As president of the host country of the next summer Olympics, in Paris in 2024, Emmanuel Macron made the trip to Tokyo this Friday for the opening ceremony.

He said Japan had done well to maintain this competition despite the coronavirus epidemic. 

Japan was "right to maintain these Olympic Games" despite the pandemic which forced the organizers to postpone the event for a year, Emmanuel Macron estimated this Friday in an interview with France Televisions in Tokyo, broadcast at the time of the opening ceremony. "These Olympic Games had to be held. Living with the virus is also that. We must resist, we must hold these Olympics. It is important because the spirit of Olympism is a spirit of cooperation and we need it, in this time of Covid and I hope it will end the epidemic, and it is essential for our athletes, "said the Head of State.

"Japan has a unique situation. It is one of those countries that have a strategy that has been called 'zero Covid', which has completely locked itself in. And I think they did not anticipate that variants were just going to happen, and as he (Japan) was locked up, he later started his vaccination than others, which created difficulties, "he continued.

"It's tomorrow 2024"

Emmanuel Macron made the trip to Tokyo as president of the host country for the next summer Olympics, in Paris in 2024. During the day, he met at the imperial palace the Emperor of Japan, Naruhito, in the presence of other foreign dignitaries including the First Lady of the United States Jill Biden, before meeting some representatives of the Japanese cultural world.

"We will take over in 2024, it's tomorrow 2024. We are ready, we must continue to accelerate, and being there was at the same time a mark of respect, commitment and impatience to prepare for the future", he said before launching into the big game of predictions for this Japanese edition.

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"I think that if we are around 40 (medals, Editor's note) (...), Rio is the best season in terms of classification, I think we were seventh nation at that time. We want to be fifth for 2024 (...). I believe that we must aim for forty medals (in Tokyo, Editor's note), we must do the maximum, we will have, as always, surprises, in the good sense and in the bad sense. I think we have to try to keep around 40 medals, that's the goal we have to set ourselves ".

On Saturday, Emmanuel Macron is due to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, two years after his first official visit to Japan.

He must also attend Olympic judo and women's basketball 3x3, according to his schedule, before leaving for Polynesia.