It's A Heavy Weight

Not Bearing the Heavy Weight Too Well

I'm sure that, at some point, a competitor at the first or second Olympics showed up wearing a loincloth or some kind of protective garment. Of course, since the early athletes competed in the"altogether," this would have been shocking. Some Roman charioteer adorned his horses with plumes or ladies' scarves or somesuch, and, again, there were cries of consternation. So, it's not like Kazuhito Kokubo was the first to be reprimanded over some sartorial fqux pas. I mean it's not like he was wearing a uniform pant that was not acceptably baggy to the snowboarding circles, a la the Canadians. It's just that he's Japanese, and it would seem that even the slightest discrepancy sends out alarms up and down the social hierarchy (to say nothing of the political ramifications) in Japan.
It would seem rhat Kokubo deplaned in Vancouver with his top shirt button undone, tie somewhat askew and pants riding below the agreeable hip level...in short, looking almost like a 21-year-old snowboarder. This, of course, sent shock waves throughout Japan, and the government threatened to whisk him back to the Motherland (perhaps to watch reruns of Queer Eye For the Straight Guy. At any rate, it was big news in the fashion world that is the Olympics (what? there are actual events going on?), something akin to the stir that was caused recently by two Russian ice dancers whose costumes portrayed aboriginal dress in some country Down Under or the aforementioned Canadian snowboarder who had the nerve to eschew the traditional baggy look for something more aerodynamic based on wind tunnel experiments. Of course, after being derided by other competitors, the shamefaced Canadian returned with properly baggy attire. For snowboarders, it's all about the attitude. I suspect that winning medals is something of an afterthought.
While the purists might argue that we should go back to the Greek ideals, I would say that the Greeks probably never had winter games, and with all that running and throwing, developed appropriate competition attire rather quickly...as soon as they realized there was a profit to be made by admitting spectators of both sexes.
As for Kokubo? He was punished by being forbidden to participate in the opening ceremonies (as were two coaches) and forced to issue not one but two apologies for his abhorrent behavior. Heck, his DAD even apologized for the errant son as well! Claimed a contrite Kokubo: "I feel the heavy weight of responsibility...yada, yada, yada." I suppose after that his speech writer had time to zip down to Florida to pen Tiger Woods' "press conference."