Japan’s Emperor Naruhito officially opened the 2020 Olympics Games on Friday, officially kickstarting the world’s biggest sports competition this year, after being postponed last year due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Although the ceremony was done in an empty Olympic Stadium – after Covid 19 forced organisers to ban spectators at most of the venues, and amidst Covid 19 protocols and controversies, the ceremony, was widely followed across the world.
Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron, which was unfurled at the top of a ramp representing Japan’s tallest peak, Mount Fuji.
One of the the highpoints of the event was the parade of about 5,700 athletes – much lower than the usual number, flying their countries’ colours.
Speaking at the ceremony, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach acknowledged the Games would be very different from what we had imagined but the day was a moment of hope.
The games are set to run from the 23rd of July to the 8th of August – 16-days of contest, with 339 gold medals across 33 sports.
There are fears however that the global gathering of 11,000 athletes could become a super-spreader Covid 19 event.
Japan has spent nearly $15 billion on the Games, including $2.6 billion in extra costs after they became the first to be postponed in modern Olympic history in March 2020.
The games will also see a handful of firsts, with sports like Surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and karate making their Olympic debut, while New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard will become the Games’ first transgender athlete.
