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| There are no cheering multitudes to welcome the athletes at Tokyo’s New National Stadium as the 32nd Olympiad—delayed by a year and toned down because of the coronavirus pandemic—finally kicks off on Friday night. (Photo from Reuters) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] TOKYO—In the empty spaces at the New National Stadium where spectators would have sat down and cheered on the world’s fastest, highest and strongest, there was an air of optimism and inspiration that only the Olympics can muster, PH Inquirer reported. And here, on Friday night, optimism and inspiration came in steady streams as athletes from all corners of the world marched into a padlocked venue to officially mark the opening of the Tokyo Olympics.
That stream of positivity was interrupted only by stark reminders that these are not your grandfather’s—or even your older brother’s—Olympics: Athletes marching with obvious distances from each other, masks on everyone’s faces, a moment of silence during the ceremony to remember and honor the lives lost because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the absent fans, who were locked out of the venues because of health measures.
“This is a different Olympics, special,” said Hidilyn Diaz, the silver medalist in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics who spearheads perhaps the most hopeful delegation in this year’s Summer Games—a Philippine team believing that this is the year a country’s gold medal drought ends. And the day could not have started better for the Filipinos.
