TOKYO: A Ugandan weightlifter has gone missing during an Olympic training camp in Japan after learning he would not be able to compete, Japanese and Ugandan officials said Friday.
Authorities were searching for Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, who failed to show up for a coronavirus test and was not in his hotel room, host city Izumisano said in a statement.
Ugandan sports officials said the athlete had recently found out he would not be able to compete at the Games because of a quota system.
“One member of the Ugandan delegation, which the city received as a host town, has gone missing and cannot be reached,” the city near Osaka said in a statement.
“The city is making all efforts to search for the individual. We have reported the matter to police.”
The statement said Ssekitoleko was last seen shortly after midnight inside the hotel by a fellow athlete.
He failed to conduct a required PCR test by shortly after noon and the alarm was raised when he was not found in his hotel room.
Salim Musoke Ssenkungu, president of the Ugandan Weightlifting Federation, told AFP that Ssekitoleko had been training “very hard” for his first Olympic weightlifting competition but was told this week that he would not be allowed to compete and had to return home.
“If someone is there in Japan and is assuming he is going to compete but then gets bad news, of course he is going to be upset,” Ssenkungu said.
The young athlete had recently won a bronze in the Africa Weightlifting Championships and was considered experienced despite his youth, he added.
“He’s not from a rich family so it took a lot of interest and energy from him to be successful,” Ssenkungu said.
Donald Rukare, president of the Uganda Olympic Committee, said officials had only just been informed about the disappearance.
“We are also trying to find out (what happened). We are in contact with the team in Osaka,” he told AFP.
Uganda’s delegation arrived in Japan last month, headed for a pre-Games training camp in Izumisano, in Osaka region.
But a coach tested positive on arrival, and other delegation members were subsequently asked to self-isolate, with a second member later testing positive.
Virus cases are rising in Tokyo, which is under a state of emergency, and there is heavy scrutiny in Japan of infection risks linked to the Games.
Athletes and other Olympic participants are subject to strict rules including regular testing and limits on their movement.
Teams in training camps are limited to their hotels and training sites, and barred from moving around freely and interacting with local residents.
There have been claims however of some violations of the rules by Olympic participants and the government said Friday it had asked organizers to investigate and punish anyone found to be flouting the regulations.
The Games open in a week’s time, but spectators have been barred from all events in Tokyo and surrounding areas, and will be allowed into just a handful of venues outside the capital.
Ugandan weightlifter missing in Japan before Olympics
https://arab.news/8fqkz
Ugandan weightlifter missing in Japan before Olympics
- Julius Ssekitoleko, 20, failed to show up for a coronavirus test and was not in his hotel room
- Ugandan sports officials said the athlete recently found out he wouldn’t compete at the Games due to quota system
Some Warren Buffett wisdom on his last day leading Berkshire Hathaway
OMAHA, Nebraska: The advice that legendary investor Warren Buffett offered on investing and life over the years helped earn him legions of followers who eagerly read his annual letters and filled an arena in Omaha every year to listen to him at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meetings.
Buffett’s last day as CEO is Wednesday after six decades of building up the Berkshire conglomerate. He’ll remain chairman, but Greg Abel will take over leadership.
Here’s a collection of some of Buffett’s most famous quotes from over the years:
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“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
That’s how Buffett summed up his investing approach of buying out-of-favor stocks and companies when they were selling for less than he estimated they were worth.
He also urged investors to stick with industries they understand that fall within their “circle of competence” and offered this classic maxim: “Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget Rule No. 1.”
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“After they first obey all rules, I then want employees to ask themselves whether they are willing to have any contemplated act appear the next day on the front page of their local paper to be read by their spouses, children and friends with the reporting done by an informed and critical reporter.
“If they follow this test, they need not fear my other message to them: Lose money for the firm and I will be understanding; lose a shred of reputation for the firm and I will be ruthless.”
That’s the ethical standard Buffett explained to a Congressional committee in 1991 that he would apply as he cleaned up the Wall Street investment firm Salomon Brothers. He has reiterated the newspaper test many times since over the years.
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“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out.”
Many companies might do well when times are good and the economy is growing, but Buffett told investors that a crisis always reveals whether businesses are making sound decisions.
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“Who you associate with is just enormously important. Don’t expect that you’ll make every decision right on that. But you are going to have your life progress in the general direction of the people you work with, that you admire, that become your friends.”
Buffett always told young people that they should try to hang out with people who they feel are better than them because that will help improve their lives. He said that’s especially true when choosing a spouse, which might be the most important decision in life.
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“Our unwavering conclusion: never bet against America.”
Buffett has always remained steadfast in his belief in the American capitalist system. He wrote in 2021 that “there has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking.”
