Author: Jason Gewirtz

Jason Gewirtz is the editor and publisher of SportsTravel. He has worked at the magazine in various roles since 2008, including as managing editor and editor. He is a former member of the Sports ETA board of directors.
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Transportation Network Shuttles 2021 Olympics Participants

In typical years, the Olympic Games features an elaborate internal transportation system that shuttles athletes, officials, federation members and journalists to the different venues they need to be at any given moment. Each subgroup has its own network of buses or vehicles, each with access to a dedicated Olympic lane of traffic required to be […]

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Empty Venues Tokyo 2020
Empty stands meant that sometimes all you heard were the sounds of photographers' cameras clicking. Photos: Jason Gewirtz

What it Sounds Like Inside the 2021 Olympics Venues

What if you held an Olympic Games and no one came? That’s not exactly the scenario in Tokyo, but it certainly feels that way. It’s not that people wouldn’t have come, of course. It’s that they weren’t allowed. Foreign spectators were banned months ago while Japanese residents learned weeks before the Games they wouldn’t be […]

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Craig Cress
USA Softball CEO Craig Cress was easy to spot at Yokohama Stadium.

Catching Up with USA Softball CEO Craig Cress

Tuesday, July 27, was a big day on the Olympic program, with much of the attention in the United States focused on the women’s gymnastics team and the withdrawal of Simone Biles from the competition. But in Yokohama, about an hour from Tokyo, an entirely different drama in women’s sports was taking place at Yokohoma […]

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COVID Tokyo 2020 Media Center
The Main Press Center in Tokyo for journalists covering the Olympic Games has signage reminding visitors the rules of engagement to battle COVID-19. Photo: Jason Gewirtz

Tokyo COVID Rates Reach Record High, but IOC Says Its Program is Working

For the second straight day, Tokyo recorded its largest number of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, with the city government reporting 3,177 positive cases. It’s the first time the city has recorded more than 3,000 cases in one day and mirrors a trend across several Asian nations in recent weeks that had otherwise had […]

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Children’s Plant Project Another Sign of What Could Have Been at 2020 Olympics

Tokyo 2020, the local organizing committee of the Olympic Games, had all the right intentions when it set out to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Like all host committees, it sought ways to engage the community by getting involved however they could. One of the projects organizers created was called Flower Lane, an effort […]

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Omontenashi Olympics
Ito-san gives a group of international journalists a tour of "Tokyo Sports Square."

The Spirit of Omotenashi at the 2021 Olympics

One of the biggest cases for hosting the Olympics Games is to put your city front and center for two weeks to the world. And from those with the interest, need or resources to travel to the Games, there is undoubtedly a tourism boost as well. This year, however, with all spectators banned and athletes […]

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Jourdan Delacruz
Jourdan Delacruz was the first U.S. weightlifter to make the trip from the USA Weightlifting training camp in Hawaii into to Tokyo for competition. Photo: Jason Gewirtz

Catching Up with USA Weightlifting CEO Phil Andrews

The changing logistics of the rescheduled Olympic Summer Games forced national governing bodies around the world to adjust their plans for training in advance of the Games and during the event itself. In the case of USA Weightlifting, which back before the 2020 event had planned its own training center in Tokyo, the new landscape […]

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A waiting area at Narita Airport would be one of the longest steps of SportsTravel's journey to Tokyo for the Olympic Games.

Spit, Luck and Patience: An Inside Look at How to Attend the 2021 Olympics

Most Olympians punched their ticket to the Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo by qualifying at a trials or earning enough points at other competitions to make their team. My ticket to Tokyo was punched alone in my Honda CR-V on a hot summer afternoon, in the parking lot of a Denver-area urgent care. That’s when […]

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