US track and field scrap Japan pre-Olympics camp over virus


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The US track and field team plans for a pre-Olympic camp in Japan has been scrapped over concerns about safety during the pandemic, officials said.

US athletes were supposed to train in Chiba, outside Tokyo, before the pandemic-postponed Games open on July 23.

But the Chiba regional authority said the US team cancelled "because of concerns over athlete safety as the coronavirus pandemic continues around the world with no prospects of winding down".

"Although the cancellation is extremely regrettable, we think it is the best decision ... given the current situation," the region said.

The US team (USATF) confirmed that it had scrapped plans for pre-Games training and was encouraging it athletes to stay in the US and train.

Pre-training camps across Japan have been cancelled either by prospective host towns or the athletes involved over virus concerns as the country battles a fourth wave of infections.

Tokyo and several other parts of Japan are under a state of emergency, and the government is facing pressure over its comparatively slow vaccine roll-out among wealthy nations.

Organisers say anti-virus measures will ensure the Games are held safely and point to a string of recent test events, including some with international participants, that were held without producing virus clusters.

The Japanese public as well as some of its top athletes, however, remains opposed to holding the Games this summer, with most favouring cancellation or a further delay.

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One in four Americans don't plan to retire

Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.

Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.

According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.

According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.

For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.

"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."

When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared. 

"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.

She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.

 

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