Sat, Jul 24, 2021 page1

• Games start with muted ceremony

  LOW-KEY OPENING: With just a few hundred dignitaries in the stands and hundreds more protesting outside, socially distanced athletes marched together in masks

  • AFP, TOKYO
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  The opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics took place yesterday in a nearly empty stadium after a year-long COVID-19-pandemic postponement and a build-up marred by scandal and controversy.

  The stripped-back celebration began with a video showing athletes training at home during the pandemic, before fireworks burst into the air above the Olympic Stadium.

  Just a few hundred officials and dignitaries were in the stands of the 68,000-seat venue, including French President Emmanuel Macron, US first lady Jill Biden and Japanese Emperor Naruhito, who would declare the Games open.

  

  Weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun, front center left, and tennis player Lu Yen-hsu carry the Taiwanese Olympic team flag as they lead their delegation during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo yesterday.

  Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times

  The Olympics have faced opposition in Japan over fears the global gathering of 11,000 athletes could trigger a super-spreader event, and is taking place under strict virus measures.

  Overseas fans are banned for the first time in the history of the Games, and domestic spectators can only watch events at a handful of venues.

  Athletes, support staff and media are subject to strict COVID-19 protocols, including regular testing and daily health checks. The restrictions made for an opening ceremony that was far from the usual exuberant celebration.

  

  Fireworks are set off during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo yesterday.

  Photo: Reuters

  Every athlete entered the stadium wearing a mask, and the national delegations of athletes marching around the stadium were far smaller than usual, ranging from just a handful of people to a few dozen.

  The ceremony wove together references to Japan’s traditional crafts and its globally adored video games, with athletes entering to theme music from famed titles.

  Polls have consistently shown that Japanese are opposed to holding the Games during the pandemic, but hundreds of people still gathered outside the stadium and cheered as the fireworks exploded overhead.

  

  Weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun, left, and tennis player Lu Yen-hsun pose for a picture in Tokyo yesterday on their way to carrying the Taiwanese Olympic team flag at the opening ceremony.

  Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee

  Mako Fukuhara arrived six hours before the ceremony to grab a spot.

  “Until now it didn’t feel like the Olympics, but now we are by the stadium, it feels like the Olympics,” she said as people snapped selfies nearby.

  Inside, fewer than 1,000 dignitaries and officials were in the stands, and in a sign of how divisive the Games remain, several top sponsors including Toyota and Panasonic did not attend the ceremony.

  Small groups of protesters demonstrated against the Games outside the stadium as the ceremony began, but their chants were drowned out as the music started.

  Tokyo is battling a surge in virus cases, and is under emergency measures that mean bars and restaurants must shut by 8pm and cannot sell alcohol.

  Olympic officials have put a brave face on the unusual circumstances, with International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach insisting that canceling the Games was never on the table.

  “Over the past 15 months we had to take many decisions on very uncertain grounds,” he said this week. “We had doubts every day. There were sleepless nights.”

  “We can finally see at the end of the dark tunnel. Cancelation was never an option for us,” he said. “The IOC never abandons the athletes ... we did it for the athletes.”
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Taiwan’s GDP per capita lead fuels South Korean unease

  • 2

    McDonald’s to raise prices on select items from May 27

  • 3

    Investors diversify from TSMC to other winners of AI boom

  • 4

    Johnson reaffirms US Congress support for Taiwan

  • 5

    Taiwan eyes 100,000 drones a month