It’s only day two of Asian Games 2018 after the spectacular Opening Ceremony on August 18, 2018, but Japan have sent four of their Basketball athletes back home due to a prostitution scandal. Cited from AFP, the statement to send these athletes home was put up by Japanese Olympic Committee on Monday (20/8).
Yuya Nagayoshi, Takuya Hashimoto, Takuma Sato, and Keita Imamura were spotted in Jakarta notorious red light district by Japan’s Asahi Shinbun newspaper reporter the previous Thursday (16/8). This happened after the basketball stars beat Qatar 82-71 to go and top Group C in the preliminary game.
They went for a dinner out of the Athletes’ Village, then allegedly paid for prostitutes’ services while wearing their national attributes.
Japan’s chef de mission, Yasuhiro Yamashita, told reporters, “I just feel a sense of shame,” as he apologized and promised to guide their athletes more thoroughly. Yuko Mitsuya as Japan basketball chief claimed they will decide on the appropriate punishment later on when they have heard all the facts.
But this is not the first time Japan has sent their athletes home. In 2014, Japanese swimmer Naoya Tomita was expelled from Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea, after she was caught on video stealing a journalist’s camera from the pool deck.
Athletes, Prostitution, and Condoms
However, athletes caught in prostitution scandals is not a new thing. For an example, just less than two weeks before World Cup 2018 commenced, nine of Mexico’s national football squad for the event were caught partying with prostitutes after a friendly game against Scotland. Mexican officials ruled out sanctions against the players under the excuse that the party happened in their free time.
Major sports events are often preceded by the rise of prostitution and sex trafficking. Athletes’ village is often stocked with free condoms. At Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 village, about 225,000 condoms are provided for around 6,000 athletes. The organisers said that it was better to anticipate rather than to run out of condoms like what happened in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
At a time when the ancient Olympics thrived and women were still prohibited to participate, prostitution was rampant when the event was held.
In an interview with National Geographic News, Tony Perrotet, historian and author of The Naked Olympics: The True Story of the Ancient Games, went as far to state that “a prostitute could make as much money in five days during the Olympics as she would in the rest of the year.”
Source: rappler.com, channelnewsasia.com, dailystar.co.uk, news.com.au, nationalgeographic.com.au