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Olympic Notes: Former Japan PM Mori Behind Surprising Mario Appearance

The idea for Japan PM Shinzo Abe’s surprising "Super Mario" appearance at the Closing Ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics "came originally from former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, now president of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics organizing committee." The behind-the-scenes story "was disclosed by Toshiro Muto, director-general of the committee." Muto said, "I hear he (Abe) willingly accepted our request when we told him he was the most suitable person to go on stage to raise publicity for the 2020 Games." At least on Twitter, Abe "pretty much upstaged other highlights of the Olympics finale" (JIJI, 8/23).

'ALL ABOUT THE OLYMPICS': British cyclist Laura Trott admits to being "annoyed and frustrated" at seeing Great Britain's cycling success at the Olympics questioned by rivals. GB cyclists claimed six Golds, four Silvers and one Bronze at the velodrome. Several rival teams "publicly wondered just what was going on." The 24-year-old, who won two Golds in Rio to match her haul from London 2012, said, "(I'm) not angry as such, it is a little bit annoying and frustrating because it is a lot of hard work that has gone into that performance. British Cycling has always been an Olympics-based program, so for us it wasn't about clearing up at the World Championships (in March of this year). ... What a lot of other nations don't know, and what they don't see, is the fact that it doesn't really matter about the World Championships. It's all about the Olympics" (London TELEGRAPH, 8/23).

NO JOKE
: China "put a brave face" on its worst Olympics for 20 years after finishing in third place on the medals table below the U.S. and Britain. The country's official news agency, Xinhua, said, "You kidding me? The country which has never finished above China is about to." The tweet "was later removed." State media labeled the Games China’s "worst Olympic flop" and cited Britain’s spending as the reason Team GB toppled it on the medal tally. An article in the Beijing News read, "Simply speaking, the theory of 'high investment produces high output' also applies to the Olympics Games" (AFP, 8/23).

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