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One of the hottest topics in the lead-up to Tokyo has been Rule 50, and specifically changes that restrict athletes’ right to protest at the Olympics. While the IOC has partially back-tracked, as it stands athletes are not allowed to protest on the medal podium.
As the Games begin, a group of more than 150 athletes and academics have called for change. They include John Carlos and Tommie Smith, whose 1968 podium protest remains one of the Olympics’ most enduring images.
Related: Carlos and Smith say IOC still not fully committed to athletes’ freedom to protest
The opening ceremony was a sombre, sparse affair in places but there was still space for video game music, Armani tracksuits and drones, drones, drones. Martin Belam rounds up the key moments:
Related: Eleven outstanding moments from the Olympic opening ceremony | Martin Belam
She may not be a household name, but Oksana Chusovitina is part of Olympic history. The Uzbek gymnast is about to compete in her eighth Olympic Games, having first taken part in Barcelona 1992.
Related: Uzbek legend Oksana Chusovitina set for one final attempt at Olympic glory | Tumaini Carayol
In case you missed it, here are some of the best images from what was an understated but quietly impressive opening ceremony.
Related: Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony – in pictures
If you want to keep up-to-date with all the latest news and action from Tokyo, why not sign up for our Daily Briefing email? The next one goes out at 5pm BST, so in about 20 minutes. Sign up right here:
Meanwhile, Barney Ronay takes a look at Team GB and how the relentless pursuit of gold has left grass roots sport behind:
“The gold medal culture needs reforming: the fetishising of gold, the enthroning of the gold medal as the key measure of all sporting value, a driver of policy, resources and who ultimately gets to play.”
Related: Gold medals are illusory, world class public facilities should be the goal | Barney Ronay
Get up to speed with all the big Tokyo 2020 questions with Simon Burnton’s Olympic primer:
Related: Tokyo 2020 – all your key Olympic questions answered
Some cycling news: the men’s road race takes place at 3am BST, 11am local time on Saturday, but one man who won’t be at the start line is Simon Geschke, after the German rider tested positive for Covid-19.
Geschke, who was set to be part of a four-man German team, had been staying away from the Olympic village with a group of other cyclists, all of who have initially tested negative for Covid.
Thanks Barry, and a shout to your good self for a marathon live-blogging effort. So, what happens now? It’s ten past midnight in Tokyo and officially Day 1 of the Games – we’ll keep you updated with news and global reaction to the opening ceremony, plus what to look out for in the first few days.
Sayōnara. And after all that excitement, it’s time for me to sayt goodbye and take a long lie-down in the darkened room. But while I might pause for some respite, the Guardian’s Olympic blog will do no such thing. Niall McVeigh is next up in the hot-seat.
Before I go, a massive shout-out to my colleague Steven Bloor, who did so much to bring what would have been an otherwise very dreary rolling report to life with all the beautiful photographs from the opening ceremopny that have been added for your viewing pleasure.
There endeth the opening ceremony: Low on bombast but high on a combination of quiet dignity and mawkish schmalz, our opening ceremony closes. It was a very respectful ceremony; one that understandably palled in comparison to previous versions.
Mount Fuji: Tennis champion Naomi Osaka takes the torch from our team of kids and jogs up the steps to the summit of the temporary Mount Fuji that’s been erected in the stadium. Following her recent travails and admissions of mental frailty, who better than her to do the honours? And to be clear, no … it’s you who is crying. Naomi Osaka lights the cauldron, built in the shape of a flower with its petals open. Let the Games begin!
Slowly but surely. We’re getting there. The flame makes its way across the stadium, a doctor and nurse taking temporary possession. They’re loving it! They positively bound towards a seven-times Japanese Paralympian, waving enthusiastically to all present. She hands over to a team of schoolkids.
Our medics are, I’m told by reader Emmling, “from the areas most affected by the 3-11 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown ten years ago”.
Another montage: This time it’s of the Olympic torch relay. It’s been a longer one than we’re used too. The montage over, the Olympic flame emerges from the bowels of the studio carried by two Japanese athletes: former wrestler Saori Yoshida and judo player Tadahiro Nomura. They pass it on to a selection of other retired Japanese sporting legends with Ravel’s Bolero as the soundtrack.
Attention returns to the infield area of the stadium. To lively piano accompaniment, a cartoonish Japanese super hero sporting what looks like a Samurai sword on his waist appears. Where is he going? Where is this going?
It’s time to light the lights: A Japanese comedian whose name I must confess escaped me is shown messing about in the control room with a former figure skater as he switches on lights in various Olympic venues around the city and country. It’s a good montage and now … there’s just one light left to go.
Dan speaks the truth: And I’d like to think I deserve at least a bronze. They only have to talk over pictures thewir BBC audience can see … and can just say nothing during some of the more bewildering performances of interpretative dance.
Give Hazel Irvine & Andrew Cotter a pair of gold medals for the last few hours
Brilliant coverage of the #OpeningCeremony of the #Olympics
Time for another montage: Because there’s always time for another montage, right? This time it’s a series of 50 pictograms coming to life to represent each of the different Olympic sports. I won’t lie, it’s difficult to explain, even by the standards of opening ceremonies but there are now two performers dressed as blue and white stickpeople out there having an absolute whale of a time going through their various carefully choreographed motions.
Today’s #FontSunday @DesignMuseum theme: pictograms.
See the difference 56 years makes to #Olympic designs: Tokyo 1964 and Tokyo 2020 #Japan
Nice read from @CreativeReview about the 2020 pictograms here: https://t.co/3a5x3j8g5l
The release of doves: Thousands of paper doves are released from on high. Doves from above, if you will. A niche gag for Vic & Bob fans there.
The Olympic flag: To orchestral accompaniment (those musicians must be exhausted by now!) assorted members of Japan’s defence forces receive the flag and march up some steps, where they hoist it on a pole next to that flying the colours of Japan. Cue: the Olympic anthem.
Thomas Bach: “The pandemic forced us apart, to keep our distance from each other. To stasy away even from our loved ones. This separation made this tunnel so dark. But today, wherever in the world you may be we’re united in sharing this moment together. The Olympic flame makes this light shine brighter for all of us.”
He goes on to invite Emperor Naruhito to declare the Games open. The emperor duly obliges and the Olympic flag with its five rings is brought into the stadium. It’s carried by an athglete from each of the five continents represented by the rings, along with a member of the Refugee Olympic team.
Although … it does look worryingly like the Death Star.
That’s no moon…it’s a #Tokyo2020 drone display! #Olympics | #UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #OpeningCeremony pic.twitter.com/bIGD4UonPO
The undisputed highlight of the opening ceremony: As Bach drones on, let’s give it up for some more impressive and interesting droning.
Drone appreciation post!
1,824 drones light up the sky above the Olympic Stadium as the #Tokyo2020 emblem seamlessly becomes a revolving globe. #StrongerTogether #OpeningCeremony pic.twitter.com/mcGteqdJ7n
Thomas Bach: The IOC chief continues, thanking the Games’ sponsors, many of whom have bent over backwards to distance themselves from the very ceremony he is addressing. Talk turns to solidarity …
Thomas Bach: The IOC boss greets the assembled dignataries and Olympic friends before welcoming to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. “Today is a moment of hope,” he begins. “Yes it is very different but let us cherish this moment. We are all here together.”
Seiko Hashimoto: Still at the podium, with IOC chief Thomas Bach to follow, Seiko is a Japanese politician, former speed skater and track cyclist.
A speech: Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games gives a speech. What a stressful time she must have had in recent years. Peace, love, understanding and the difficulties of staging the games at this difficult time all get a mention. She thanks the athletes for turning up to participate and wishes them all the best.
Hang on! That’s John Legend. And his performance? Well, suffice to say, it’s not the first time John Lennon has been murdered. His memory deserves better than this hammery.
This is impressive: Impressive and a little mawkish. The drones above the stadium form a globe while the kids below begin a rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine. They’re joined on the big screen by assorted more senior singers from around the globe who I should probably recognise but don’t.
“Hang on, wackiness!” observes the BBC’s Andrew Cotter as some cartoonish thespians play out some sort of “skit” ahead of a performance entitled “unity and diversity” performed by some kids. I don’t know about Andrew and Hazel but I have no idea what is going on. I’ll wait for them to let me know. Ah, they’re forming the Tokyo 2020 chequered emblem with giant building blocks. Above the stadium in the night sky, 1,800 illuminated drones replicate the design. That’s some seriously impressive formation flying right there.
The Olympic oath: Five Japanese athletes from assorted sports read the Olympic oath before the Olympic flag is hoisted next to it’s Japanese counterpart. Cue: another cheesy montage …
The Olympic motto: There’s a late addition to the Olympic motto which illuminates the floor in the middle of the arena. It reads: “Faster, higher, stronger, together” and is accompamnied by more pyrotechnics.
Japan: The hosts arrive in their hundreds with Yui Susaki (wrestling) and Rui Hachimura (basketball) given the huge honour of bearing the host nation’s flag at their home games. That’s yer lot as far as the parade is concerned. The last of the formalities are upon us, including – one presumes – more speechifying and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron.
The Americans are here! Led by Sue Bird (basketball) and Eddy Alvarez (baseball), the USA march out mob-handed. They’re followed by France and finally …
The orchestral medley: Reader Tom has been busy trying to identify the Japanese video game theme tunes that are soundtracking the parade and he has done a cracking job. “A translation of most of the song list from the article listed earlier,” he says. “Missing ones I couldn’t find the English name for.”
Jordan: We’re into the 190s now, with the end mercifully nigh. They’re followed by Laos and Latvia. Tennis player Jelena Ostapenko, a former French Open champion, and basketball player Agnis Cavars carry the flag for them.
Portugal: Their flag-bearers Telma Monteiro and Nelson Évora dance out excitedly, with Evora looking like he’s trying to wrestle the pole from his team-mate. Next out are Hong Kong, who boast a swimmer with the decidedly Irish name of Siobhan Bernadette Haughey. Her father is Irish and according to Wikipedia, she is a grand-niece of the former Irish prime minister Charles Haughey. He was famojusly fond of the water too and owned his own yacht called Celtic Mist.
Poland: Their athletes walk out, minus the six swimmers their team bosses had to send home earlier this week because they picked too many by mistake. No, really.
On we go: There are no end of endurance events in the Olympics and the opening ceremony parade is arguably the most gruelling of them all. The team of local greeters welcoming each delegation out on to the infield must be exhausted at this stage but their enthusiasm remains undimmed. Many of the athletes are having a well-earned lie-down in the evening heat. Vietnam are the latest to arrive, they’re 157th out of 206.
Vanuatu: Rower Rillo Rii leads out the three-strong Vanuatu team and with a physique like his it’s no surprise he’s elected to go topless with a slathering of oil too. The man is an adonis and was in action out on the water earlier today, so it may be sweat, rather than oil.
More on the Japanese alphabet: “Just wanted to add a slight correction to Hazel’s email,” writes Tom. “While the UK is usually referred to as Igirisu, they walked out in this ceremony under the name ‘Eikoku’, which is a more formal and older name for the UK mostly only used in newspapers today. This is why they were next to countries beginning with E.”
Tonga: Brisbane born Taekwondo fighter Pita Taufatofua has had his toned torso oiled up to within an inch of his life as he walks out in traditional Tongan dress. He’s sporting what I believe they call a tupenu, a kind of sarong.
Related: The incredible story of Pita Taufatofua, Tonga’s shirtless Olympic flag bearer
He’s here! Pita Taufatofua#Tokyo2020 | #UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #Olympics pic.twitter.com/cxnjBs71EJ
Turkmenistan: Wearing green shirts and white trousers, the athletes of Turkmenistan walk out. With a population of five million people, they have yet to win an Olympic medal.
China: One of the larger teams march out in to the arena and I can reveal they are 109th out of 206. Volleyball player Zhu Ting and taekwondo fighter Zhao Shuai bear their flag with pride.
Related: Sign up for the Tokyo 2020 daily briefing: the best of the Olympics and Paralympics
The teams continue to come out thick and fast. And thank you to reader Mikako Onozaka, who emailed a minute ago to say she reckons we’re just past halfway. Halfway?!?!?!
“Rwanda, Lesotho and Lebanon will be the last to come out in alphabetical order, followed by the US, France, and Japan,” he tells me. And if, like me, you are ashamed of your geographical ignorance – from Wikipedia: “Lesotho, a high-altitude, landlocked kingdom encircled by South Africa, is crisscrossed by a network of rivers and mountain ranges including the 3,482m-high peak of Thabana Ntlenyana.”
Jamaica: Sprinting legend Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and boxer Ricardo Brown lead out Team Jamaica. Such is the disparity in their heights, the diminutive Fraser-Pryce leaves the flag-bearing duties to the giant Brown, electing instead to link the crook of his arm.
Nice to see the athletes parade; but the Opening ceremony definitely had the theme “We are not into this”; or possibly “Will This Do?”
An email: “My wife and I have only recognised a few tunes (most notably Sonic, Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts) but the Japanese media has reported on the game list here,” writes Sophie. Google might throw up a few interesting translations.
Every day’s a schoolday: “I don’t know if anyone has already emailed in about this, but as Japanese doesn’t have an ‘alphabet’ as such, it looks like they’re using the order for the hiragana/katakana syllabary, which they use to spell syllabically all the countries,” writes Hazel.
“This means we start with the vowels (a, i, u, e, o) and then the consonants followed by the vowels in that order (k/g, s/z, t/d, n, h/b/p, m, y, r, w). Any countries which have a Japanese name (including the UK, ‘Igirisu’) will fit in at the relevant place, presumably. Any scholars of Japanese feel free to correct me! Hope this helps.”
Australia: “Sixty-three Australian athletes have marched out into the Olympic Stadium, led by flag bearers Patty Mills and Cate Campbell,” writes Kieran Pender, who is there to see them. “Mills, an Australian of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, is the first Indigenous Australian to carry the flag at an Olympic Games. It is a symbolic moment for the country, which has a sad history of discriminating against its Indigenous population.”
An email: With regard to the arrival of the athletes being soundtracked by an orchestral medley of video games soundtracks, Karen Bridgen writes.
“My son and I are trying to play ‘Name That Game’,” she says. “The combination of orchestral music and people talking all over it is making it almost impossible. Someone needs to do a list ASAP.”
Kazakhstan: The infield continues to fill up as the Kazakhstan delegation march out wearing turquoise trews with slightly darker blazers. Next up it’s Qatar.
Due to the herculean efforts of those on our picture desk, you are now invited to look at what actually happened during the opening ceremony and laugh at how little relation it bears to what I described happening in this all-singing, all-dancing gallery.
Related: Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony – in pictures
Team GB emerge: Sailor Hannah Mills and rower Mohamed Sbihi lead out the British delegation. Just 22 of their army are present in the stadium tonight. They’re all looking quite smart in navy blazers with striped sleeves over white shirts, with greyish whitish trousers. Then again, they may be ludicrously untrendy – I have no sense of style. Social media will judge them and possibly judge them harshly.
Uganda: Out they come dressed wonderfully in red and gold.
“The mention of rowing earlier reminds me of one of my favorite stories of this Olympics so far,” writes Kari Tulinus. “Rower Kathleen Noble, who was born in Uganda to Irish missionaries and grew up there, is representing the country of her birth at these Olympics. She didn’t qualify directly for the single sculls quarter-finals this morning, but did well enough to earn a second try in the repechage, setting a national record in the process.”
Team GB: They’re due out 28th and we’re getting through the various countries at an uncharacteristically fast and merciful clip.
The order: With the exception of Greece, who traditionally march out first, the nations are being introduced in the order of the Japanese alphabet … which I don’t know. Anyway, whatever the order, Italy are the latest to emerge and are giving Argentina a run for their money in the skittishness stakes. The more sombre and considerably smaller Iraqi delegation, comprised of five people, follow them.
Some reader feedback: As the teams continue to pour out into the arena with commendable speed, it’s time to dip into the mailbag …
“One of the (few) benefits of interpretive dance is that it shouldn’t need to be interpreted,” writes Simon. “Doesn’t seem to have stopped the BBC commentary team from trying though. I wish they’d bloody shut up and let me enjoy the music and stuff.”
Ireland are out: The Irish delegation walk out, a vision in … you’ve guessed it, green. Boxers Kellie Harrington and Brendan Irvine wave the the tricolour proudly, their wide grins of delight all too apparent despite being covered by masks.
The athletes are in the wings: Well, those few that are attending the opening ceremony are. To an orchestral medley of assorted Japanese video game themes (Dragon Quest is first), Greece march out.
Half an hour in and this opening ceremony feels like it’s been running since 2020.
That silence. You could hear a pin drop. #Olympics pic.twitter.com/jxXrjcnYXV
Every time there is a lull in the music at the Opening Ceremony, the noise from the demonstration against the Games happening outside becomes clearly audible.
Rhythm is a dancer: Kazunori Kumagai, the Japanese Michael Flatley (except without the bouffant), does some solo tap before being re-joined by his fellow carpenters. Five giant wooden Olympic rings, hewn from the wood of pine and spruce trees planted to mark the 1964 Olympics and illuminated by paper lanterns are wheeled out in to the stadium.
The rhythms of tradition: The Japanese work song Komari Uttar is sung by a team of uniformed and hard-grafting carpenters (well, dancers pretending to be carpenters) on a series of wooden platforms that have been wheeled centre-stage.
A hugely downbeat ceremony so far: Solemnity, gloom and darkness seem to be the prevailing colours, themes and colours of this particular curtain-raiser, in stark contrast to the massive celebratory vibes of opening ceremonies passim.
A moment of reflection: There’s a pause for those who are no longer with us, particularly those who died due to the Coivd virus. Here’s hoping the staging of these Games doesn’t add too significantly to the global tally.
The Japanese flag has entered the Olympic stadium ️ at the #Tokyo2020 #OpeningCeremony#UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #Olympics pic.twitter.com/WjcL2zeX8U
The National Anthem: Various members of Japan’s defence forces bring the flag to the pole, where it will be solemnly raised to the soundtrack of the national anthem, Kimi Ga Yo.
Bah humbug corner. Barney is such a cynic …
Tokyo is not “sending a message of resilience and hope”. It’s sending a message of massive contracts signed and political capital staked, making the best of an obligation. Deeply phoney to pretend otherwise
Some VIPS: Japanese Emperor Naruhito and IOC president Thomas Bach share a greeting which is followed by the introduction of the Japanese flag to the arena. It is carried by an assortment of Japanese Olympic greats of yore.
Some dancing: As I struggle to find words to adequately describe the beautiful, poised and elegant low key choreography of the dance troupe currently performing in the arena, Hazel comes up trumps. “Quiet, intimate and empathetic,” she says, possibly reading from notes.
BBC: The BBC coverage is being helmed by Hazel Irvine and Andrew Cotter, with Irvine in the role of straightman. Having become famous during lockdown as the straightman to his two adorable labradors Olive and Mabel, Cotter is revelling in his role as gagsman on this commentary.
Early fireworks: The countdown ends with a pyrotechnics display, the outer rim of the stadium exploding in a shower of multi-coloured sparks. On the stadium floor, assorted “athletes” train in solitude, pedalling stationary bikes. The lights on the floor portray – reporter checks non-existent notes – the changing of the seasons.
An early nod to Covid: Well that didn’t take long and it’s no surprise. The elephant in the room is addressed as we briefly fade to inky black before seeing a montage of athletes who were forced into training in isolation … before the countdown to Tokyo began again.
We begin with an orchestral performance soundtracking a motif of a seed germinating followed by a montage of athletes preparing for a Games that has been eight years in the making …
We are mere moments away from the beginning of the opening ceremony for Tokyo 2020 …
Tokyo 1964: My colleague Dave Tindall has alerted me to this footage of the Tokyo 1964 opening ceremony. “The Americans were quite the sight in their stetsons,” he says. See 16:52 onwards.
Rowing: “Morning, any chance of a summary of the rowing heats from this morning?” asks Rae. We’ll have a summary along at some point, Rae – but in the meantime you can find the early rowing heats results and schedules for other sports here.
Related: Tokyo 2020 Olympics: complete event schedule and live scores
The opening ceremony: A British delegation of just 22, including flag bearers Hannah Mills and Mohamed Sbihi, will march at the opening ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics, according to PA Sport.
Athletes from canoe slalom, fencing, weightlifting, sailing, boxing, rowing and trampolining will feature in the curtain-raiser.
Think I’ve heard more pious fluff in the opening two minutes of the BBC olympic coverage than in my entire existence to that point. It’s definitely close anyway
This just in: “The British Olympic Association is resigned to the fact that six Team GB athletes will spend 14 days in enforced quarantine after failing in its attempts to spring them out,” writes Sean Ingle.
Related: BOA resigned to 14-day quarantine for Team GB athletes despite negative tests
Shooting: Of course, actual shooting is an Olympic sport and in 25-year-old Seonaid McIntosh, Team GB have a potential winner of the very first gold of the games tomorrow morning. Greg Wood caught up with the 25-year-old to … em, shoot the breeze.
Related: Seonaid McIntosh: the British shooter with first gold of Games in her sights
Your questions: With less than an hour to go until the opening ceremony of Tokyo 2020, you may well have some Games-related questions that need to be answered. Fear not, while troubleshooting is not yet an Olympic sport, if it was Simon Burnton would almost certainly win gold …
Related: Tokyo 2020 – all your key Olympic questions answered
Join Martin Belam for a daily run through of the action from Tokyo during the Olympics and Paralympics.
The Tokyo 2020 daily briefing newsletter will run daily through the Olympics from Thursday 22 July to Monday 9 August, and then daily from Monday 23 August to Monday 6 September for the Paralympics.
Related: Sign up for the Tokyo 2020 daily briefing: the best of the Olympics and Paralympics
Another email: “The answer to Niall O’Keefe’s email is: NBC,” writes Andrew from Tokyo.
The weather: For anyone who might be interested, it’s currently 29 degrees celsius with humidity at 65% in Tokyo, where the local time is 6pm … writes reporter from South London bunker.
An email: “I lived in Tokyo for three years and I also visited for the 2002 World Cup,” writes Niall O’Keefe. “Due to the humidity, most games were after 17:00 local time. The 1988 All about Seoul Olympics were also held in September to avoid the brutal heat. For God’s sake, the 1964 Tokyo Olympics were held in October given the milder weather then. So what clown – has to be an IOC minion – pushed for the hottest time of the year for 2020?”
Swimming: “The nine-day Olympic swimming schedule, which kicks off with the first heats on Saturday evening, is set to be dominated by the rivalry between swimming powerhouses Australia and the United States,” writes Kieran Pender in Tokyo.
Related: Australian swimmers eager to entertain on the eve of Olympics duel with US | Kieran Pender
The opening ceremony: “An unusual amount of uncertainty hangs over the entire enterprise,” writes Simon Burnton. “Many ceremonies have been touted as genuinely innovative before following a familiar pattern, but the kind of intensively-rehearsed, bewilderingly-synchronised mass choreography they have traditionally relied on is precisely the kind of thing the Covid pandemic has made particularly difficult to arrange, which added to the event’s uniquely problematic gestation might leave them with no choice but to actually try something completely different.”
Related: Spotter’s guide: Tokyo’s unique and uncertain Olympic opening ceremony
This is as close as the public can get to tonight’s opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics amid a 4th state of emergency.
Attendees at the National Stadium restricted to less than a thousand VIPs; the Emperor of Japan & the US First Lady among them pic.twitter.com/FfqlEgaxPz
Kieran Pender reports from the Olympic Stadium: “The press contingent is growing at the Olympic Stadium with two hours until the main event. Us scribes and photographers – plus Tokyo 2020 officials – are the only ones lucky enough to be watching this spectacle live.
“It feels rather surreal to be in a cavernous stadium, ahead of a grand event, with an audience numbering in the low thousands. Not that the media are too happy about our privilege; the wifi is down and there is much grumbling (this dispatch coming to you from my phone’s hotspot). Interesting times ahead, wifi or not.”
Team USA. “As restraints on freedom of movement for participants during these pandemic Olympics generate headlines,” writes Tom Dart in Tokyo. “Limits on freedom of expression will also be under scrutiny as athletes speak out, with some likely to test the boundaries of what organisers will tolerate by making their points on the podium.”
Related: In the first post-Trump Olympics, US athletes will not stay silent
Athletics: “Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s fight for heptathlon gold with the defending champion, Belgium’s Nafi Thiam, was expected to be one of the battles of the Games, but she is again facing uncertainty after being struck by an achilles injury at the end of last year,” writes Alexandra Topping.
Related: Johnson-Thompson hangs on to hope despite injury-plagued road to Tokyo
Thank you Emma. And kon’nichiwa to all our readers, wherever in the wide world of sport you might be. So, who else is feeling very Olympic today? With less than two hours to go until what promises to be an uncharacteristically low key opening ceremony, here’s a taste of what to expect.
“It will be a much more sobering ceremony, nevertheless with beautiful Japanese aesthetics,” said Marco Balich, an adviser to the executive producer for Tokyo. “Very Japanese but also in sync with the sentiment of today, the reality. We have to do our best to complete this unique and hopefully the only one of its kind Olympics.”
Related: Pandemic and flagging support to make Tokyo Olympics opener a show like no other | Justin McCurry
Interesting that this is part of the Olympic Twitter account’s selected content, given Usain Bolt’s 100m world record could very well fall at these Games if the hype around the super spikes comes to be realised on the athletics track.
It all starts today!
Here is our most viewed video of the past year while we wait for the Opening Ceremony!
Usain Bolt’s 100m Olympic record. ⚡pic.twitter.com/s24P98aOjv
Related: Usain Bolt: ‘I would have run under 9.5 seconds with super spikes’
Related: Putting limits on the swoosh mob hinders wider change for the better | Ben Ryan
I have half-waded into some of the many questions around these Games, both on and off the field of play, but turns out I needn’t have bothered because Simon Burnton has written a far more succinct snapshot of everything you could possibly need to know. Behold.
Related: Tokyo 2020 – all your key Olympic questions answered
We’ve already covered who won’t be at the opening ceremony, but I’ll tell you who will be there: Jill Biden. Joe Biden’s wife is on her first solo international trip as US first lady, arriving in Tokyo on Thursday for a whirlwind 48-hour trip full of official duties which include a virtual “get-together” with members of Team USA and hosting a US v Mexico softball watch party.
The 11th-hour postponement of Naomi Osaka’s opening singles match from Saturday to Sunday has caused a flurry of speculation on social media about whether Japan’s four-time major singles champion is set for a big role in the opening ceremony.
Afrer a tough year, the host nation’s highest-profile athlete and the world’s highest-earning female athlete returns to competition in Tokyo. The identity of the final torchbearer is always the Games’ most closely held secret, yet speculation has swirled for months around baseball players Ichiro Suzuki and Shohei Ohtani.
Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun reports several people have had their credentials revoked for violating the Games’ “playbook” of rules to contain Covid-19 cases. The Tokyo organising committee said it had invalidated each offender’s accreditation for a day, meaning they cannot enter an Olympic venue.
Organisers said it had given them several warnings but would not specify details of the apparent violations or their nationalities. They said they will patrol convenience stores around designated hotels more closely, and have also removed signs which were unclear because they may be interpreted as allowing those in roles related to the Olympics to leave their hotel for 15 minutes, even during isolation.
Speaking of surfing, one of our reporters in Tokyo, Tumaini Carayol, offers an insightful preview to whet the appetite.
Related: Surfing ready to make a splash at Olympics and move away from the stereotypes
There are some pretty – dare I say – rad photos coming through from Tsurigasaki beach, where surfers are training ahead of the sport’s Olympic debut from Sunday, pending surf conditions.
Some sport!
ICYMI, there is already competition under way, namely in the football, softball, archery, shooting and rowing. In the latter, the men’s single sculls heats have run today at the Sea Forest Waterway. Hot and blustery conditions are the order of the day down there, and ice packs and air conditioning are a permanent fixture at the sun-soaked course.
Update on Australia’s showjumping cocaine case. Australia’s showjumpers Edwina Tops-Alexander and Katie Laurie will be allowed to compete in the individual equestrian competition at Tokyo 2020, after their teammate Jamie Kermond was sent home after his anti-doping sample tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine. Kermond later released a statement saying he was “extremely upset and remorseful” and attributed the June positive test to “a single recreational use of the drug at a social event”.
This is a good opening ceremony preview from Justin McCurry on the ground in Tokyo.
Related: Pandemic and flagging support to make Tokyo Olympics opener a show like no other | Justin McCurry
This will be an opening ceremony like no other. And I don’t necessarily mean in a wondrous sense. Peculiar is probably a more apt word. Sure, it was even unusual five years ago when then Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe dressed up as Super Mario in Rio to introduce Tokyo as the next Olympics host city.
Now it is a whole new kind of bizarre. No crowd will be inside the New National Stadium to watch yet-to-be-revealed artistic performances. There will also be some other big names missing, including one Kentaro Kobayashi, the director of the whole show, who was sacked yesterday over a joke he made about the Holocaust in the late 1990s. Japanese composer Keigo Oyamada, whose music will be performed at the opening ceremony, also resigned this week after admitting bullying disabled classmates. And in March then creative director Hiroshi Sasaki resigned after suggesting in a meeting that a popular female entertainer should be lowered into the stadium dressed as a pig as part of a segment he called “Olympig”.
Naomi Osaka’s opening women’s singles tennis match has been pushed back by a day to Sunday following a request from Tokyo 2020 organisers, the International Tennis Federation confirmed. The four-time grand slam champion and local star, who is returning to tennis after a two-month mental health break, was scheduled to start off Olympic proceedings on Saturday against China’s Zheng Saisai on the main showcourt at the Ariake Tennis Park.
“The request came from Tokyo 2020 organisers to move her match to Sunday,” an ITF spokesperson said. No reason was given for the switch.
If you aren’t already familiar with the super feature writing of Don McRae, it’s never too late to start. One of his recent big interviews was with Adam Peaty, the British reigning Olympics 100m breaststroke gold medallist, who opens up on his anger with dopers, aims in Tokyo and becoming a father.
Related: Adam Peaty: ‘It’s a fight in the pool. That’s when I feel I’m a god’
On Friday the Australian Olympic Committee confirmed that cyclist Rohan Dennis will skip tomorrow’s road race to focus on his preferred discipline, the individual time trial, next week. Dennis is a gold medal prospect in the race against the clock. He is a two-time world champion, although over the past year has been eclipsed by Italian rival Filippo Ganna, who won the iconic rainbow jersey in 2020.
Dennis has mixed memories from past Olympics – he claimed silver on the track as a member of the team pursuit squad in London, but a mechanical problem dashed his medal hopes in the time trial in Rio. Dennis’ withdrawal from the road race, although expected, will leave Australia with a small squad of just Richie Porte, Lucas Hamilton and Luke Durbridge in the challenging climb around Mount Fuji.
Let’s catch up on a bit of news from on the ground in Tokyo. It’s hot there. Like, very hot. The kind of hot that forces organisers to move the marathon and race walking 800km north to Sapporo. Right now it’s 34C in the capital with high humidity. While residents heed warnings not to exercise outdoors, beach volleyball players practising at Shiokaze park complained that the sand was too hot for their feet, prompting staff to hose down the playing surface while athletes waited in the shade.
Just this afternoon, Russian archer Svetlana Gomboeva fainted during a qualifying round while coaches and staff huddled under trees for shade.
Olympics Archery-Russian archer passes out under Tokyo’s scorching heat https://t.co/k2nS6aw8eD pic.twitter.com/YVNKml355A
The politics of protests. Taking a knee has become such a widely practised anti-racism gesture it was not in the least bit surprising to see football players from the women’s United States, Sweden, Chile, Britain and New Zealand teams doing so before their opening matches on Wednesday night. In the Olympic arena, however, protests have been a hotly contested topic for decades.
For some context, the Olympics have always billed themselves as a non-political entity, one which unifies countries instead of dividing them. To wit, the contentious Rule 50 in the Olympic charter states: “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” That was famously tested at the Mexico City Games in 1968, when American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black-gloved fists while their national anthem played during the 200m medals ceremony.
#Tokyo2020 sports started yesterday! Just some of the highlights…
Japan starting strong in #softball
⚽ Teams were kneeling before the competition
⚽ Vivianne Miedema scored four goals for #NED
♂️ First look at the men’s gymnastics contenders in podium training
This one, too, by Andy Bull, who invites us all into a time machine and transports us back to the very first Games in 1896. The Olympics, he writes, were “born out of uncertainty, delivered by an obdurate and implacable IOC, despite public doubts, political concerns, and escalating costs”. The IOC’s sheer stubbornness has carried the Olympics through 125 years of Olympics across two world wars, massacres, doping scandals and corruption.
“Right the way up to these Tokyo Games. The IOC has tried to compare them to the Antwerp Olympics in 1920, which were held at the tail end of the Spanish flu pandemic. But nothing in living memory has been anything like this. They’re throwing a party in the middle of a global pandemic, have 100,000 guests, 11,000 athletes, and 79,000 officials, support staff and journalists, from more than 200 countries, flying into a city stuck in a state of emergency, in a country where only 22% of the population are fully vaccinated, a country which simply isn’t ready for these Games.”
Related: Tokyo waits and the world watches as IOC gambles on the Games again | Andy Bull
For a first taste, this is an excellent curtain-raiser from Sean Ingle, who explores that fine line between opposing an Olympics replete with problems and controversy and being drawn in by the sporting narratives.
Related: Boom or bust: can troubled Tokyo Olympics sparkle once the flame is lit?
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Olympic Games. We’re here to provide you with 24-hour rolling coverage of all the highs and lows and in-betweens of perhaps the strangest instalment since the very first in Athens in 1896. This is the “Tokyo 2020” of 2021. The Games that couldn’t happen a year ago because of Covid-19, and the Games many believe shouldn’t happen even now as the pandemic continues to cut a swathe through Japan. Signs of a fifth wave are everywhere in the host nation, where infection and death tolls are rising and vaccination rates remain low, and the capital will be under a state of emergency for the entirety of competition. That’s before mentioning the spiralling financial cost.
But, as International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said, “there is no Plan B”. And so, organisers have pressed on, and almost 80,000 athletes, officials, support staff and yes, us the media, have either arrived or will touch down imminently. The local mood is one of derision, to the point that one of the Olympics’ biggest sponsors, Toyota, announced it will not run Tokyo 2020-related adverts. In such an environment controversy already abounds, likewise with athletes taking the knee, super quick super spikes, and all the others which have unfortunately become something of Olympics tradition such as doping, corruption and the status of Russian athletes, some of whom will compete but under a neutral flag.
