July 23, (THEWILL) – The long-anticipated day has come as the official opening ceremony of the XXXII Olympic Games takes place in Tokyo at midday local time this Friday. Nigeria’s contingent will be in attendance led by the flagbearer, wrestling athlete Odunayo Adekuoroye, one of Nigeria’s major hopes of a medal.
Behind her will be 60 agile sportsmen and sportswomen of steely determination and unvarnished focus on whose shoulders lie the country’s hopes for medals in the 10 events for which they qualified for places at the Games in Tokyo, from Athletics to Wrestling and from Basketball to Taekwondo.
The eighth Olympic Games to be hosted in Asia will formally open in the new national stadium of Japan. Although it comes with a 68,000 capacity and was planned to be packed full with ticket-buying sports fans for a rousing and electrifying spectacle, the pandemic has seen to the shelving of those plans.
On Friday, therefore, there will be fewer than 1,000 spectators that will be composed of mostly Olympic officials, a handful of invited guests and selected media representatives, reporters and news crew. They will be sure to maintain social-distancing regulations and observe all COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
These are necessary precautions because, although the games were postponed by a year to enable the world deal with the consequences of COVID-19 to flatten the spiking rate of the infections amidst lockdowns and guidelines for socialising, there is still a pandemic concern in Japan even today.
This has been behind the repeated calls from Japanese residents, on the one hand, and the corps of Japanese medical professionals, on the other, to the government to reconsider hosting the Games, in the middle of a pandemic while daily updates of infections has not decreased and while there is an outbreak of the more infectious and resistant variant, the Delta COVID-19 variant.
As much as two thirds of the Japanese asked were not comfortable with the government’s insistence to continue with the postponed schedule and most were not confident in the government’s assurance that it could host a safe Games, as polls organised in the country have consistently shown in the months leading to the opening ceremony.
The figures of infected persons related to the Games seem to bear witness to the overall concerns of the Japanese. With three more athletes testing positive in recent updates, the number of COVID-19 positive athletes has reached 11 since July 2 and that brings the total figure of all Olympic-related cases to 106, when infected officials and media are added.
Yet, the Tokyo 2020 organisers have played according to the books and kept the athletes and their officials well informed of protocols and results, have kept up the pace of testing and assured the residents of the Olympics Village of their safety and health, especially if they abide by the guidelines, for the duration of the Games.
These were considered necessary to eliminate worry, give the athletes the confidence to focus on their preparations and get ready for their events without needing to bother too much about any distracting issues that may hamper their performance.
How much of this will be successful is going to be factored into the performances as the different events begin and as the competitions get underway after the opening ceremony.
As far as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is concerned, there is nothing but 17 days of sporting spectacle ahead as they have prepared to handle everything short of a calamitous outbreak. Together with the Japanese government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, the IOC had doggedly persisted on keeping to the schedule and doing everything possible to see the Games go on.
It is a testament of the strong determination to see it happen that has made sure that the controversies that have met the organisers ahead of the opening have not crippled the ceremonies and have not marred the schedule.
As THEWILL reported, Kentaro Kobayashi, the Creative Director of the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, who used to be a comedian, was fired on the eve of the opening ceremony after jokes he made about the Holocaust in a 1990s comedy sketch resurfaced and sparked a public outcry against him.
Prior to that sacking, the organisers have also had to see the composer for the opening ceremony, Keigo Oyamada, resign as well. Oyamada stepped down after comments he made in interviews in the 1990s about abusing and bullying classmates were circulated on social media. He apologised and stepped down.
In February this year, THEWILL reported the forced resignation of Yoshiro Mori, President of Tokyo Olympics Organising Committee, over sexist comments made earlier this month for which he had earlier believed an apology sufficed.
The 83-year-old, in response to a call for the Japanese Olympic Committee to increase the number of women on its board, was quoted to have said that women would talk too much in board meetings and that they “have a strong sense of rivalry”.
The limited guest list of the opening ceremony is billed to include French President Emmanuel Macron, who arrived in Tokyo to attend the opening ceremony, with Paris the succeeding host city for the Summer Games of 2024. He is one of about 950 people cleared to be in the stands, another of which is US First Lady Jill Biden, who arrived in Tokyo last night.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
