The Tokyo Olympics are in full swing, and news is breaking constantly. With nearly every mainstream news outlet covering the 2020 Tokyo Games, AP Stylebook published a topical guide for writers. It also held a special Olympic-themed #APStyleChat on its Twitter account.
During these chats, the AP team shares tips for writing and answers commonly asked questions about AP Style relating to a specific theme, topic or event. The team’s guidance compiled in the topical guide and the Olympic AP Style Chat are from the “Olympics” entries in the AP Stylebook and from common usage in AP sports stories.
Before diving into some nuanced tips, it’s important to cover how AP Style suggests referencing the Games.
- Games or games? According to AP Style, writers should capitalize all references to “Games,” even when written alone. In the topical guide, AP Style specified that this rule changed from past years when “Games” was only capitalized when grouping it with the host city or year. The editors made this change to be consistent with the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s widespread usage.
- 2020 or 2021? Although a likely well-known style preference by now, it’s worth noting that the IOC uses the year “2020” to reference these Games, even though it is 2021.
- Where to place the year? According to AP Style, the year should always precede the host city and the word “Olympics.” Further, writers should not reference the Games as “Tokyo 2020 Olympics” or “Tokyo 2020 Games.” “Tokyo 2020” is a marketing term and does not align with AP style. Instead, writers should use the phrases “Tokyo Olympics” or “2020 Tokyo Games.” “Summer Olympics” is also acceptable.
Now that the naming is out of the way, below is some of the other AP Style guidance that the team discussed during the “Olympic Style Chat” on July 21.
- “USOPC” is acceptable on the second reference for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. The ampersand is part of the formal name. Writers should not spell out “and.”
- AP Style directs writers to use “Olympic” and “Paralympic” as adjectives to identify an athlete and their respective sport, e.g. “Olympic swimmer” and “Paralympic events.” Further, the adjectives “Paralympic” and “Olympic” should be written without the terminal “s” and always capitalized.
- When referencing Russian athletes competing at the Games, writers should use “Russian Olympic Committee” or “ROC.” This edit is necessary after the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Russia’s flag, anthem and team name.
- Writers should capitalize “Olympic Village.” According to the AP Stylebook’s topical guide, the phrase “athletes village” is acceptable but should remain lowercase and without an apostrophe.
- Although it is tempting to say “opening ceremonies,” AP Style writes the Olympic opening ceremony and closing ceremony as singular events. If writers group the two ceremonies, it is OK to say “Olympic ceremonies.”
The Olympic Games are exciting to watch, but many individuals find themselves reading about the events given the time difference. Keep these style rules in mind as you read articles or write stories about the Tokyo Olympics.
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