3/28/2023 0 Comments When does the olympics start![]() women’s soccer team, for instance, even after an early, shocking loss to Sweden, become the first to win an Olympics following a World Cup victory? Can Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama win gold in golf after becoming the first Japanese player to win the Masters? Will Italy’s Simona Quadarella challenge American standout Katie Ledecky in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle swimming races?įor now, however, it’s hard to miss how unusual these Games promise to be. The sports have already begun, and some of the focus is turning toward the competition to come.Ĭan the U.S. ![]() Some pedestrians waved enthusiastically to approaching Olympic buses. Outside, hundreds of curious Tokyo residents lined a barricade that separated them from those entering - but just barely: Some of those going in took selfies with the onlookers across the barricades, and there was an excited carnival feeling. Japanese Emperor Naruhito declared the Games open, with fireworks bursting over the stadium after he spoke. But, she said of the Games’ possibilities, “This is the power of sport. “Today, with the world facing great challenges, some are again questioning the power of sport and the value of the Olympic Games,” Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, said in a speech. Scandals - bribery in Salt Lake City, censorship and pollution in Beijing, doping in Sochi - fade into the background when the sports begin.īut with people still falling ill and dying each day from the coronavirus, there’s a particular urgency to the questions about whether the Olympic flame can burn away the fear or provide a measure of catharsis - and even awe - after a year of suffering and uncertainty in Japan and around the world. Time and again, previous opening ceremonies have pulled off something that approaches magic. Protesters’ shouts gave voice to a fundamental question about these Games as Japan, and large parts of the world, reel from the continuing gut punch of a pandemic that is stretching well into its second year, with cases in Tokyo approaching record highs this week: Will the deep, intrinsic human attachment to the spectacle of sporting competition at the highest possible level be enough to salvage these Olympics? Organizers held a moment of silence for those who had died in the pandemic as it ticked off and the music paused, the sounds of the protests echoed in the distance. “Today you are making your Olympic dream come true.” ![]() “You had to face great challenges on your Olympic journey,” Bach told the athletes. The Czech Republic entered with other countries even though its delegation has had several positive COVID tests since arriving. Some athletes marched socially distanced, while others clustered in ways utterly contrary to organizers’ hopes. Mostly masked athletes waved enthusiastically to thousands of empty seats and to a world hungry to watch them compete but surely wondering what to make of it all. Later, an orchestral medley of songs from iconic Japanese video games served as the soundtrack for athletes’ entrances. A single stage held an octagon shape meant to resemble the country’s fabled Mount Fuji. Inside the stadium after dusk Friday, however, a precisely calibrated ceremony sought to portray that the Games - and their spirit - are going on.Įarly in the ceremony, an ethereal blue light bathed the empty seats as loud music muted the shouts of scattered protesters outside calling for the Games to be canceled. Trepidations throughout Japan have threatened for months to drown out the usual packaged glitz of the opening. Later, Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka received the Olympic flame from a torch relay through the stadium and lit the Olympic cauldron. ![]() “This feeling of togetherness - this is the light at the end of the dark tunnel of the pandemic,” Bach declared. “But let us cherish this moment because finally we are all here together.” Yes, it is very different from what all of us had imagined,” IOC President Thomas Bach said. TOKYO (AP) - Belated and beleaguered, the virus-delayed Tokyo Summer Olympics finally opened Friday night with cascading fireworks and made-for-TV choreography that unfolded in a near-empty stadium, a colorful but strangely subdued ceremony that set a striking tone to match a unique pandemic Games.Īs their opening played out, devoid of the usual crowd energy, the Olympics convened amid simmering anger and disbelief in much of the host country, but with hopes from organizers that the excitement of the sports to follow would offset the widespread opposition. ![]()
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