2020 Summer Olympics, The Games, Participating National Olympic Committees
The head of WADA's Compliance Review Committee, Jonathan Taylor, stated that the IOC would not be able to use the "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR) designation as it did in 2018, emphasizing that neutral athletes cannot be portrayed as representing a specific country. Russia later filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against WADA's decision. After reviewing the case on appeal, CAS ruled on 17 December 2020 that the penalty placed on Russia be reduced.


2020 Summer Olympics, The Games, Participating National Olympic Committees
Instead of a total ban from all sporting events, the ruling allowed Russia to participate at the Olympics and other international events, but the team would not be permitted to use the Russian name, flag, or anthem for a period of two years and must present themselves as "Neutral Athlete" or "Neutral Team". The ruling does allow for "Russia" to be displayed on the team uniform—although it should be no more visible than the "Neutral Athlete/Team" designation—as well as the use of the Russian flag's colors within the uniform's design.


2020 Summer Olympics, The Games, Participating National Olympic Committees
On 19 February 2021, it was announced that Russia would compete under the acronym "ROC" after the name of the Russian Olympic Committee although the name of the committee itself in full could not be used to refer to the delegation. The ROC team would be represented by the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee.


2020 Summer Olympics, The Games, Participating National Olympic Committees
On 6 April 2021, North Korea announced that it would not participate in the 2020 Summer Olympics because of COVID-19 concerns. This marks North Korea's first absence from the Summer Olympics since 1988. In September, a month after the games concluded, the Olympic Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was suspended from participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics, because of its failure to participate in the Tokyo Olympics. On 21 July 2021, Guinea announced it would not be sending a delegation to the Tokyo Olympics, allegedly due to COVID-19 concerns, though media outlets suggested that financial considerations may have been the real motivating factor. Guinea later reversed the decision and confirmed that it would be participating.


2020 Summer Olympics, The Games, Participating National Olympic Committees
The following 206 teams qualified (including the 104 universality places guaranteed in athletics, under which all 206 NOCs may send competitors regardless of qualification).


2020 Summer Olympics, Medal summary, Medal ceremonies
Naoki Satō composed the music for the medal ceremonies. Satō chose not to employ any musical elements distinctive to Japan "because victory ceremonies are for athletes from around the world" and he wanted all medalists to "feel at ease" when taking their places on the podium, regardless of their nationality.


2020 Summer Olympics, Medal summary, Medal ceremonies
The bouquets presented to the athletes came from regions affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The individual flowers were selected to represent the prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima, Iwate, and Toyko. The sunflowers were grown in Miyagi, planted by parents whose children had died during the disaster; the white and purple eustomas and Solomon's seals were provided by a non-profit initiative to boost the local economy in Fukushima; the small bright blue gentians were grown in Iwate; and aspidistras, grown in Tokyo, were chosen to complete the bouquets.


2020 Summer Olympics, Calendar
The 2020 schedule by session was approved by the IOC Executive Board on 18 July 2018, with the exception of swimming, diving, and artistic swimming. A more detailed schedule by event was released on 16 April 2019, still omitting a detailed schedule for the boxing events. A detailed boxing schedule was released in late 2019.


2020 Summer Olympics, Calendar
The original schedule was from 22 July to 9 August 2020. To postpone the Olympics until 2021, all events were delayed by 364 days (one day less than a full year to preserve the same days of the week), giving a new schedule of 21 July to 8 August 2021.


2020 Summer Olympics, Calendar, Event scheduling
Per the historical precedent of swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, swimming finals were held in the morning to allow live primetime broadcasts in the Americas. NBC paid substantial fees for rights to the Olympics, so the IOC has allowed NBC to influence event scheduling to maximize U.S. television ratings when possible. On 7 May 2014, NBC agreed to a US$7.75 billion contract extension to air the Olympics through the 2032 games, which is one of the IOC's major sources of revenue. Japanese broadcasters were said to have criticized the decision, as swimming is one of the most popular Olympic events in the country.


2020 Summer Olympics, Marketing
The official emblems for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled on 25 April 2016; designed by Asao Tokolo, who won a nationwide design contest, it takes the form of a ring in an indigo-colored checkerboard pattern. The design was meant to "express a refined elegance and sophistication that exemplifies Japan". The checkered design resembles a pattern called ichimatsu moyo that was popular during the Edo period in Japan from 1603 to 1867. The designs replaced a previous emblem which had been scrapped after allegations that it plagiarized the logo of the Théâtre de Liège in Belgium. The Games' bid slogan was Discover Tomorrow (Japanese: 未来（あした）をつかもう, romanized: Ashita o tsukamō). While ashita literally means "tomorrow", it is intentionally spelled as mirai, "future". The official slogan United by Emotion was unveiled on 17 February 2020. The slogan was used solely in English.


2020 Summer Olympics, Marketing
The official mascot of the 2020 Summer Olympics was Miraitowa, a figure with blue-checkered ichimatsu moyo patterns inspired by the Games' official emblem. Its fictional characteristics include the ability to teleport. Created by Japanese artist Ryo Taniguchi, the mascots were selected from a competition process which took place in late 2017 and early 2018. A total of 2,042 candidate designs were submitted to the Tokyo Organizing Committee, which selected three pairs of unnamed mascot designs to present to Japanese elementary school students for the final decision.


2020 Summer Olympics, Marketing
The results of the selection were announced on 28 February 2018, and the mascots were named on 22 July 2018. Miraitowa is named after the Japanese words for "future" and "eternity", and Someity is named after someiyoshino, a type of cherry blossom. Someity's name also refers to the English phrase "so mighty". The mascots were expected to help finance the Tokyo Games through merchandizing and licensing deals.


2020 Summer Olympics, Marketing, Colors
Alongside the main Emblem blue, the five other colors used in the branding of the 2020 Games were   Kurenai red,   Ai blue,   Sakura pink,   Fuji purple, and   Matsuba green. These five traditional colors of Japan were used as sub-colors to create points of difference in the color variations.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
Several controversial issues occurred during the preparations for the Tokyo Games. There were allegations of bribery in the Japanese Olympic Committee's (JOC) bid and of plagiarism in the initial design for the Games' logo. On 10 December 2018, the French financial crimes office began an investigation of Tsunekazu Takeda, the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, concerning a 2013 scheme to obtain votes from African IOC members in support of Tokyo as host for the 2020 Olympics over Istanbul or Madrid.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
In March 2020, a Japanese businessman admitted to giving gifts, including cameras and watches, to IOC officials in order to lobby for their support of Tokyo's bid to host the Olympic Games. The official emblems of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, designed by Kenjirō Sano, were unveiled in July 2015 but were withdrawn and replaced following plagiarism accusations. The lawsuit by Olivier Debie, who claimed that his logo design was copied, was later dropped, with the designer citing escalating legal costs.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
Mass logging for construction of the Olympic venues received international criticism. Petitions, containing more than 140,000 signatures in total, were delivered to the Japanese embassies in Switzerland and Germany, expressing concerns over claims of using tropical wood sourced from Shin Yang, a Malaysian company with a record of human rights abuses, illegal logging, and rainforest destruction. In February 2018, the Olympics Organizing Committee admitted that 87% of plywood panels used to build the new national stadium was sourced from endangered rainforests.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
Portions of the Games were scheduled for locations impacted by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and the subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The hosting of events in these locations was promoted as a means of furthering recovery in the regions, with the Games sometimes being promoted as the "Recovery Olympics" (復興五輪, Fukkō Gorin). However, the organization of events in these regions has faced criticism; Fukushima is considered safe by the World Health Organization and the United Nations, although scientific studies on the safety of the area are still disputed. Some Tōhoku residents questioned the decision to use the region as a host site, arguing that preparations for the Games slowed down recovery efforts, and that the region lost workers to projects associated with the Games.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
It was widely reported by international media that South Korea had asked the IOC to ban the Japanese Rising Sun Flag from the 2020 Summer Olympics, claiming it to be a symbol of Japan's imperialist past, recalling "historic scars and pain" for people of Korea just as the swastika "reminds Europeans of the nightmare of World War II". Use of the flag in international sporting events such as the Olympic Games is controversial because it was used for waging aggressive war against many countries in Pacific regions, including the Attack on Pearl Harbor.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
According to the Associated Press, the IOC issued a statement in response to South Korea's request, saying, "sports stadiums should be free of any political demonstration. When concerns arise at games time we look at them on a case by case basis." Russian and South Korean officials took issue with a map of the torch relay on the Games' official website, which depicted the disputed Liancourt Rocks (governed by South Korea) and Kuril Islands (governed by Russia since 1945) as part of Japan.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
In February 2021, the TOCOG president Yoshirō Mori resigned, after facing both domestic and international criticisms over his sexist remarks. The previous conduct of the new president, Seiko Hashimoto, has also drawn criticisms, leading her to comment "I regret it and think I should be careful" on one of the accusations. The head creative director for the opening and closing ceremonies, Hiroshi Sasaki, resigned in March 2021, after making demeaning comments about Naomi Watanabe.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
Sasaki's replacement, Kentarō Kobayashi, was dismissed by the Organizing Committee the day before the opening ceremony, after it was reported by Japanese media that he had made a joke about the Holocaust in a script for his comedy in 1998, saying "Let's play Holocaust." On the eve of the opening ceremony, Yoshihide Suga, the Prime Minister of Japan and the Supreme Advisor of the Organizing Committee, described Kobayashi's jokes as "outrageous and unacceptable", but also said that the opening ceremony, which was directed by Kobayashi, should proceed as planned.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
The composer for the opening ceremony, Keigo Oyamada, resigned days before the ceremony after growing criticism of his past  bullying of people with apparent disabilities, such as Down syndrome. On 16 July, a week before the opening ceremony, TOCOG announced their support of Oyamada as a composer and vowed not to change his selection for the ceremonies, but growing criticism forced him to announce his resignation on 19 July. The opening ceremony music included arrangements of video game soundtracks originating in Japan; however, this included music from the Dragon Quest series, composed by Koichi Sugiyama whom The Daily Beast described as "notoriously homophobic and ultranationalist", leading to further criticism of the Organizing Committee.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
Officials reported that by early June 2021, about 10,000 of the 80,000 registered volunteers had quit. "There's no doubt that one of the reasons is concern over coronavirus infections," the chief executive of the Organizing Committee said, also stating he did not believe this would impact the operation of the Games. On 23 July, hundreds of anti-Olympic protestors gathered outside the Japan National Stadium before the opening ceremony. Security guards blocked reporters from leaving the stadium to interview protestors.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
A number of controversies arose during the Games, most notably the attempted repatriation on 1 August of Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, allegedly for her criticism of the national sports authorities and team management. Refusing to return to Belarus, over fears for her safety, Tsimanouskaya sought assistance from the IOC and traveled to Warsaw, Poland, on 4 August after being granted a humanitarian visa by Tokyo's Polish Embassy.


2020 Summer Olympics, Concerns and controversies
Near the end of the Olympics, it was reported that Australian athletes had damaged the village rooms before departure, leaving a pool of vomit on the floor, damaged beds and a hole in the wall. Australian rugby Olympians also reportedly became drunk on the flight to Sydney, leaving vomit in the plane bathroom and receiving complaints from other passengers. Team Australia chief Ian Chesterman played down the incidents, and said that the Olympians would not be punished.


2020 Summer Olympics, Broadcasting
Sony and Panasonic partnered with NHK to develop broadcasting standards for 8K resolution television, with a goal to release 8K television sets in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics. In early 2019, Italian broadcaster RAI announced its intention to deploy 8K broadcasting for the Games. NHK broadcast the opening and closing ceremonies, and coverage of selected events in 8K. Telecom company NTT Docomo signed a deal with Finland's Nokia to provide 5G-ready baseband networks in Japan in time for the Games.


2020 Summer Olympics, Broadcasting
The Tokyo Olympics were broadcast in the United States by NBCUniversal networks, as part of a US$4.38 billion agreement that began at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee asserted that a "right of abatement" clause in the contract was triggered by the delay of the Games to 2021, requiring the IOC to "negotiate in good faith an equitable reduction in the applicable broadcast rights payments" by NBC, which remains one of IOC's biggest revenue streams. According to NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, the Tokyo games could be the most profitable Olympics in NBC's history.


2020 Summer Olympics, Broadcasting
In Europe, this was the first Summer Olympics under the IOC's exclusive pan-European rights deal with Eurosport, which began at the 2018 Winter Olympics and is contracted to run through 2024. The rights for the 2020 Summer Olympics covered almost all of Europe; a pre-existing deal with a marketer excludes Russia. Eurosport planned to sub-license coverage to free-to-air networks in each territory, and other channels owned by Discovery, Inc. subsidiaries.


2020 Summer Olympics, Broadcasting
In the United Kingdom, these were set to be the last Games with rights owned primarily by the BBC, although as a condition of a sub-licensing agreement due to carry into the 2022 and 2024 Games, Eurosport holds exclusive pay television rights. In France, these were the last Games whose rights are primarily owned by France Télévisions. Eurosport debuted as pay television rightsholder, after Canal+ elected to sell its pay television rights as a cost-saving measure.


2020 Summer Olympics, Broadcasting
In Canada, the 2020 Games were shown on CBC/Radio-Canada platforms, Sportsnet, TSN and TLN. In Australia, they were aired by Seven Network. In the Indian subcontinent, they were aired by Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN).


2020 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations
During the Parade of Nations within the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, which took place on 23 July 2021, athletes and officials from each participating team entered the Olympic Stadium preceded by their flag and placard bearer. Each flag bearer will have been chosen either by the team's National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves. For the first time, each team had the option to allow two flag bearers, one male and one female, in an effort to promote gender equality. These Olympics were postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


2020 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations
The number of athletes who paraded at this opening ceremony was much smaller than normal, which is also due to the new "2-week, 2-wave" system which is first used at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, in which the athletes that competed at the first week paraded at the opening ceremony, and the athletes that compete at the second week paraded at the closing ceremony.


2020 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Parade order
As the originator of the Olympics, the Greek team entered first, followed by the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, composed of refugees from several countries. With the exception of the current and next two hosts, other teams then entered, following the Gojūon order, based on the names of countries in Japanese. The three final teams in the parade were those of the countries that will host the next two Olympic Games in Los Angeles 2028 and Paris 2024, the United States and France respectively, then finally the delegation from the host nation Japan. The names of the teams were announced in French, followed by English then Japanese, the official languages of the Olympic movement and the host nation, in accordance with Olympic Charter and International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines.


2020 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Parade order
The Republic of North Macedonia had previously competed under the provisional name of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, because of the disputed status of its official name. It was officially renamed to North Macedonia in February 2019 and the Olympic Committee of North Macedonia (NMOC) was officially adopted in February 2020. It was North Macedonia's first appearance at the Summer Olympics under its new name.


2020 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Parade order
Several of the nations marched under their formal Japanese names, which explains for instance the Great Britain delegation marching under the formal name Eikoku rather than the better known informal Igirisu (イギリス) and the Chinese delegation under Chūka Jinmin Kyōwakoku (the Japanese equivalent of People's Republic of China) instead of just Chūgoku (中国).


2020 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Teams and flagbearers
On 4 March 2020, the IOC announced that each team can have the option to allow two flag bearers, one male and one female, in an effort to promote gender equality.


2020 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Teams and flagbearers
Below is a list of parading teams and their announced flag bearer(s), in the same order as the parade. This is sortable by team name, flag bearer's name, and flag bearer's sport. Unlike previous editions, the teams entered the Olympic Stadium ordered by their names in Japanese, following the Gojūon order with six exceptions (Greece, Refugee Olympic Team (EOR), Russian Olympic Committee athletes (ROC), United States (USA), France, and Japan).


2020 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations, Music
Musical pieces for the Parade of Nations were selected from several video game soundtracks created in Japan. These selections included themes from Square Enix's Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, SaGa, Nier, Chrono Trigger, and Kingdom Hearts, Bandai Namco's Tales series, Soulcalibur, and Ace Combat, Capcom's Monster Hunter, Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer and Gradius, and Sega Sammy's Sonic the Hedgehog.


2020 Summer Olympics cauldron
The 2020 Summer Olympics cauldron (Japanese: 2020) was made for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. In fact, there were two cauldrons, one in the Olympic Stadium for ceremonial use (opening and closing ceremony only) and another on Tokyo's new waterfront on Ariake West Canal, which was lit after the Opening Ceremony and remained alight throughout the Games. The cauldron was designed by Canadian-Japanese designer Oki Sato, who attended Waseda University, the same university as Yoshinori Sakai, the cauldron-lighter in 1964. The steps to reach the cauldron, symbolising Mount Fuji, were "designed to evoke the image of a blooming sakura flower."


2020 Summer Olympics cauldron
Designed by Nendo founder Oki Sato, the white cauldron evokes the opening ceremony's concept of "All gather under the sun, all are equal, and all receive energy". The panels opened to reveal the Olympic torch, at the ending of the opening ceremony, and was lit by Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka. "At the end of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the cauldron 'blooms' to welcome the final torchbearer," said Nendo. "This expresses not only the sun itself, but also the energy and vitality that can be obtained from it, such as plants sprouting, flowers blooming, and hands opening wide toward the sky."


2020 Summer Olympics cauldron
The cauldron's flame was the first at the Olympics to burn hydrogen as a fuel. The hydrogen was produced via the electrolysis of water using solar power produced at a plant in the Fukushima Prefecture. Hydrogen produced by this process is known as green hydrogen. The hydrogen burns with an invisible, colourless flame unlike propane, which has is traditionally used as a fuel in previous Olympic flames. In order to create a yellow and visible flame, sodium carbonate is sprayed. "[ We] adjusted the movement and shape of the flame to shimmer like firewood was stoked; such an attempt to 'design flames' was unprecedented." said Nendo firm.


2020 Summer Olympics cauldron
After the 2020 Summer Olympics the waterfront cauldron has remained in place as a reminder of the Games, as in 2016.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics took place in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo for about two and a half hours from 20:00 (JST) on August 8, 2021. The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, which was postponed for one year due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, was unusual because it was held without spectators. The scale was also reduced compared to past ceremonies as athletes were required to leave the Olympic Village 48 hours after their competitions finished.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
The proceedings combined the formal ceremonial closing of this international sporting event (including closing speeches, the parade of athletes and the handover of the Olympic flag) with an artistic spectacle to showcase the culture and history of the current and next host nation (France) for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The theme of the Olympic Ceremonies was Moving Forward, referencing the COVID-19 pandemic, with the closing ceremony theme being Worlds we share.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
The closing ceremony was largely pre-recorded with some live segments. Performers adhered to social distancing measures during the live portions. The ceremony gave a chance for athletes to experience a day in a Tokyo park, included a "moment of remembrance", featuring cultural dances and folk songs from the three national ethnic groups of Japan, and had references to the 1964 Summer Olympics.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Preparations
The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) gave the first report of preparations in December 2017, with the release of the "Basic Policy" document for the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies. The document was based upon feedback from experts and opinions of the Japanese public and includes the foundational elements for the positioning and overall concept of the four ceremonies. The Olympic opening ceremony introduced the themes and concepts of the 4 ceremonies, including peace, coexistence, reconstruction, the future, Japan and Tokyo, the athletes and involvement.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Preparations
The opening and closing ceremonies has had three different directors as its Chief Creative Director. Between July 2018 and December 2020, Mansai Nomura, an actor in traditional Japanese theater, was the Chief Creative Director. Normura stepped down from the role and becoming an advisor. Between December 2020 and March 2021, Hiroshi Sasaki was Chief Creative Director, until Sasaki resigned after making a derogatory comment about Japanese comedian and fashion icon Naomi Watanabe. The reports came a month after Yoshirō Mori, president of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, resigned over derogatory comments made about female members of the Committee. Since March 2021, Takayuki Hioki, managing director of Sports Branding Japan, has been the Deputy Chief Ceremonies Officer and Executive Producer.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Preparations
Italian Marco Balich, head of Balich Worldwide Shows, was the Senior Adviser to the Executive Producer. Balich performed these functions also during the production of the ceremonies on 2006 Winter Olympics, 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2016 Summer Olympics, among another events as 2019 Pan American Games and 2019 Summer Universiade. In an interview, in July 2019, he mentioned that his involvement would be in partnership with the Japanese advertising company Dentsu. Dentsu's creative director for these ceremonies, Kaoru Sugano, resigned in January 2020 over harassment claims.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Preparations, COVID-19 impact
In a preview press release, "Moving Forward" would be consistent theme for both 2020 Opening and Closing Ceremonies. The ceremonies would be linked by the concept of "Moving Forward", a reference to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. "We have designed the ceremonies around the concept that the Games can bring fresh hope and encouragement to people around the world through the active appearance of athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Games and via the power of sport", organisers declared. This was expected, as just after the postponement, Balich went on record that the crisis would be mentioned at some point during the ceremony due to its significance at the games.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Preparations, COVID-19 impact
The closing ceremony theme was "Worlds we share" which is expected to cover themes of diversity & inclusion and a brighter and better future.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Preparations, COVID-19 impact
Much of the artistic and cultural sections of the ceremony adhered to social distancing guidelines and the majority of segments were pre-recorded. Before the announcement of barring spectators were made, ticket prices for the Closing Ceremony were expected to range between ¥12,000 and ¥300,000.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Venue
The Japan National Stadium served as the main stadium for the closing ceremony. Demolition of the old National Stadium was completed in May 2015, followed by the construction of the new stadium which began at the same site on 11 December 2016. The stadium was handed over to the IOC on 30 November 2019 for necessary games and ceremony preparations. Capacity during the Olympic Games was 60,102 taking into account press and executive seating areas.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, Program
Many sequences of the ceremony were pre-recorded, due to COVID restrictions including traditional Ainu dancers from Hokkaido.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, A World of Applause
A fireworks show began the ceremonies, while a highlights video played.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, Ready to Welcome
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and Crown Prince Fumihito entered the stadium while a theme from the film Tokyo Story played. (JST 20:01)


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, Ready to Welcome
The Japanese flag entered into the stadium carried by six people to the music of "Tokyo Story" by Takashi Yoshima: among these were 4 Olympic champions, the winner of the 60 kg event in judo,  Naohisa Takato, the first Youth Olympic champion in breaking, Ramu Kawai, the swimmer Yui Ohashi, who won two gold medals on this Games: the first in women's 400 metres individual medley and another on the 200 metre medley and the artistic gymnast Takeru Kitazono winner of five gold medals on the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and a silver medal on team event on this senior games.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, Ready to Welcome
The other two were the doctor Hiroyuki Yokota who worked as medical during the games and the fashion model Yano Amane who uses a leg prosthetic. Amane will who also be present on the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. while the stadium ground was framed like the Yoyogi park with grass all around. The flag was handed to members of the Japanese defence forces, who were present in all the awards ceremonies of the Games. The National Anthem of Japan was performed by the performance group Takarazuka Revue in women's hakama style.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, After the Games (Parade of Athletes)
The flag bearers then arrived in a two by two configuration, until they reach the middle of the stadium. They then surround the middle circle of the stadium floor. After the flags arrived at the stadium a highlights video of the events from all sports was shown.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, After the Games (Parade of Athletes)
The entrance of the flags featured the original 1964 Olympic Parade of Athletes music entitled "Olympic March", followed by a more modern-day remix by Fantastic Plastic Machine, KEIZOmachine!, Takeshi Nakatsuka and REMO-CON that played during the athletes' entrance, which combined modern day dance music with the original 1964 Olympic March, and it also featured elements of traditional music from around the world.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, After the Games (Parade of Athletes)
Once the athletes all arrived, the lights went out and the athletes were asked to turn on a light (such as a light on their smartphone) where then, an augmented reality (or taped) segment played to show the athletes were united under the Olympic rings.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, All Tokyoites
This segment was to show a day at the park in Tokyo while also showcasing Japanese popular music. The organisers also stated the segment was for the athletes: "Despite having come to Tokyo, the athletes have not had the opportunity to see or experience Tokyo for themselves."


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, All Tokyoites
The musical portion featured performances by Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, milet, DJ Matsunaga and the Tokyo Katakura High School Senior Brass Band (which they performed remotely via pre-recorded material) performing a medley featuring LiSA's Gurenge, Kyu Sakamoto's Sukiyaki, Ludwig van Beethoven's Ode to Joy from Symphony No. 9 and Édith Piaf's Hymne à l'amour as the first reference to Paris, as the host city of the next Games in 2024. This also was the first appearance of Ode to Joy at an Olympic Ceremony since the Sydney 2000 opening ceremony.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, Our Gratitude, Marathon Victory Ceremonies
This is the first part of the Antwerp Ceremony. As the Olympic Charter determines the National Anthem of Greece was played before the marathon victory ceremonies to link the Ancient Olympics to the Modern Olympics. President of the IOC Thomas Bach (for Women's marathon), Vice-President of the IOC Anita DeFrantz (for Men's marathon) and World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe presented the medals to:


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, Our Gratitude, IOC Athletes Commission
The new members of the IOC Athletes Commission were introduced and presented bouquets to Tokyo 2020 volunteers. A segment dedicated to volunteers was shown before the new members were introduced which featured the volunteers working on enhanced cleaning measures, social distancing and other safety guidelines due to the current COVID-19 pandemic safety measures.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, We Remember
A lone dancer (Aoi Yamada) performed butoh as performers circled around the stage carrying lanterns. Various funeral and mourning rituals performed across Japan were presented at this ceremony in memory of those who died in this exceptionally extended five-year Olympic cycle and also in honor of all those passed around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 3 national ethnic groups ofJapanese population were featured: the Ainu from Hokkaido, Eisa performed by Okinawans, and a Nishinomai Bon Odori dance from Akita, to represent the Japanese proper.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, We Remember
As the life goes on, the traditional Gujō Odori from Gifu was performed on a party at the Yoyogi Park simulation while performers in yukata kimono performed the traditional Tokyo Ondō around the stage backed by a drummer (Kensaku Sato) and two singers (Takayuki Matsuda and his daughter, Ryu Matsuda), as the tradition determines the volunteers, the performers and the athletes are invited to join in.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, To Paris 2024
The Antwerp Ceremony is a tradition that has been held at every closing ceremony since 1920. Before the Antwerp Ceremony, the Olympic Anthem was performed by Tomotaka Okamoto as the Olympic flag was lowered. The flag will be raised again in Beijing, China for the 2022 Winter Olympics around 180 days later, on 4 February 2022 at the opening ceremony. After the Olympic Anthem was played, Yuriko Koike in a special kimono, the Governor of Tokyo, passed the flag to IOC President Thomas Bach, who handed the Olympic flag over to Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris. This was the first time in Olympic history the flag was passed from between two female mayors.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, To Paris 2024
The Paris 2024 presentation was two pre-recorded short films, transitioning to around 2 minutes of live footage at the Trocadéro, Paris. This was done in accordance with the safety measures and restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was allowed as part of an Agenda 2020 plan implemented by the IOC in 2014.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, To Paris 2024
The first short film presented a contemporary arrangement by Victor le Masne of the National Anthem of France performed by the Orchestre National de France, led by the conductor Chloé Dufresne. The anthem was also performed by musicians in various locations across Paris such as the roof of Stade de France (which will serve as the main venue during the 2024 games), inside the Louvre museum, the Square du Vert-Galant, La Recyclerie and the Skatepark Diderot. After the orchestra's performance, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet played the last few notes of the anthem on his saxophone from the International Space Station, as it was flying over Japan.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, To Paris 2024
The second short film was called "Ride", directed by Valentin Petit and featured music by Woodkid, starting with footage of the city of Paris seen from space. This act features young BMX star Estelle Majal incarnating Mariane (the symbol of the French Republic or one of the symbols on the Paris 2024 emblem logo).


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, To Paris 2024
She rides her bike across the roof from many famous landmarks in Paris such as the Palais-Royal, the Musée d'Orsay, the Palais Garnier and Le Panthéon, before ending with a shot of the iconic Eiffel Tower with a giant flag featuring the Paris 2024 emblem flying on it.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, To Paris 2024
The real flag was initially planned to be raised live which would have broken a world record for the largest flag ever flown, but due to bad weather conditions in Paris, instead they used a CGI animation of the flag, as the flag used during the trial held on 8 June was different in design and in size.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, To Paris 2024
After the film, French Olympic athletes who returned from Tokyo after their competitions were held in the first week of the Games appeared, such as judokas Clarisse Agbegnenou and Teddy Riner with medals, who have returned from Tokyo was on a open-air party with 6000 person watching the closing ceremony at the Trocadéro in celebrating the handover from Tokyo to Paris as the Patrouille de France flies over the Eiffel Tower, with smoke in the national colours of blue, white and red streaming across the Parisian skies, while young performers take the stage performing breakdancing, the newest sport on the Paris Olympic programme. Finally, French President Emmanuel Macron appeared from the top of the Eiffel Tower with some younger athletes and delivered the French version of the new Olympic Motto, "Plus vite, Plus haut, Plus fort – Ensemble" ("Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together") ending the Paris 2024 segment.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, To Paris 2024
After Macron's appearance, the president of the COJOP, Tony Estanguet (who has also just returned from Tokyo some hours before) appears on stage and writes "Paris 2024" on a camera lens as the camera moves up to the blue skies of summer in Paris just like what happens in tennis Grand Slams. The image is shown on the stadium screens whilst the Tokyo Skytree is shown in the national colours of France, showing a connection between two iconic symbols of the current and future host cities, Tokyo's Skytree and Paris' Eiffel Tower.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, To Paris 2024
Local rights owners for the next Games (Discovery, Inc. under Eurosport and France Télévisions) were mainly involved for the Paris 2024 presentation as they handled most of the filming process for the presentation, and was broadcast by satellite (CEST 14:42-14:53). This was the first time in Olympic history that a handover presentation at the closing ceremony was produced, performed and broadcast outside the current host city.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, Passing the Baton
Seiko Hashimoto, President of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games spoke to the athletes "There are no words to describe what you have achieved." "Tonight the Olympic Flame that has lit up Tokyo will quietly go out. But the hope that has been ignited here will never be extinguished. It will remain alight in the hearts of people all over the world as we continue to hope for peace in the spirit of Ekecheiria, a tradition unbroken from the ancient Olympic Games." She also pointed people to the upcoming Paralympic Games. Her comments were overshadowed by a moth that landed on the podium.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, Passing the Baton
IOC President Thomas Bach thanked the volunteers for an "unprecedented Olympic Games" and said that Japanese people can be "extremely proud of what you have achieved". In French, he declared the Games closed, calling them "the Games of hope, solidarity, and peace", and "call[ed] upon the youth of the world" to assemble in Paris for the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in 2024.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, On to the Next Chapter
After the presentation and closing speeches, actress Shinobu Otake (with the Suginami Children's Chorus) appeared, simulating an astronomy class in allusion to sci-fi movies and comics as they sang the iconic and popular song, "A Stroll Among Stars" composed by Kenji Miyazawa. The lyrics highlights the constellations that are seen in the Japanese sky during summer nights.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, On to the Next Chapter
After the song ended, an eletronic version of Claude Debussy's Clair de lune performed by Isao Tomita started playing, the cauldron's flame was extinguished through a "telekinesis simulation" (the cauldron was simulated to have been extinguished manually as it was impossible to do so in real life) in which the children and the teacher were making a sign of gratitude, shortly thereafter, the structure in which the fire had been burning for the past 16 days closed and reverted to its original shape. As the protocol demands,the last fireworks display then started.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Proceedings, On to the Next Chapter
After the fireworks display a trailer of the then upcoming Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games was screened. Finally, one of the large screens showed a goodbye message with the word "Arigato" which is shown in the same font as the word "Sayonara" was during the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games Tokyo 1964 using stop-motion toy cubes rather than scoreboard lettering. This was a homage and a gratitude to all the people who were involved in the two times the city hosted the Summer Olympic Games (1964 and 2020).


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Reviews
Philip Barker of Inside the Games opined that for many athletes and supporters, the tone of the ceremony was dignified and appropriate. Hashimoto stated in a press interview that the flame would "quietly go out", which he felt that "It was an apt description of a dignified and low key Ceremony which conveyed a sense of gratitude that the Games had been able to take place at all."


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Reviews
Dominic Patten of Deadline Hollywood argued that the ceremony was an "uneven mixtape" of contrasts, comparing the low-key "celebration of the culture of the Asian power and brow moping acknowledgement of the pandemic" to the jubilant Paris segment, as well as cliché-filled speech of Thomas Bach.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Reviews
Alan Tyres of The Daily Telegraph discussed the IOC updated motto as a sign of things to come. He stated, "The updated Olympic motto of 'faster, higher, stronger – together' fits with how sport is covered and contextualised at this moment in history: inclusion, diversity, justice and a duty of care to the athletes must be taken into consideration as much as performance." He also discussed the strangeness of the ceremony, as it was performed without a stadium audience.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony flag bearers
During the closing ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the flag bearers for the 205 National Olympic Committee's (NOCs) and the IOC Refugee Olympic Team will enter the Olympic Stadium. The flags of each country were not necessarily carried by the same flag bearer as in the opening ceremony. Due to COVID-19 related protocols, athletes had to leave Japan within 48 hours from completion of their final event, leaving some countries without representation during the closing ceremony. Flags of the countries without athletes present were instead carried by volunteers.


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony flag bearers, Countries and flagbearers
The following is a list of each country's flag bearer. The list is sorted by the order in which each nation appears in the parade of nations. Names will be given as officially designated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).


2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony flag bearers, Countries and flagbearers
Because of the requirement that all competing athletes had to leave Tokyo within 48 hours of the completion of their events, not all of the National Olympic Committees were able to select a flag bearer for the closing ceremony.


2020 Summer Olympics marketing
2020 Summer Olympics marketing is a long running campaign that began when Tokyo won its bid to host the games in 2013.


2020 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Emblem
The official emblems for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled on 25 April 2016; designed by Asao Tokolo, who won a nationwide design contest, it takes the form of a ring in an indigo-coloured checkerboard pattern. The design is meant to "express a refined elegance and sophistication that exemplifies Japan". The checkered design resembles a pattern called ichimatsu moyo that was popular during the Edo period in Japan from 1603 to 1867. The designs replaced a previous emblem which had been scrapped due to allegations that it plagiarized the logo of the Théâtre de Liège in Belgium.


2020 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Slogan
The Tokyo bid slogan was Discover Tomorrow (Japanese: 未来（あした）をつかもう, romanized: Ashita o tsukamō). While ashita literally means 'tomorrow', it is intentionally spelled as mirai 'future'.


2020 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Slogan
The official slogan for the Tokyo 2020 Games, United By Emotion (Japanese: 感動による団結, romanized: Kando ni yoru danketsu), was unveiled on 17 February 2020.


2020 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Mascots
The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee began accepting submissions for the official mascots of the Games from 1 to 14 August 2017. A total of 2,042 entries were received. Three shortlisted entries were unveiled at the Kakezuka Elementary School on 7 December 2017. A poll was then conducted between 11 December 2017 and 22 February 2018 to choose the winning entry, with each participating elementary school class allocated one vote. The results were announced on 28 February 2018.


2020 Summer Olympics marketing, Symbols, Mascots
The winning entry was candidate pair A, created by Ryo Taniguchi, which received 109,041 votes, followed by Kana Yano's pair B with 61,423 votes and Sanae Akimoto's pair C with 35,291 votes. Miraitowa is a figure with blue checkered patterns inspired by the Games' official logo, which has old-fashioned charm and new innovation combined with a special power of instant teleportation. Both Miraitowa and Someity were named by the Organising Committee on 22 July 2018.


2020 Summer Olympics marketing, Video games
Sega re-gained the rights to produce video games based on the Olympics, after the rights for 2018 were held by Ubisoft. Sega has developed officially licensed games for various platforms since the 2008 Summer Olympics, most notably the Mario & Sonic series.


2020 Summer Olympics marketing, Video games
At Sega Fest 2019, Sega announced they will be releasing four titles that will take place in the 2020 Olympics:


2020 Summer Olympics marketing, Video games
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020  on the Switch released on November 5, 2019 worldwide. Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - The Official Video Game released on July 24, 2019 for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in East Asia, while the release date for the other territories is June 22. Sonic At The Olympic Games - Tokyo 2020 released for mobile devices on May 6, 2020. The arcade game came out in 2020.


2020 Summer Olympics marketing, Video games
In the Konami game, eBaseball Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2020, the game includes "Tokyo 2020 Olympics Mode" where players can play Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium and the Yokohama Stadium with Tokyo 2020 branding.


2020 Summer Olympics marketing, Corporate sponsorship and advertising
As of 2015 total sponsorship for the 2020 Games reached approximately $1.3 billion, setting an Olympics record (the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing attracted $1.2 billion).


2020 Summer Olympics medal table
The following medal table is a list of 92 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and one non-NOC team ranked by the number of gold medals won by their athletes during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, from 23 July to 8 August 2021.


2020 Summer Olympics medal table
Bermuda, the Philippines and Qatar won their first-ever Olympic gold medals, while Burkina Faso San Marino, and Turkmenistan won their first-ever medals. In addition, North Macedonia won its first-ever silver medal, having previously received one bronze medal.


2020 Summer Olympics medal table
A total of 93 nation teams won medals, breaking the previous record of 87 from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics. Furthermore, 65 nations won at least one gold medal, also breaking the record established at the Rio games. The United States won the most gold medals, as well as the most overall medals. Host Japan finished third with 27 gold medals.


2020 Summer Olympics medal table, Medals
The design for the Olympic medals for the 2020 Summer Olympics was created by Junichi Kawanishi. The medals were manufactured using metal extracted from recycled small electronic devices donated by the public. The ribbon uses the traditional Japanese design motifs found in ichimatsu moyo, a harmonised chequered pattern, and kasane no irome, a traditional kimono layering technique, in a modern presentation. The case is manufactured from Japanese ash wood dyed with the same colour as the Olympic emblem. The circular lid and the body of the case can be opened like a ring connected by a magnet. The obverse of the medals features Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, in front of Panathenaic Stadium and the Olympic rings.


2020 Summer Olympics medal table, Medals
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, athletes were presented with their medals on trays, and were asked to put them on themselves (or each other, in case of team winners), rather than having them placed around their necks by a dignitary.


2020 Summer Olympics medal table, Medal table
This is the table of the medal count of the 2020 Summer Olympics, based on the medal count of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). These rankings sort by the number of gold medals earned by a National Olympic Committee (NOC). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If, after the above, countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by IOC Country Code. Although this information is provided by the IOC, the IOC itself does not recognize or endorse any ranking system.


2020 Summer Olympics medal table, Medal table
The 2020 Summer Olympic program featured 33 sports with 50 disciplines, and a total of 339 events, resulting in 339 sets of medals being distributed.


2020 Summer Olympics medal table, Medal table
Two gold medals were awarded for a first-place tie in the men's high jump athletics event. No silver medal was awarded as a result.


2020 Summer Olympics medal table, Medal table
In boxing (13 events), judo (15 events), karate (8 events), taekwondo (8 events), and wrestling (18 events), two bronze medals are awarded in each event, for an additional 62 bronze medals. Also, two bronze medals were awarded for a third-place tie in the women's floor gymnastics event, for a total of 63 additional bronze medals.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 23 July 2021 at Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, and was formally opened by Emperor Naruhito. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history. The vast majority of the artistic spectacle was pre-recorded, with live segments performed with a small VIP audience and performers adhering to social distancing. The ceremony marked the 125th anniversary of the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens—the inaugural edition of the modern Olympic Games.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
The theme of the Olympic Ceremonies is Moving Forward, referencing the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the opening ceremony theme being the Tokyo 2020 motto United by Emotion, which the organisers intend to "reaffirm the role of sport and the value of the Olympic Games." The ceremony focused on responses to the pandemic by the athlete community, including themes of lament, restoration and hope, as well as some cultural points in Japan such as Japanese Theater, Video Games, and TV programming, such as Kasou Taishou. For the first time in an Olympic opening ceremony, a moment of silence was observed in honour of Israeli athletes and officials murdered in the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, January 2017–December 2020: Original Plans
The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) gave the first report of preparations in December 2017, with the release of the "Basic Policy" document for the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies. The document was based upon feedback from experts and opinions of the Japanese public and includes the foundational elements for the positioning and overall concept of the four ceremonies. The Olympic opening ceremony is to introduce the themes and concepts of the four ceremonies, including peace, coexistence, reconstruction, the future, Japan and Tokyo, the athletes and involvement.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, January 2017–December 2020: Original Plans
Between July 2018 and December 2020, Mansai Nomura, an actor in traditional Japanese theater, was the chief creative director. Marco Balich of Balich Worldwide Shows, is the Senior Adviser to the Executive Producer. Balich was involved as producer of the ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics, 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2016 Summer Olympics, and has done other international ceremonies such as the 2019 Summer Universiade and the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima. In July 2019, he mentioned that his involvement will be in partnership with the Japanese advertising company Dentsu. Dentsu's creative director for these ceremonies, Kaoru Sugano, resigned in January 2020 over harassment claims.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, January 2017–December 2020: Original Plans
The new National Stadium, called Olympic Stadium during the Games, served as the main stadium for the opening ceremony. Demolition of old National Stadium was completed in May 2015. Construction of the new stadium began at the site on 11 December 2016. The stadium was handed over to the IOC on 30 November 2019 for preparations. Had the pandemic not happen, capacity of the stadium during the Olympic Games would have been 60,102, including account press and executive seating areas. Before the announcement of barring spectators was made, ticket prices for the Opening Ceremony were expected to range between ¥12,000 and ¥300,000.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, January 2017–December 2020: Original Plans
Previous Olympic opening ceremonies in Japan, such as the 1998 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Nagano, mixed ancient Japanese cultural elements with themes of international peace. Reports from Inside the Games and Kyodo News in January 2020 suggested that there would be a bigger focus on Japanese technology and its popular culture in this ceremony. According to reports from Shūkan Bunshun, the original program would include numerous references to J-pop and video games with the creative team led by MIKIKO before it was scaled back. The plan was to follow on with what was presented in the Rio 2016 closing ceremony, where then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed up as Mario in the handover segment.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, January 2017–December 2020: Original Plans
According to the leak, the following artists, musicians, actors and cultural franchises were to appear in the ceremony:


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, December 2020–July 2021: COVID-19 Impact
In February 2020, after announcements concerning scaling back the Tokyo marathon due to the effects of COVID-19, health officials began to question whether the Olympic opening ceremony would also be impacted. On 24 March 2020, the IOC and the Tokyo Organizing Committee officially announced that due to the ongoing pandemic in Japan, the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics would be delayed to 2021, and held no later than Summer 2021 (marking the first time that an entire Olympics was postponed). On 30 March 2020, it was announced that the ceremony would take place on 23 July 2021.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, December 2020–July 2021: COVID-19 Impact
In December 2020, it was announced that Normura stepped down from Chief Creative Director as the original ceremony team disbanded, and Hiroshi Sasaki was announced as the new director. Normura became an advisor. At the press conference, Sasaki pointed out that the previous plans were scrapped as it was considered too extravagant, which suggested that it would be simplified as per audience expectations.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, December 2020–July 2021: COVID-19 Impact
In March 2021, Sasaki resigned after making a derogatory comment about Japanese comedian and fashion icon Naomi Watanabe. The reports came a month after Yoshirō Mori, president of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, resigned over derogatory comments made about female members of the committee. Since March 2021 until 22 July 2021, Kentarō Kobayashi was made chief creative director, with Takayuki Hioki, managing director of Sports Branding Japan, promoted to deputy chief ceremonies officer and executive producer.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, December 2020–July 2021: COVID-19 Impact
During organizing talks in late 2020, concerns were raised over who could attend the Opening Ceremony. In July 2021, the organizers agreed that the ceremony would be performed with no live audience, except for competing athletes if they choose to attend, a maximum of six officials for each country's delegation, and invited VIP guests. Much of the artistic and cultural sections of the ceremony will adhere to social distancing guidelines, and the majority of segments will be pre-recorded.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, December 2020–July 2021: COVID-19 Impact
In a press release released on 14 July 2021, the committee announced the themes and the creative team for the opening and closing of the Olympics and Paralympics. The theme of the Olympic ceremonies would be called "Moving Forward" referencing the world recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. The creative team state that they "have designed the ceremonies around the concept that the Games can bring fresh hope and encouragement to people around the world through the active appearance of athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Games and via the power of sport." This was expected, as just after the postponement in March 2020, Balich said that the crisis would be mentioned at some point during the ceremony due to its significance at the games.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, December 2020–July 2021: COVID-19 Impact
In that same press release, it found that they appointed Keigo Oyamada of Cornelius as one of the composers. The appointment prompted criticism on social media due to Oyamada's past bullying of people with apparent disabilities, such as Down syndrome. Oyamada admitted the disability abuse in interviews that resurfaced after his appointment. On 16 July, a week before the opening ceremony, the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which was questioned for insight and good sense, announced their support for him to continue as a composer. Toshirō Mutō, the chief executive of the Organizing Committee, said he wanted Oyamada to remain involved. However, on 19 July, Oyamada formally apologized, resigned and withdrew his music from the ceremony.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Preparations, December 2020–July 2021: COVID-19 Impact
On 22 July 2021, the day before the ceremony, Kentarō Kobayashi, the chief creative director of the ceremonies after Sasaki resigned, was fired by the organizing committee for making jokes about the Holocaust in a comedy routine in 1998, and the committee asked for a review of the ceremony content before it was performed. That evening, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who serves as the Supreme Advisor and Chairperson of the Organizing Committee, described Kobayashi's Holocaust jokes as "outrageous and unacceptable", but also said that the opening ceremony, prepared and directed by Kobayashi, should proceed as planned.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Concept
"Moving Forward" was the consistent theme for both 2020 Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as announced by Tokyo 2020: the ceremonies were linked by the concept of "Moving Forward", a reference to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. "We have designed the ceremonies around the concept that the Games can bring fresh hope and encouragement to people around the world through the active appearance of athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Games and via the power of sport", organisers declared.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Concept
"United by Emotion" was the theme song of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, rendered to the melody of "Imagine", as it is the official motto of the 2020 Games.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Concept
The Opening and Closing Ceremonies was produced by Takayuki Hioki, having been advised by Marco Balich, who notably executively created the opening of Turin's Winter Olympics in 2006. "In the Opening Ceremony, we will aspire to reaffirm the role of sport and the value of the Olympic Games, to express our gratitude and admiration for the efforts we all made together over the past year, and also to bring a sense of hope for the future", said Tokyo 2020.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Concept
"We hope it will be an experience that conveys how we all have the ability to celebrate differences, to empathise, and to live side by side with compassion for one another." Although the creative director of the ceremony, Kentarō Kobayashi, was fired on the day before the ceremony due to the past jokes of The Holocaust, the organising committee decided to hold the ceremony how it had been prepared and directed by him.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Program
The event, which was set to last three and a half hours, started at 20:00 JST, featured many sequences of the ceremony which were pre-recorded. As part of the "Moving Forward" theme, many segments involved diverse representation and building or re-building. The titles from this section largely come from the organisers.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Prelude
On the day of the ceremony, there was an exhibition flight by Blue Impulse, the aerobatics squadron of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force. The squadron drew the Olympic Rings over the Tokyo skies, marked the 57th anniversary of the 1964 Games for the first time in Tokyo.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Where the Stories Begin
A stop motion video begins showing many geometric shapes drawn in chalk, before showing a birds eye shot of the stadium. The camera zooms in on National Stadium, while a flock of doves fly by. The camera zooms into the grass ground where it focuses on a seed. Cutting to a live shot, an athlete is lit in green, while a projection of a seedling growing is shown behind the athlete.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Where the Stories Begin
A videotaped montage of Tokyo's recap to hosting the Games began, from awarding the rights in 2013 during the 125th IOC Session, to the hard work and training of the athletes, to the Olympic Games Rio 2016, to the qualification of the athletes and then, the chaotic events of 2020 when the world suddenly changed, which caused the athletes to continue training from home via video communication. A countdown from '21' referencing the postponement of games played, showing athletes overcoming the challenges of the past year. At 0, 694 fireworks then are then set off.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Apart but not Alone
The first performance of the ceremony, designed "[showcase] Japan’s forte in digital art and projection mapping technology," featured a digital graphics projection on the stadium floor, at the centre of which nurse and boxer Arisa Tsubata, who won a national championship only two years after taking the sport, but was unable to participate as an athlete after being eliminated in the first round of the Asia & Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification tournament held prior to the pandemic and the games' postponement, jogged on a treadmill, then was joined by performers on an exercise cycle, rowing maching, running in place, while performers abstract danced and coloured ball of light were projected, "symbolising the athletes' plight in training during the pandemic for this event." The ceremony opened with dancers wearing white outfits connected by red strings, meant to "portray the inner workings of the body and heart."


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, A Welcome from the Host
The following act featured the Japanese national flag and was carried by six bearers. They are:


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, A Welcome from the Host
Then, veteran singer Misia, who wore a dress designed "to honour the LGBTQ+ community and symbolise the fight for LGBTQ+ equality" made by openly gay costume designer Tomo Koizumi, singing the National Anthem of Japan while the flag was raised up by the members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. After the Japanese National Anthem was sung, a tribute was paid for those who had died from COVID-19, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and especially for the victims of the Munich 1972 massacre, one year before the 50th anniversary of that massacre. The actor Mirai Moriyama appeared up dressed in white and, after striking a pose of mourning, performed a butō dance in the middle of the stadium, while tenebrous and funereal music played. Subsequently, a moment of silence was observed at the culmination of this section of the ceremony.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, A Lasting Legacy
The unveiling of the Olympic Rings, which were made from trees planted from seeds during the 1964 Olympics, followed. It starred tap-dancing performers wearing hanten coats, which were traditionally worn by Edo-era craftspeople and carpenters and evoked Japanese summertime festivals, at which this style of clothing is common, as they built what has either been described as a mock Olympic Village or a matsuri, as the rings were brought while being surrounded by Japanese paper lanterns.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, A Lasting Legacy
A pre-recorded video was shown of Muhammad Yunus receiving the Olympic Laurel award in Bangladesh, because Yunus could not travel to Japan due to travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic in that country.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Parade of Nations
The Parade of Nations followed with the team delegations marching into the stadium. Before the athletes marched, a videotaped section was shown showcasing how the world trained for these challenging Olympics.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Parade of Nations
Athletes entered the stadium in an order dictated by the Olympic tradition. As the originator of the Olympics, the Greek team entered first. Other teams entered in order of the Gojūon system based on the names of countries in the Japanese language, the first time this happened as previous Olympics held in Japan have used the English language. Following tradition, the delegation from the host nation Japan entered last.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Parade of Nations
The Refugee Olympic Team, composed of refugees from several countries, was the second nation to enter, after Greece. For the first time ever in the opening ceremony, the countries that will host the next two Olympic Games, France (in 2024) and the United States (in 2028), marched immediately before the host nation Japan entered, instead of entering one-hundred-fifty-fourth (between Brazil and Bulgaria) and seventh (between Afghanistan and United Arab Emirates), respectively, according to the Japanese alphabet order. The names of the teams were announced in French, followed by English and Japanese, the official languages of the Olympic movement and the host nation, in accordance with traditional and International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Parade of Nations
Each of the signboards displaying the countries' names was written in Japanese on one side and English on the other, enclosed in speech balloons, evoking manga panels, while the signholders' costumes had manga tones.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Parade of Nations
The athletes themselves attended in low numbers compared to previous Olympics, as out of Team USA's 613 and Australia's 472, only about 200 and 63 attended, respectively.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Parade of Nations
In their entrances, several teams, including Argentina and Ghana, broke into song, while the Twitter account for the Games pointed out an Eritrean athlete who laid down on the ground, which other athletes had done as well while looking at their phones. As Russia had been banned to partake in sporting events by the World Anti- Doping Agency, Russian athletes marched under the ROC designation and flag. Japan inverted the colours of the uniform they had used in the 1964 Olympics, while France paraded in three rows, representing the tricolor flag.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Parade of Nations
Two flagbearers, Tonga's Pita Taufatofua and Vanautu's Riilio Rii, paraded shirtless and oiled. Noticeably, several members of the Kyrgyz and Tajik delegations as well as the Pakistani flagbearers entered the ceremony maskless. During the parade of nations, Mohamad Maso of Syria was reunited with his brother, Alaa, who represented the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Parade of Nations
For the first time, each team had the option to allow two flag bearers, one male and one female, in an effort to promote gender equality.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Parade of Nations
Before the athletes paraded in, a sign inside the stadium pointed out that the athletes should keep social distance between themselves and how far was the entrance as well as the restroom.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Parade of Nations
In addition, 19 tracks from popular Japanese video game series were also used during the duration of the two hour-long segment, these being:


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Parade of Nations
These also became the last parade involving Afghanistan before the Taliban re-invasion of Kabul several weeks after the games.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, A New Motto and Oath
The Parade of Nations finished with the projection of the Olympic motto, "Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together" in the middle of the stadium floor, between the athletes, which were organised into quadrants after they marched in. A message from Kirsty Coventry, the outgoing chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission was played, introducing the new Olympic Oath with the aim of promoting inclusion and the role of Athletes, Judges and Coaches as ambassadors. The following oath was delivered by 6 participants from the Tokyo delegation:


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, A New Motto and Oath
We promise to take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules and in the spirit of fair play, inclusion and equality. Together we stand in solidarity and commit ourselves to sport without doping, without cheating, without any form of discrimination. We do this for the honour of our teams, in respect for the Fundamental Principles of Olympism, and to make the world a better place through sport.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Imagine
Groups of all ages entered the stadium dancing around boxes, which were organised into three circles and then into the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 emblem logo. Then, mirroring the previous segment, 1,824 drones made a 3D rendition of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 emblem logo over the stadium and then the globe of Earth with its continents.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Here Together, Imagine
Following this an "emotional montage", featuring a "half-live, half-recorded performance" of "Imagine", composed by John Lennon, was sung by Angélique Kidjo, Alejandro Sanz, John Legend, and Keith Urban, all of whom joined remotely via pre-recorded material; plus the Suginami Junior Chorus, who was live in the stadium. It was arranged by Hans Zimmer, and had musical support provided by TAIKOPROJECT and the Synchron Stage Orchestra and Stage Choir. "Imagine" had previously appeared at other Olympic ceremonies, including the 1996 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Atlanta, the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Torino, the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London, and the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Peace Through Sport
Seiko Hashimoto, President of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and Thomas Bach, IOC president, then gave speeches. For her part, Hashimoto, was described as having "emotion in her voice as she spoke", briefly spoke about the Tokyo Olympics as an example of overcoming difficulties, as the pitch to host the Olympics was for it to form part of the rebuilding effort after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. She also called for the "Olympic Truce" to be observed.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Peace Through Sport
Bach in his 13 minute speech, highlighted that the Olympic movement showed "the unifying power of sport," and expressed his gratitude to healthcare workers, the volunteers and described participating refugee athletes as an "enrichment" for society. Both speeches were scheduled to last a combined total of nine minutes, but in the ceremony the segement took over twice as long.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Peace Through Sport
The opening declaration of the 2020 Olympic Games, limited to a prescribed statement of around 17 words, laid down in the Olympic Charter, was made by Emperor Naruhito. He was the third Japanese Emperor to open an Olympics, following his grandfather Emperor Hirohito (1964 Summer and 1972 Winter Olympics) and his father Emperor Akihito (1998 Winter Olympics). He was also the honorary patron of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympics. After Naruhito declared the Games open, 288 fireworks were set off.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Peace Through Sport
The Olympic Flag then entered the stadium. Many of the flag bearers were both athletes and frontline nurses, doctors and healthcare workers during the pandemic. The flag bearers were:


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Peace Through Sport
It was then handed to front line workers from Japan and was raised. The Olympic Anthem was sung in English by the choir composed of high school students from Tokyo and Fukushima.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Peace Through Sport
Finally, doves were projected on the stadium floor, before thousands of paper doves fluttered into the stadium, while an English recording of Susan Boyle performing the Japanese folk song Tsubasa o Kudasai (Wings to Fly) played.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Let the Games Begin & Time to Shine
A video sequence showed the history of the Olympic pictograms had been introduced at the Olympic Games 1964 (also in Tokyo), followed by a live-action recreation of the 50 pictograms used for the events of this Olympic Games. Out of the 50 pictograms, 48 were acted out by the performers using camera angles and various props, some done live in the middle of the stadium, others in prerecorded segments additionally with hand gestures, finger tutting, studio lights, and karate gi. During one prerecorded segment, parts of the song "Camptown Races" could be briefly heard while the equestrian-related pictograms were recreated.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Let the Games Begin & Time to Shine
The first pictogram shown, the one for the modern pentathlon, was initially depicted as a static image before the performer portraying the running figure moved out of place, setting up the nature of the performance, while the one for sailing was found printed on a propsman's shirt. The segment was directed by HIRO-PON, (from Gamarjobat)  with the segment being called "a funny, witty performance reminiscent of a typical Japanese TV game show."


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Let the Games Begin & Time to Shine
Following this, a lighting technician played by the comedian Hitori Gekidan was seen on camera to switch on the lights for several Tokyo and national landmarks across Japan. The Olympic champion and former figure skater Shizuka Arakawa was also involved in this sketch.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Let the Games Begin & Time to Shine
A performance by kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizō XI, acting out an excerpt from Shibaraku, was accompanied by jazz pianist Hiromi Uehara, playing a rendition of a tune from her album Spectrum. The segment, "intended to dispel negative energy," symbolised the mixing of both traditional Japanese performing arts and the Japanese affection towards modern jazz.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Hope Lights Our Way
Before the flame arrived at the stadium, a recap video played showcasing the flame's journey across Japan featuring the song Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) performed by Queen. The flame was brought into the stadium at the end of the torch relay by wrestler Saori Yoshida and judoka Tadahiro Nomura. It was carried by a trio of Japanese baseball greats (Shigeo Nagashima, Sadaharu Oh, and Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui), a doctor and a nurse, paralympian Wakako Tsuchida, and a group of students from Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures who were born shortly before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Hope Lights Our Way
Finally Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka carried it up the steps to light the Olympic cauldron; Osaka herself would compete for Japan in the Olympics before being eliminated in the third round of the women's tennis competition. Three hours later, the badminton player Ayaka Takahashi lit another cauldron, outside the stadium which was off–limits to guests.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Hope Lights Our Way
In December 2018, organisers had stated that although the Olympic cauldron would be officially lit and extinguished at the stadium, the flame would be transferred to a separate, public cauldron (following the lead of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio) at Ariake West Canal, on the Tokyo riverfront while the Games were in progress, and transferred back to Olympic Stadium for the closing ceremony. Organisers cited "physical difficulties" to keeping the flame at the New National Stadium due to the current japanese legislation about fire efects use. Due to the state of emergency, the cauldron was off-limits to guests and situated outside the Olympic Stadium.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Hope Lights Our Way
The cauldron was designed by Canadian-Japanese designer Oki Sato, who attended Waseda University, the same university as Yoshinori Sakai, the cauldron-lighter in 1964. The steps to reach the cauldron, symbolising Mount Fuji, were "designed to evoke the image of a blooming sakura flower."


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Proceedings, Hope Lights Our Way
The music featured in the cauldron lighting included Boléro by Maurice Ravel, "Rise of the Planet 9" from Dr. Copellius, composed by Isao Tomita, followed by the fireworks featuring the music of Takashi Yoshimatsu's Symphony No. 2 "At terra".


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Dignitaries in attendance
Even though the stadium had a capacity for 68,000 spectators, only 800 foreign and 150 local officials, who were deemed "Games stakeholders", were in attendance, as well as 3,500 members of the media and 6,000 members of team delegations, totalling 10,400. Even though it is customary for Olympic sponsors to send corporate representatives as well, companies such as Toyota, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, NEC, and Fujitsu, opted out of attending. A scoreboard in the stadium warned the attendees to "Clap, Do not sing or chant".


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Controversies
Outside the venue, protesters' opposing the Olympics being run during the pandemic was held in the southwestern corner of the Stadium, timed so that it would coincide with the beginning of the ceremony. The protestors' chant, "Go to hell, IOC," could reportedly be heard inside the stadium.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Controversies
Another scandal involving musicians was the dropping of the Sengalese-born Japanese percussionist, Latyr Sy, allegedly due to the organizers' reticence in having an "African" in the ceremony. He had been hired in May and had the rehearsal schedule sent to him in April, however, upon enquiring about signing his contract in May, he was informed that his inclusion in the program had been rejected due to his ethnicity.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Controversies
A spokesperson of the organising committee later stated that Sy's claim was completely different from the facts, and said "We had planned a music part in which many singers would participate, but due to infectious disease control and budget, we cancelled the part itself. Therefore we cancelled the appearance of all the participants in the music part. That is the background of that story."


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Reception
The ceremony was panned as being solemn and muted in comparison to previous Olympic ceremonies, with the lack of audience due to the state of emergency being a factor in the atmosphere, to the point that journalist Ian Dunt compared it to attending a funeral. It was also largely panned for being too long and confusing. Japanese Entertainment writer Elizabeth Matsumoto was confused by some elements of the ceremony such as the Matsuri segment, questioning why to focus on carpentry and if the tap dancing was necessary. Others criticized Bach's 13 minute speech where some athletes sat down during the segement.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Reception
Those who understood that the ceremony would be more muted, such as Jen Chaney from Vulture, opined that while it was largely entertaining and showed the perseverance of the human spirit, it also showed the pessimism and difficulties of holding the Summer Olympics during a pandemic, summarizing the theme of the ceremony as asking the question "What exactly are we doing here, and why?"


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Reception
Some did give positive reviews to the celebratory segments, including a segment featuring dancers re-creating the poses of the Games' pictograms. Moreover, some Japanese reviewers felt that Misia's performance of the Japanese Anthem was excellent and dignified given the difficulties of performing the anthem live. Others felt that the ceremony showed a unmistakably contemporary and diverse view of Japan, finishing with Osaka lighting the cauldron, who is biracial and has opened up about her mental health.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Broadcasting
In Japan, state broadcaster NHK aired the opening ceremony in 8K with 22.2 surround sound and hybrid log-gamma (HLG) HDR. Despite wide opposition to the Olympics by residents, the opening ceremony was seen in Japan by at least 73.27 million viewers nationwide, with NHK peaking at a 61% audience share during a segment featuring Miki Maya and at the start of the parade of nations. CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) Yiannis Exarchos stated that the opening ceremony was the most-watched Japanese television broadcast in the last 10 years. Locally, it was reported that the opening ceremony had achieved a 56% audience share in the Kantō region, making it the most-watched television broadcast in the region since the opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Broadcasting
South Korean broadcaster MBC faced criticism for showing profiles of countries with insensitive or stereotypical facts and images during the parade of nations, such as Italy being represented by a picture of pizza, Portugal being represented by a picture of egg tarts, Romania represented by a picture of Dracula, Ukraine represented by a photo of the Chernobyl disaster, Syria's profile mentioning the Syrian civil war, and Haiti described as having an "unstable political situation due to the assassination of the president". MBC CEO Park Sung-jae apologized for the imagery, stating that the network had "damaged the Olympic values of friendship, solidarity and harmony" with the images, which had been intended to help viewers identify the countries.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Broadcasting
In the United States, NBC announced that it would broadcast and stream the opening ceremony live in all time zones, (6:55 a.m. Eastern/3:55 a.m. Pacific) in addition to its traditional tape-delayed prime time broadcasts. With a reported 17 million viewers, ratings declined 36% over the 2016 opening ceremony, while streaming viewers were up by 76%.


2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Broadcasting
In Canada, in addition to the main English and French-language broadcasts on CBC Television and Ici Radio-Canada Télé, CBC/Radio-Canada simulcasted the opening ceremony with streaming broadcasts in 8 Indigenous languages :East Cree, Dehcho Dene, Dënësųłinë́ Yałtı, Gwichʼin, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, Sahtu Dene and Tłı̨chǫ.


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay
The 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay was held from 12 March 2020 and ended on 23 July 2021. After being lit in Olympia, Greece, the torch was handed over to the Olympic shooting champion Anna Korakaki, who became the first woman to be first Olympic torchbearer. It was then transported to Athens on 19 March by official airliner Japan Airlines. The Japanese leg began in Fukushima, and is scheduled to end in Tokyo's New National Stadium, the main venue of the 2020 Olympics. It makes a tour of Japanese cities, including all 47 prefectural capitals.


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay
The torch is even scheduled to go to two remote island groups which are part of Tokyo. The end of the relay was the finale of the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony on 23 July 2021. Toyota, NTT, ENEOS, Nippon Life, JAL, ANA and Japan Post Holdings are the presenting partners of the relay, with the slogan being "Hope Lights Our Way".


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay
The torch relay is subject to change due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The planned relay leg through Greece was cancelled, and both the lighting ceremony in Olympia and the handover ceremony in Athens had no public attendance. The relay was suspended on 25 March 2020, a day before the Japanese relay was due to start, and the torch was moved to Tokyo for exhibition until the relay resumed as planned on 25 March 2021.


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay, Torches
The Olympic torch was designed by Tokujin Yoshioka and unveiled 19 March 2019; the design is inspired by cherry blossoms, with 5 petal-shaped columns around the tip of the torch, and a rose-gold "sakura gold" color finish. Their construction will incorporate aluminum recycled from unused shelters deployed in the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay, Route in Greece
The traditional lighting ceremony was held on 12 March 2020 at Olympia, Greece, and the torch was handed over to the first torchbearer, Anna Korakaki. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the first lighting ceremony since 1984 to be held without spectators. The handover ceremony was held at Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on 19 March. The torch was to visit 31 cities and 15 landmarks across Greece, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was cancelled. On 13 March, a small ceremony was held in Sparta, the notable torchbearer was Scottish actor Gerard Butler, known for playing Leonidas in the movie 300 in commemorating with the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae.


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay, Special display
As the damage from the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami mostly affected three prefectures, Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima, a special torch display known as "Flame of Recovery" will be held in these three prefectures. The flame first arrived at Matsushima Air Field before being displayed at the locations below.


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay, Special display
After the postponement of the Summer Olympics to 2021, the torch display remained in Fukushima for at least a month before subsequently moved to Tokyo. The Olympic Flame would be later placed on display at Japan Olympic Museum from 1 September 2020 until 30 November 2020. The restart of the relay took place on 25 March 2021 for the rescheduled Olympics.


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay, Route in Japan
The original schedule of the torch relay in Japan was from 26 March to 24 July 2020. After the postponement of the Summer Olympics to 2021, all relays were delayed by 364 days (one day less than a full year to preserve the same days of the week). Although this wasn't announced until 28 September 2020 and this is taken from the original 2020 schedule:


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay, Ceremony changes
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and several prefectures declared state of emergency amid COVID-19 surge, many of the public stages of the relay were truncated to be more ceremonial rather than functional such as alternative events. Participants of the relay would carry the torch for about 30 meters before passing the flame to another participant rather than carrying it for long stretches.


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay, Ceremony changes
For instance, the relay in Osaka prefecture was changed into a private relay without passing spectators at Expo Commemoration Park in Suita. The relay in Matsuyama, Ehime was cancelled and changed onto a private relay, while the rest of Ehime Prefecture still had their relays on public roads as planned. Later relays in prefectures affected by COVID-19 as the virus cases increased but changed into a ceremonial lighting ceremony onto the designated final destination.


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay, End of torch relay
In December 2018, organizers announced that, similar to what happened at the 2016 Summer Olympics, two cauldrons were built: one inside the Olympic Stadium and another on the waterfront, near the Dream Bridge. The function of the stadium cauldron was merely scenographic, to go according to what is established in the Olympic Charter. The Dream Bridge cauldron was placed where the flame will burn during the 16 days of the Games.


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay, End of torch relay
It was lit right after the end of opening ceremony and will be extinguished a few moments before the closing ceremony starts, when the flame will return to the scenographic cauldron inside the stadium and will be burned for its last few moments. The decision to use a public cauldron came from the fact that it would not be possible to maintain the flame burning inside the stadium during the games.


2020 Summer Olympics torch relay, End of torch relay
At the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, the flame was transported to Japan National Stadium by judoka Tadahiro Nomura and wrestler Saori Yoshida, then the torch followed by the trio of baseball greats (Sadaharu Oh, Shigeo Nagashima and Hideki Matsui), until they passed to Hiroki Ohashi and Junko Kitagawa, a doctor and a nurse helped to save lives during the pandemic as they carried the flame to Paralympian and wheelchair marathoner Wakako Tsuchida as passed to a group of students from Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures who were born before the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami until they handed the torch to tennis player Naomi Osaka, who would go on to light the Olympic cauldron; during the Olympics, Osaka would compete for Japan in the women's tennis competition before being eliminated in the third round.


2020 Summer Paralympics
The 2020 Summer Paralympics (Japanese: 東京2020パラリンピック競技大会, Hepburn: Tōkyō Nizeronizero Pararinpikku Kyōgi Taikai), branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).


2020 Summer Paralympics
Originally scheduled to take place from 25 August to 6 September 2020, both the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were postponed by a year in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the rescheduled Games still referred to as Tokyo 2020 for marketing and branding purposes. As with the Olympics, the Games were largely held behind closed doors with no outside spectators due to a state of emergency in the Greater Tokyo Area and other prefectures. The Games were the second Summer Paralympics hosted by Tokyo since 1964, and the third Paralympics held in Japan overall since the 1998 Winter Paralympics in Nagano.


2020 Summer Paralympics
The Games featured 539 medal events in 22 sports, with badminton and taekwondo both making their Paralympic debut to replace football 7-a-side and sailing. China topped the medal table for the fifth consecutive Paralympics, with 96 golds and 207 total medals. Great Britain finished second  for the ninth time, with 41 golds and 124 total medals. The United States finished third, with 37 golds, their best finish since the 2008 games, and 104 total medals. The Russian Paralympic Committee finished fourth, with a total of 36 golds and 118 total medals, putting them in third place when ranked by total medals.


2020 Summer Paralympics, Bids
The host of the 2020 Summer Olympics would also host the 2020 Summer Paralympics, according to a 2001 agreement between the International Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee. At the 125th IOC Session, Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics via a tie-breaker in the second round of voting.


2020 Summer Paralympics, Preparations, Transport
Ahead of the 2016 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony, Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike advocated for the city to improve its accessibility as a legacy project for the Games. She cited narrow roadways with no sidewalks, and buildings constructed with narrow doorways and low ceilings, as challenges that needed to be overcome. In particular, she called for a transition to underground power lines to facilitate the widening of roads.


2020 Summer Paralympics, Preparations, Transport
A number of Toyota e-Palette self-driving vehicles had been adapted to provide transport to athletes in the Paralympic Games village. On 27 August, however, the use of the vehicles was suspended after one collided with an athlete before all vehicles were reused 3 days later.


2020 Summer Paralympics, Preparations, Volunteers
In September 2018, applications to be volunteers at the Olympic and Paralympic Games were released. By January 2019 186,101 applications had been received. Interviews to whittle the numbers down began in February 2019 and training taking place in October 2019. The volunteers at the venues were known as "Field Cast" and the volunteers in the city were known as "City Cast". These names were chosen from a shortlist of four out of an original 149 pairs of names. The other shortlisted names were "Shining Blue and Shining Blue Tokyo", "Games Anchor and City Anchor" and "Games Force and City Force". The names were chosen by the people who had applied to be volunteers at the games.


2020 Summer Paralympics, Preparations, Medals
The designs of the medals for the 2020 Summer Paralympics were unveiled on 25 August 2019; as with the Olympic medals, they are constructed using recycled metals that were obtained through an electronics recycling programme. The medals feature a design inspired by traditional folding hand fans to symbolise the shared experience of the Paralympics; alternating sectors containing textured areas visually and tactually depict flowers, leaves, rocks, water and wood to symbolise the geology of Japan. The pivot where the fan meets is stated to symbolise the unity of Paralympic athletes.


2020 Summer Paralympics, Preparations, Medals
The obverse of the medal contains an untextured version of the fan pattern, the Paralympic emblem, and inscriptions in braille. To aid those with visual impairments, the edges and ribbons of the medals contain one, two, or three circular indentations and silicone convex dots for gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively so that they can be easily identified by touch.


2020 Summer Paralympics, Preparations, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
The 2020 Summer Olympics were largely held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, and a state of emergency in Tokyo issued by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, though events in some regions could be held with up to 10,000 spectators or 50% capacity (whichever is smaller) if they were not subject to a state of emergency.


2020 Summer Paralympics, Preparations, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
The declaration was originally in effect from 12  July through 22  August 2021 (two days before the Paralympic opening ceremony); on 2 August, citing worsening rates of infection, Suga announced that the existing state of emergency would be extended through 31 August, and expanded to several other prefectures (including three that neighbour Tokyo).