Tokyo gears up for opening ceremony amid Covid-19 crisis

The Greatest Show on Earth kicks off today

Tokyo Olympics is scheduled to begin Friday after a year-long delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the first time that the Olympic Games have been postponed and rescheduled, rather than cancelled. It surely is going to be an Olympics like none before. The opening ceremony will take place tomorrow at newly-built National Stadium in the Japanese capital at 8 pm local time (4.30 pm IST) while the closing ceremony will be held on August 8 at the same venue. Leaders from around 15 countries are expected to attend opening ceremony. Reports in Japan have suggested that those attending the ceremony in person could be as low as 1,000 due to the pandemic.

facts & figures u Number of Athletes: 15,400

Tokyo will host about 15,400 athletes from 205 nations across the world. The Paralympics will feature 4,400 athletes, whereas, the Olympic Games will feature about 11,000 athletes. Back at the Rio Games in 2016, the total participation was 14,800 athletes which includes 10,500 at Summer Olympics and 4,300 at Paralympics.

u Number of Sports – 33

A total of 33 sports will be held at the Tokyo Olympics, as several new sports were introduced to the Games. Sport Climbing, Surfing, Karate and Softball are among the sports that have been added to the Tokyo Olympics 2021.

u Venues – 43

Tokyo Olympics will have a total of 43 venues, spread across 33 sports. The opening ceremony will be held at the Olympic Stadium, Tokyo. A total of 8 new permanent venues were constructed for the Olympic Games, whereas 10 temporary venues were also built. 25 existing venues will be used at the Olympics this year.

u Gender Balance- 51% Male, 49 % Female

Out of the participating athletes at Tokyo Olympics, 51% are male, whereas, the rest 49% are female. At Rio Olympics 2016, male athletes accounted for almost 60% of the total participants. This shows that the Tokyo Olympics will have a lot more gender diversity.

Also Read: India at Tokyo Olympics: Huge expectations, High aspirations

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