Let the Loneliest Games finally begin! Naomi Osaka lights the torch as Team USA parades at eerie Tokyo Opening Ceremony in near-empty Olympic Stadium after year-long COVID-19 delay
The pandemic Games are officially underway as athletes from 206 teams took part in the Opening Ceremony on Friday in Tokyo, highlighted by United States flag bearers Sue Bird and Eddy Alvarez leading their fellow Americans onto the field before Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic flame.
Disputed, locked down and running a year late, the event is steeped in the political and medical baggage of a relentless pandemic whose presence haunts every Olympic corner. Even the crowd at Friday's event was limited to about 1,000 VIPs, such as First Lady Jill Biden, due to social distancing restrictions.
The rising threat of COVID-19 in Japan, which is enduring a sharp uptick in infections, scared off several notable athletes on Friday, including Simone Biles and the US Gymnastics team. Biles later explained on Instagram that she and her teammates skipped the ceremony due risk of coronavirus. Biles has publicly voiced support for vaccination and all six designated competitors have received the injection, according to The Wall Street Journal, but 18-year-old alternate Kara Eaker has tested positive for coronavirus and is currently quarantining.
'The pandemic forced us to keep apart, to keep our distance from each other,' International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach told the reduced crowd at the end of Friday's muted Opening Ceremony. 'But today, wherever in the world you may be, we are united in sharing this moment together.'
In a live remote interview as she handled her flag-bearing duties, Bird commented on the absence of athletes' family members at the Tokyo Games -- one of many reminders of the ongoing pandemic.
'We clearly have their support,' Bird said. 'Even though they're not here, we're gonna feel it from afar. And we just want to thank them so much.'
The ceremony began with a single jogger on a treadmill, but built into a large-scale interpretive performance intended to 'convey the inner workings of the body and the heart,' according to organizers.
There were, of course, the customary dance routines, in this case aimed at illustrating the massive undertaking host nations face leading up to the Games. Performers dressed as carpenters tap danced on enlarged work benches as metallic workshop sounds played under the music.
But given the hollow setting, anti-Olympic demonstrators could occasionally be heard blowing whistles across the street in protest of the Tokyo Games.
Another obstacle on Friday was the warm, humid 81-degree evening in Tokyo, which resulted in more than a few sweaty athletes ahead of the official start of competition. Tajikistan dressed its unfortunate team members in suffocating three-piece suits, but a few were seen cooling down by removing their face masks as they paraded across the Olympic Stadium field.
The event culminated with the lighting of the Olympic flame, which was handled by Osaka after the torch passed through the hands of several of her countrymen, including baseball legends Sadaharu Oh and former Yankees slugger Hideki Matsui.
The Tokyo Games are officially underway as athletes from 206 teams took part in the Opening Ceremony, highlighted by US flag bearers Sue Bird (center left) and Eddy Alvarez (center right) leading their fellow Americans across the field
The event culminated with the lighting of the Olympic flame, which was handled by Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka (left) after the torch passed through the hands of several of her countryman, including baseball legends Sadaharu Oh and former Yankees slugger Hideki Matsui (not pictured)
Japanese Tennis star Naomi Osaka poses with the torch in her hand after lighting the Olympic Flame at Friday's ceremony
First Lady Jill Biden, Prince Albert II of Monaco and President of France Emmanuel Macron are seen during the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Attendance for the event was limited to about 1,000 VIPs due to the pandemic
Members of Team United States enjoy the atmosphere during the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
The Olympic torch is carried during the opening ceremony by former Yankees slugger Hideki Matsui (right) as he stands next to Sadaharu Oh (center), Japan's all-time leader in home runs
Sue Bird and Eddy Alvares, of the United States of America, carry their country's flag during the opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics
An overview shows athlete delegations taking part in the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
USA's delegation enters the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony led by flag bearer Sue Bird of the WNBA's Storm
In spite of sobering realities of the pandemic, Bird, a 40-year-old basketball star and four-time gold medalist, said she is trying to make the best of the situation.
'The energy is insane,' she told NBC. 'I know our country is in a tough moment right now, but right now we all feel unified and it's incredible.'
'It's absolutely incredible,' agreed Alvarez, whose tearful mother Mabel was shown via satellite from her Miami home. 'Thank God I have Sue here holding me up because I'm freaking out literally, I'm not gonna lie. It's so emotional, and I'm feeling the energy from my team right now and it's actually incredible.'
Bird's fiancée, US soccer star Megan Rapinoe, talked about the honor with NBC while being driven to the ceremony on the Team USA Bus.
'I know this means the world to her and I just couldn't be prouder or happier. I feel like I get to share in it even though I'm not deserving enough to be the flag bearer,' joked Rapinoe, who has drawn controversy in the past for kneeling in protest of racism during the Star-Spangled Banner.
Bird, a guard for the WNBA's Seattle Storm, was not the only professional basketball player carrying a flag on Friday. San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills also did the honors for his native Australia, while the Washington Wizards' Rui Hachimura carried the flag for Japan.
Alvarez, a Cuban-American baseball player who also won a silver medal for speedskating in the 2014 Winter Olympics, is used the platform to support those in Cuba who have joined recent protests over the country's economic crisis.
'We feel for the people of Cuba right now,' he told reporters earlier this week. 'We're so proud of them because they are going out there to protest with stones, forks and broomsticks.'
Fireworks explode during the Opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games on Friday at the city's Olympic Stadium
Team USA, decked out in Ralph Lauren attire which included blue blazers, celebrate during Friday's Opening Ceremony
Flag bearers Sue Bird and Eddy Alvares of Team United States lead their team out during the Opening Ceremony
Peformer Misia sings the Japanese national anthem 'Kimi Ga Yo' during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, at the Olympic Stadium, in Tokyo, on Friday
Disputed, locked down and running a year, the event is steeped in the political and medical baggage of a relentless pandemic whose presence haunts every Olympic corner. Even the crowd at Friday's event was limited to about 1,000 VIPs and hundreds more media members due to social distancing restrictions
Given the near-empty stadium, Japanese demonstrators could occasionally be heard blowing whistles across the street in protest of the Tokyo Games
The ceremony began with a single jogger on a treadmill, but built into a large-scale interpretive performance intended to 'convey the inner workings of the body and the heart,' according to organizers
France's President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Jill Biden wearing a protective masks ahead of the start of the Games
Flag bearer Sue Bird's fiancée, US soccer star Megan Rapinoe, talked about the honor with NBC while being driven to the ceremony on the Team USA Bus. 'I know this means the world to her and I just couldn't be prouder or happier. I feel like I get to share in it even though I'm not deserving enough to be the flag bearer,' joked Rapinoe, who has drawn controversy in the past for kneeling in protest of racism during the Star-Spangled Banner
US first lady Jill Biden was in Tokyo to support the athletes and attend the opening ceremony.
She spoke virtually with Alvarez and Bird, as well as Allison Schmitt, a four-time Olympic swimmer and mental health advocate.
Biden told the athletes that they'd given up a lot to be in postponed Tokyo Olympics because of the coronavirus and relied on support from family and friends. On Saturday, she'll dedicate a room in the residence of the U.S. chief of mission to former U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and his wife, Irene Hirano Inouye.
She will host a US-vs.-Mexico softball watch party at the U.S. Embassy for staff and their families, and cheer U.S. athletes competing in several events before leaving Tokyo. She visited a coronavirus vaccination site in Alaska before heading to the Olympics.
Peace was a distinct theme during the Opening Ceremony, which included a moment honoring the victims of the 1972 Munich Games massacre -- a Palestinian terrorist attack that resulted in the killing of six Israeli coaches, five Israeli athletes, and a West German police officer. According to NBC announcer Mike Tirico, the tragedy had traditionally gone unmentioned at previous Opening Ceremonies.
Although the Olympic Stadium is largely empty and the Tokyo 2020 souvenir store is closed, hundreds of fans still gathered outside the gates and along the sidewalks of closed streets, waving at any person with an Olympic credential or any vehicle that went by with an Olympic logo.
Track and field events will be held in the stadium later in these games. The track itself is covered by a large black tarp for the opening ceremony and the infield is covered with a white tarp, one where graphics will be displayed over the course of the evening.
Flag bearers Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Ricardo Brown of Team Jamaica lead their team during the Opening Ceremony
Chungneijang Mery Kom Hmangte and Manpreet Singh, of India, carry their country's flag during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics
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