Post by Admin on Jul 23, 2021 19:39:50 GMT
Naomi Osaka, the world no. 2 tennis player and a social justice and mental health advocate, lit the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Games on Friday.
Osaka, the 23-year-old Gram Slam champion who plays for the host nation of Japan, was revealed to be the final torchbearer, lighting the Olympic flame in a memorable end to the dazzling opening ceremony before an eerily empty stadium.
With no fans in attendance and a reduced number of athletes joining the parade, the Tokyo Olympics' Opening Ceremony officially kicked off the Summer Games on Friday as tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the cauldron.
Earlier on Friday, a request from Tokyo 2020 organizers to push back Osaka's opening match of the Olympics from Saturday to Sunday was granted ahead of the opening ceremony, fueling speculation that the four-time grand slam champion, who is making her Olympic debut on home soil, might light the cauldron.
The daughter of a Japanese mother and Haitian-American father, Osaka was born in Japan but moved to the US when she was three years old.
Earlier this month, citing her mental health, Osaka withdrew from the French Open, revealing afterwards that she had "suffered long bouts of depression" since winning her first grand slam title in 2018. She later also withdrew from Wimbledon.
The ceremony drew to a close around midnight in Japan as a spectacular firework display illuminated the Tokyo night sky.
The surreal circumstances of the Games' curtain raiser -- unlike any other previous opening ceremony -- provided a glimpse of what is to come over the next 16 days with the coronavirus pandemic set to loom large over proceedings.
While opening ceremonies of the Olympics are usually staged in front of packed stands, spectators were kept away in Tokyo. Instead, many lined the fences around the city's National Stadium throughout the day, while others gathered outside the venue to protest.
According to Tokyo 2020 organizers, 950 people attended the opening ceremony -- only a handful in a venue with a capacity of 68,000 -- as the 206 delegations competing were officially welcomed to the Games. US First Lady Jill Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron attended the event.
With athletes expected to arrive in the Olympic Village five days prior to their competition and depart a maximum of two days after, fewer took part in the parade of nations compared to previous Olympics.