with or assaulting flight attendants carries a fine of up to $35,000 and possible jail time. New York Times has the story. See the mayhem below:

Speaking of insane rides: A Texas amusement park is getting ready to unveil the Dr. Diabolical’s Cliffhanger—the world’s steepest “dive coaster,” i.e. a roller coaster with a near vertical drop:

“Dr. Diabolicals device has three 21-passenger trains to lift riders 150 feet in the air, then lock them in a face-first Cliffhanger hold before dropping passengers at a 95-degree plummet at 60 miles per hour. Traveling on 2,501 feet of track through an Immelmann inversion, a 270-degree zero-g roll, a 75- foot near-vertical drop, a wild-banked turn, an extreme airtime hill, and a high-speed spiral finale.”

If that isn’t enough to make you lose your lunch, some visuals below: