Tokyo 2020 Olympics: delayed Games defy coronavirus to open under pomp and protests
- Opening ceremony goes off without incident as hundreds protest outside the Olympic Stadium, while IOC chief Thomas Bach says ‘today is a moment of hope’
- ‘With the Games opening, I don’t see it being cancelled,’ says Hong Kong sports expert Professor Chung Pak-kwong
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Inside the Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremony
An Olympics like no other opened like none before it in Tokyo on Friday night, with the Olympic Stadium filled to only a fraction of its 68,000 capacity.
Not everyone welcomed the delayed Games’ arrival, as hundreds gathered to protest, calling on them to be cancelled to save lives.
Their protests could be heard inside the stadium, particularly during the Japanese national anthem and the moment’s silence for the victims of Covid-19 around the world.
While in-person spectators were banned for the first Olympics in history – as they are for all Tokyo events while the Japanese capital remains in a state of emergency – there were several other notable absentees at the event, ordinarily the hottest ticket in town.
There were 1,359 new coronavirus cases on Friday, officials confirmed – a 146.5 per cent increase on a week ago.