On March 25, local time, the departure ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Torch Relay was held at the "J-VILLAGE" national football training center in Fukushima Prefecture. Sixteen members of the former Japanese team, who won the Women's World Cup in 2011, co-served as the first torchbearers.
△ The Torch Relay of the Tokyo Olympic Games began, and the picture shows the first torchbearer.
According to the Olympic official website, the "J-VILLAGE" training center is one of several regions that was severely hit by the 2011 Earthquake in Japan, which echoes the concept of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Torch Relay "Road of Hope" and reflects that the Olympic flame symbolizes hope and peace.
The flame will be passed through 859 cities by 10,000 torchbearers
The torch used in the Tokyo Olympic Torch Relay is cherry blossom-shaped, 71 cm long, weighs 1.2 kg and is made of aluminum. The material used in the "Cherry Blossom Gold" torch also includes aluminum extracted from the scraps left from the temporary residences of the reconstruction after the "3.11 Earthquake". It is reported that the concept of the Tokyo Olympic Torch Relay is "hope to illuminate the way forward", And Hashimoto Seiko, who attended the launching ceremony, said that he hoped that the flame that departed today would serve as a beam of light in front of the darkness and connect the road of hope.
The first day of the torch relay will be held in 11 sections of 11 sections in 10 municipalities and villages in Iwaki City and other prefectures, and it is expected to arrive at the celebration venue after the end of the day's relay at 17:00 local time.
The entire torch relay will involve about 10,000 torchbearers, each of whom will walk about 200 meters to pass the flame to the next torchbearer. The Olympic flame will be routed through 859 municipalities in 47 prefectures across Japan over the next 121 days, and the main torch tower in the Tokyo National Stadium will be lit on July 23, the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games.
During the torch relay, it will pass through famous places in Japan, such as Mt. Fuji, Sensoji Temple, and Himeji Castle, and will also return to the venue of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Olympic epidemic prevention is the top priority
In view of the current epidemic situation, Japan's epidemic prevention work has been attracting much attention.
The Olympic Torch Relay Ceremony was originally planned to invite about 3,000 guests and ordinary spectators to enter, in order to prevent the spread of the new crown virus, the organizers decided to reduce the scale of the performance, reduce the number of guests, and cancel the participation of ordinary audiences.
Previously, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and the International Olympic Committee also adopted a number of epidemic prevention measures.
The Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee announced on the 9th of this month the epidemic prevention measures formulated for the Olympic Games, stipulating that athletes, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or not, will be tested for the virus at least 4 days, and if they repeatedly and seriously violate the relevant rules, they may be disqualified from the Olympic Games. The Tokyo 2022 Organising Committee previously required that players be tested for COVID-19 72 hours before departing for Japan, and then tested again after entering Japan.
On March 11, IOC President Bach said he would provide covid-19 vaccines purchased from China for participants in this year's Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, agencies AFP reported.
Under the epidemic situation, the Olympic flame "illuminates the way forward" with hope
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the discussion about whether the Tokyo Olympics can be held has never stopped. Even before the Olympic torch was delivered, social surveys in Japan still showed that the public was worried about hosting the Olympic Games during the epidemic.
Japan's Kyodo News Agency conducted a telephone survey of the Japanese people on March 20 and 21, and the results showed that 39.8% of the respondents believe that the Olympic Games should be cancelled, and only 23.2% of the respondents believe that the Olympic Games should be held as scheduled. Another as many as 82.2 percent of respondents said they were concerned about the spread of the variant of the new coronavirus.
According to the Asahi Shimbun website, the Asahi Shimbun also conducted a social survey on the 20th and 21st of this month, and in the survey on whether to support the hosting of the Tokyo Olympic Games, 27% of the respondents supported it, an increase from 11% in January, but 36% of the respondents still chose to "postpone it again", and 33% of the respondents said they hoped that the Olympic Games would be "suspended".
Some netizens said on social media platforms: In Japan, not everyone is looking forward to the Olympic flame transmission ↓
Some netizens also expressed their expectations for the Tokyo Olympic Games and believed that the Japanese side could do a good job in the relevant work
The COVID-19 epidemic has not subsided, and the holding of the torch relay still faces various doubts and challenges, but this Olympic Games has also brought hope to the global fight against the epidemic.
The flame relay is Japan's first large-scale event after the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games, and some Japanese media commented that the flame relay is the touchstone of whether the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games can be successfully held. Hashimoto has also said that the Tokyo Olympics will be completely different from the past, but the essence will remain the same, and athletes will invest everything in the competition and inspire all of us with their outstanding performances.
Tokyo Olympics postponed Looking back on a bumpy road for a year
Year 2020:
On March 30, the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo Organising Committee jointly announced that the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021, and the Tokyo Paralympic Games will be held from August 24 to September 5, 2021.
On July 17, the venues and schedules of the Tokyo Olympic Games were all determined, which is basically the same as the venues and schedules before the postponement.
On July 23, the Tokyo Organising Committee held a simple ceremony at the National Stadium to celebrate the first anniversary of the countdown to the opening of the Olympic Games, which was postponed for one year.
On October 21, the Tokyo Organising Committee conducted its first epidemic prevention and safety inspection test, which also symbolized a substantial step towards hosting the Olympic Games in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On November 30, the refund of tickets for the Tokyo Olympic Games was completed. Of the 4.45 million Olympic tickets sold, 810,000 were asked for refunds, representing a refund rate of 18%.
On December 15, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee announced the date and route of the torch relay.
Year 2021:
On January 4, 200 days before the tokyo Olympics began, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that he was considering issuing an emergency declaration for the Tokyo metropolitan government and surrounding areas with severe epidemics.
△ Former President of the Olympic Organizing Committee Yoshiro Mori (Source: Olympic official website)
On February 12, former Olympic Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori announced his resignation for making inappropriate remarks suspected of discriminating against women. On February 18, former Japanese Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto, who has participated in seven Olympic Games, was appointed President of the Tokyo Organising Committee.
On March 18, Tokyo Olympic Director Hiroshi Sasaki resigned under pressure after being exposed for making insulting remarks about a female artist.
On March 20, the Tokyo Organising Committee announced that overseas visitors would be barred from entering Japan to watch the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Tokyo Organising Committee President Seiko Hashimoto said the fact that overseas spectators were unable to participate in the Games was indeed very disappointing, but "we must ensure that every participant has a safe and secure environment." It was an unavoidable decision. At present, it has not been announced whether japanese domestic audiences will be able to enter.
On March 22, the Japanese side announced that only about 500 foreign volunteers with special skills would be allowed to serve the Tokyo Olympics.
On March 24, former Japan women's national soccer team leader Hotaru Sawa, who was scheduled to serve as the first torchbearer, resigned as the Torchbearer of the Tokyo Olympic Games due to health reasons. In addition, more than 30 celebrities from sports, acting, academia and other fields, such as Japanese cross-country skier Akito Watanabe, figure skater Masama Uno, well-known actors Ryoko Hiromi and Hitomi Kuroki, etc., have resigned as torchbearers on the grounds that "the schedule cannot be coordinated". The Tokyo 200 Organising Committee also confirmed that due to the current epidemic prevention and control policy, it will be difficult for about 300 international torchbearers to attend.
△ The staff is preparing for the transmission of the sacred flame in Nara City, Fukushima Prefecture
On the 24th, the staff stood in Nara City, Fukushima Prefecture to greet the last shift of the sacred flame.
Producer 丨 Lu Yi
Producer 丨 Zhao Xinyu
Edited by 丨Wang Tingting