The road has been long and winding leading to the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. 1 year late, massively over budget and going ahead despite ongoing worries about low vaccination rates, the games have lost the support of most of the Japanese public who think the timing is still not right. But as the clock ticks down, the hope is that inspiration sports stories of triumph in the pursuit of excellence will capture the hearts and minds of spectators around the world., even if they need to limit the live fans in attendance.
The Olympic torch has made its way through 43 of Japan’s 47 prefectures and will soon finish its journey in the newly built Olympic stadium in Tokyo. You can watch every minute of the torch’s relay journey across Japan on their homepage but without the crowds of fans along the route, the video footage of the build up has been beautiful but a little less exciting that would have been planned.
The official opening ceremony is just three weeks from now, and the closing ceremony will be three weeks after that. Over the next 6 weeks, we expect the worlds attention to start going more and more to Japan. We are excited to finally see Japan grab the world’s attention and hopefully make a great impression on the world with stand out facilities, an ability to host great events even with restrictions in place.
As the news regarding incredible sporting performances starts to flow through the world’s media, it will be set against a backdrop of Japan’s unique and fascinating culture, that will no doubt be infused into the coverage of the games. One example that comes to mind is the fact that the medals are all made from recycled metals that were salvaged from digital waste including old smartphones. We hope that some early successes by Japanese athletes (karate is an Olympic sport for the first time) will soften public opinion and encourage broader support for the event within the Japanese public.
