• Tokyo Olympics The Tokyo Games will not receive spectators from outside Japan

  • Coronavirus The IOC to buy vaccines from China for the Olympians

The Olympic torch relay for the Tokyo Olympics kicked off this Thursday in

Fukushima

prefecture

,

in northeast

Japan

, with the flame carried by the members of the Japanese women's soccer team and among anti-Covid measures.

The relay has started from the

J-Village

training facilities

, which previously served as the logistics base for the Fukushima nuclear crisis of 2011, and after a ceremony that has had limited participants and no public to prevent coronavirus infections.

The Japanese soccer player

Azusa Iwashimizu

has been in charge of lighting the torch from the Olympic flame that had been preserved in a lamp in

Japan

for a year, and has started the relay touring the grass fields of the J-Village accompanied by other members of the

Nadeshiko

, the team that was world champion in 2011.

"I was honored to be the first person to carry the torch today. 10 years have passed since we got together, today was a good occasion," Iwashimizu told the media after the start of the relay.

After this opening day in Fukushima, the torch will be transported for 121 days by some 10,000 runners on a route that will cross the 47 prefectures of the country, and that will conclude with the lighting of the cauldron at the

Tokyo Olympic Stadium

on July 23. .

"The flame continued been burning serenely while the world was facing difficult times over the past year ,

" said the president of the organizing committee of the

Olympic Games in Tokyo

,

Seiko Hashimoto

, during a speech at the opening ceremony.

Security measures, also in the relay

Hashimoto is confident that this torch "can reach the opening of the Games full of hope for all in Japan and the world, and shine in the dark and light the way," said the former Olympic athlete and former minister in charge of the Games. Games.

The ceremony took place on a stage set up in the J-Village and decorated with ikebana (Japanese flower arrangements) from Fukushima and

Miyage

and

Iwate

prefectures

, in the northeast of the country.

Today's event has had a very low participation of Japanese political and sports representatives, about 160 in total, in the context of the pandemic, while the organization has requested containment from citizens so that they do not congregate in a massive way in the streets as the relay passes.

He has also asked to applaud instead of cheering loudly, and has warned that the relay could be canceled in certain sections in the event of a massive public presence.

The runners participating in the relay, meanwhile, must maintain a safe distance between them and wear a mask in case this preventive measure is not possible, in addition to disinfecting their hands and monitoring their health.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Olympic Games

  • sports

DebateThe experts, against vaccines for athletes: "It is a selfish act, it does not help society"

HandballThe 'Warriors' qualify for the Tokyo Games

LaLigaBarcelona once again believes in La Liga

See links of interest

  • 2021 business calendar