The opening ceremony of the 2020 Olympic Games got underway a short while ago at the National Stadium in Tokyo, finally marking the official opening of the biggest sporting spectacle in the world.
After being postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic, Tokyo Olympic Games finally commenced with an eye-catching traditional opening ceremony.
Due to the prevailing pandemic situation, the ceremony is being held in an empty stadium with only limited eminent personalities such as French president Emmanuel Macron and US First Lady Jill Biden at the stands with strict virus rules in place.
Instead of more than 10,000 athletes marching into a capacity-crowd stadium as usual, the team parade will be smaller, in a largely empty Tokyo Olympic stadium.
Judo champion Chamara Nuwan Dharmawardana and Artistic Gymnast Milka Gehani De Silva have been named Sri Lanka’s flag bearers during the opening ceremony of the Games.
Tokyo 2020 is scheduled to be held from today to the 8th of August in Tokyo and will be held largely behind closed doors with no public spectators permitted under the state of emergency.
More than 11,000 athletes and 204 nations are expected to participate at Tokyo 2020 despite several high-profile withdrawals due to the coronavirus or based on safety concerns.
The Tokyo Games will feature 339 gold medals.
The Tokyo Games will boast five more sports compared to Rio 2016, taking the total number to 33.
Karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding will make their Olympic debuts in Tokyo, as well as the return of baseball and softball for the first time since 2008.
There will also be 15 new events in the existing sports of swimming, archery, athletics, basketball, cycling, fencing, judo, table tennis and triathlon.
