Post by Admin on Jul 22, 2021 20:17:08 GMT
The opening ceremony of the postponed Tokyo Olympics takes place on Friday. Attention is focused on how far the organizers can stop the spread of coronavirus infections among athletes and staff during the event.
The ceremony will be held at the National Stadium in central Tokyo. The Games were postponed by one year due to the pandemic. It is the first time in 57 years for the Japanese capital to host the Olympics.
There are a record-high 33 sports at this year's Olympics. More than 11,000 athletes from about 200 countries and territories are competing. The Olympics will continue through August 8.
Spectators are barred from most venues, including that of the opening ceremony, as Tokyo is under a coronavirus state of emergency due to a resurgence in infections. The emergency declaration will remain in place during the Olympics and continue through August 22.
The Tokyo Games organizers have sacked one of the directors of the opening ceremony just a day before the event. They say Kobayashi Kentaro made anti-Semitic remarks as part of a comedy act in the 1990s.
It comes after an international Jewish human rights organization took aim at Kobayashi's comments, which were related to the Holocaust. The Simon Wiesenthal Center said nobody has the right to mock the victims of the Nazi genocide.
In the same statement, Rabbi Abraham Cooper said "Any association of this person to the Tokyo Olympics would insult the memory of six million Jews".
President of the organizing committee Hashimoto Seiko apologized for the latest scandal to hit the Games. Kobayashi was also helping to direct the closing ceremony.
The move follows the decision to cut music from the opening ceremony by a composer under fire for abusing classmates as a student.
The ceremony will be held at the National Stadium in central Tokyo. The Games were postponed by one year due to the pandemic. It is the first time in 57 years for the Japanese capital to host the Olympics.
There are a record-high 33 sports at this year's Olympics. More than 11,000 athletes from about 200 countries and territories are competing. The Olympics will continue through August 8.
Spectators are barred from most venues, including that of the opening ceremony, as Tokyo is under a coronavirus state of emergency due to a resurgence in infections. The emergency declaration will remain in place during the Olympics and continue through August 22.
The Tokyo Games organizers have sacked one of the directors of the opening ceremony just a day before the event. They say Kobayashi Kentaro made anti-Semitic remarks as part of a comedy act in the 1990s.
It comes after an international Jewish human rights organization took aim at Kobayashi's comments, which were related to the Holocaust. The Simon Wiesenthal Center said nobody has the right to mock the victims of the Nazi genocide.
In the same statement, Rabbi Abraham Cooper said "Any association of this person to the Tokyo Olympics would insult the memory of six million Jews".
President of the organizing committee Hashimoto Seiko apologized for the latest scandal to hit the Games. Kobayashi was also helping to direct the closing ceremony.
The move follows the decision to cut music from the opening ceremony by a composer under fire for abusing classmates as a student.