As delegations from many countries and regions have successively arrived in Japan, and domestic sports teams have successively announced their entry lists, the Tokyo Olympics under the epidemic finally had a little atmosphere.
Today, with only half a month left before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics, this unprecedented Olympic event still has a lot of suspense to be solved.
The emblem of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games was taken 30 days before the opening ceremony in Tokyo, Japan, June 22, local time.
Suspense 1: Who will be the standard bearer of the Chinese delegation?
The candidates for the flag bearers for the opening ceremony of the Chinese delegation have always been the suspense talked about in the big Olympic drama.
In the previous Olympic Games, the men's basketball team is a well-deserved "standard bearer."
In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the 2m 02 men’s basketball center Wang Libin served as the standard bearer. This tradition has been continued since then. The men’s basketball team Ning Tao and Song Ligang served as the Chinese delegations for the 1988 Seoul Olympics and 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Flag bearer.
In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney Olympics, basketball star Liu Yudong won the flag bearer consecutively; in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Yao Ming served as the flag bearer of the Chinese delegation. In the 2012 London Olympics, he carried the Chinese men's basketball team. Yi Jianlian of the flag served as the flag bearer.
At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese delegation's flag bearer Yao Ming.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Du Yang
In the last Rio Olympics, the flag bearer of the Chinese delegation used non-men's basketball players for the first time. The men's foil champion Thunder of the London Olympics served as the flag bearer.
At this Tokyo Olympics, because the Chinese men's basketball team missed the Olympic venue, the male athlete flag bearers once again had suspense.
In the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, Zhao Shuai, the 58kg champion of the Rio Olympic Taekwondo event, served as the flag bearer of the delegation.
As for the standard-bearer of the female athletes, Zhu Ting, the leader of the Chinese women's volleyball team, has the highest voice on social media.
The main venue of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Suspense 2: How will emergencies affect the Olympics?
On the 7th local time, the number of new infections in Tokyo reached 920, which has been higher than the same day last week for 18 consecutive days, and is also the day with the highest number of confirmed cases since May 13.
The continued rebound of the Tokyo epidemic forced the Japanese government to issue an emergency declaration to Tokyo for the fourth time on the 8th local time. The applicable period is from July 12 to August 22. This means that the Tokyo Olympics will be carried out in an emergency. , Unless the epidemic situation in Tokyo gets better during this period.
According to Kyodo News, after the Japanese government announced an emergency, the venues in the three prefectures of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama will be empty for Olympic games.
This will be the first time in the 100-year history of the Olympic Games.
According to relevant regulations, after entering a state of emergency, the government will require restaurants that provide alcohol to suspend business, and restaurants that do not provide alcohol to shorten their business hours; people try to avoid going out.
Under numerous factors, this may be destined to be an Olympic Games lacking "fireworks".
On May 7, local time, the Japanese government held a meeting of the Headquarters for the Prevention and Control of the New Crown Epidemic at the Prime Minister’s Residence and officially decided to extend the state of emergency currently implemented in the four prefectures of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hyogo to May 31. On the 12th, Aichi and Fukuoka Prefectures will also be included in the scope of emergency implementation.
The picture shows the announcement of the extension of the state of emergency being broadcast on a big screen in Tokyo.
Suspense 3: What will the Olympic stadium look like in the empty field?
Since the epidemic, many sports events have chosen to restart with empty stadiums. When the loud auditoriums in the past became empty, it really gave people a very deserted feeling, even if there was less fiery competition on the stadium. It has a little original taste.
Therefore, when 60,000 fans poured into the European Cup group match between Hungary and Portugal before, many people were excited that football is finally back.
Unfortunately, due to changes in the local epidemic situation in Tokyo, the original maximum number of spectators in the venues was 50% and no more than 10,000 people. Now, only one city and three counties can be used for empty games. This is indeed under the epidemic. The helpless move.
What will the Olympic game look like under the empty field?
I am afraid that a sense of complete desertion is inevitable.
Even if the broadcast technology is accompanied by live sound, it may still not be that "taste".
Japan National Arena.
Suspense 4: Will the large number of people entering China inspire new growth points for the epidemic?
In addition to the pressure of domestic epidemic prevention and control in Japan, as the Olympics approaches, delegations from various countries and regions have successively arrived in Tokyo, Japan, and the pressure of external input continues to increase.
On June 19, local time, one member of the Uganda Olympic delegation was diagnosed when entering Japan, but the remaining 8 were not immediately identified as close contacts. Then another member was diagnosed after arriving at the training camp in Osaka, revealing the current Tokyo Olympic Games. There are still loopholes in the epidemic prevention.
In order to strengthen epidemic prevention measures, the Japanese government has since announced that it will implement "one-person infection and all-person quarantine" for foreign delegations, and directly identify close contacts at the airport.
According to data released by the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, between the 1st and 4th local time, a total of 1244 athletes and Olympic-related personnel arrived in Japan from overseas. The new crown test was positive for a Serbian rower.
Olympic elements are all over Tokyo, Japan.
At this time, there is still half a month before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics. More and more Olympic-related personnel will arrive in Japan one after another. It is unknown whether more confirmed cases will be found when entering the country.
During the competition, it is also necessary to put a question mark on whether to maintain the entire closed loop of epidemic prevention and ensure that Olympic personnel are well isolated from the outside world.
It is worth noting that on the 5th local time, 9 Olympic-related personnel tested positive for the new crown virus. These 9 people are all people living in Japan, specifically 7 business outsourcing staff and 1 Olympic Organizing Committee staff. , 1 media related staff.
This once again sounded the alarm for the Tokyo Olympics' epidemic prevention work.
On July 1, local time, the Tokyo Olympics Main Press Center (MPC) at the Koto International Exhibition Center in Tokyo opened to the public.
Suspense 5: Will these big-name players eventually participate?
The big-name players in the Olympics are also the focus of attention from the outside world.
At present, with most domestic and foreign sports teams confirming their roster, this part of the suspense has basically been solved.
However, there are still a small number of big-name players who have not yet determined whether to participate in the Tokyo Olympics.
For example, Federer, who stopped in the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon men's singles in the early hours of the 8th, has not yet determined whether to play.
As for the US men's basketball team, it is facing a "crash" situation in the Olympic Games and the NBA Finals.
At present, the NBA Finals has just entered the second game. If it reaches the seventh game, Booker and Horredy in the US men's basketball roster may miss the first two Olympic group games.
Because the seventh group match happened on the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympics on July 23, when the two stars finished the finals and went to Japan to complete the isolation, there was a high probability that they would not be able to catch up with the first two games.
On June 22, local time, outside the main venue of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Suspense 6: What's new in the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics?
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games has always been a big suspense before the start of the Olympic Games. Especially under the epidemic situation, what appearance and new ideas the simplified opening ceremony will show is very worth looking forward to.
According to Kyodo News Agency, the planning and performance of the opening ceremony are "top secret", and a complete rehearsal has been carried out. During the rehearsal, you can see the red lights in the venue from time to time and the sound of popular games and other music.
It is worth mentioning that in March this year, Hiroshi Sasaki, the chief director of the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, resigned. Since then, this position has been vacant, and the heads of performances, line dance, music and other fields will advance the work.
In addition, Baric, executive producer of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics, said last year that elements of the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic will be added to the performance to tell the story of the fight against the epidemic to people around the world.
Now that more than a year has passed, how the content of this part will be presented is also a big suspense.
In any case, I hope that the Tokyo Olympics, which opens in half a month, will become the “light at the end of the dark tunnel” of the epidemic, as IOC President Bach said.
(Author Bian Liqun)