The Olympic flame is lit and the Games can start in Tokyo! In a stadium without spectators (due to sanitary restrictions), Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka had the honour of igniting the Olympic cauldron, giving the starting signal for the opening of the Games in the Japanese capital. Some minutes earlier, the Emperor of Japan Naruhito declared the event open, to the satisfaction of the athletes present in the venue, the ones in the Village and the millions of sport fans around the world.
Reflecting on the challenges related with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ceremony paid a vibrant tribute to all those that suffered tragic consequences with the disease, but also praised all those – medical and sanitary staff – that helped mitigating the effects of the crisis. The value of unity and the expression of hope, in a spirit of “togetherness” (as referred by IOC President Thomas Bach), were well remembered in various moments of the Ceremony: during the interpretation of John Lennon’s famous song “Imagine” by artists of the five continents, during the impressive display of drones in the Tokyo sky in the shape of planet Earth, during the parade of the athletes, with a man and a woman jointly holding the flag of their country, or in the presentation of the new Olympic motto, “Faster, Higher, Stronger, Together”.
“Today is a moment of hope. Yes, it is very different from what all of us had imagined. But let us cherish this moment. Finally we are all here together: the athletes from 205 National Olympic Committees and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, living under one roof together in the Olympic Village. This is the unifying power of sport. This is the message of solidarity, the message of peace and the message of resilience. This gives all of us hope for our further journey together”, considered the IOC President in his opening speech.
“This Olympic experience makes all of us very humble because we feel that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. We are part of an event that unites the world. United in all our diversity, we become bigger than the sum of our parts. We are always stronger together. We can only go faster, we can only aim higher, we can only become stronger, if we stand together – in solidarity. This is why, the IOC has adapted the Olympic motto to our times: faster, higher, stronger – together. This feeling of togetherness – this is the light at the end of the dark tunnel”, President Bach said.
Two of the Ceremony’s highlights were then the “human” presentation of the pictograms representing the Olympic sports (Japan introduced them in the Olympic jargon, when they firstly created them for the 1964 Games also in Tokyo), and naturally the lighting of the Olympic flame, firstly lit in the ancient site of Olympia in Greece, then brought to Japan, where it was relayed all over the archipelago before reaching the Olympic stadium.
Moreover, the traditional athletes’ parade (with a reduced number of competitors this time, due to COVID-19 restrictions) allowed all 206 delegations to be presented and shown in the entire planet. Among the flagbearers, the list of Aquatic athletes was extensive, comprising 47 men and 45 women. Chad Le Clos (South Africa, Swimming), Cate Campbell (Australia, Swimming), Patrick Hausding (Germany, Diving), Mireia Belmonte (Spain, Swimming) Filip Filipovic (Serbia, Water Polo), or Rommel Pacheco (Mexico, Diving) were in the group of those many national stars leading their respective delegations into the Olympic stadium.