The 32nd Summer Olympic Games got off to a subdued start at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo today. Deferred for a year due to COVID-19 Pandemic, the Tokyo Olympics was officially declared open in the near-empty Olympic Stadium by Japan Emperor Naruhito.

Limited number of athletes, representing 205 countries, participated in the Opening Ceremony, which featured a segment with a performer running on a treadmill and surrounded by darkness, depicting how athletes had to train in isolation during the pandemic.

Nineteen Indians took part in the ceremony and were led by 2012 London Olympics bronze-medallist Mary Kom and the Indian men hockey team captain Manpreet Singh.
Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron to mark the formal start of the Games.

The opening ceremony was low-key, with fewer than 1,000 people in attendance, strict social distancing rules and signs calling on spectators to be quiet around the venue. The closing ceremony will take place on August 8. The Summer Olympics will be followed by the 2020 Paralympics, which kick off on August 24, and are scheduled to run through September 5.
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PHOTO: Indian flag-bearers Manpreet Singh and MC Mary Kom at the Olympics Opening Ceremony in Tokyo on 23 July, 2021.