The Olympic flame was lit in Japan but the torch relay was cancelled following the decision to postpone the games until next year. 23 July 2021 is the new start date of the Olympics.
Updated 31 March
The new dates for the Olympics and Paralympics have been announced: the Olympics will be held from 23 July to 8 August 2021; the Paralympics from 24 August to 5 September 2021.
Updated 25 March
Japan was unwilling to forgo the arrival ceremony of the Olympic flame on 20 March, which was due to set off on a relay across the entire country: the final stage of the "road to Tokyo" that was supposed to culminate in the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, which have however been officially postponed. Despite doubts about the feasibility of organising the games while a pandemic is bringing entire countries to their knees, the Japanese authorities still believe in the dream of hosting the most important event in the global calendar, and thereby giving meaning to years of sweat and preparation. And so Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the IOC, the International Olympic Committee, announced the postponement of the games, which will be held by the summer of next year.
The Olympic flame arrives in Japan
The slogan "Hope lights the way" had been chosen for the Tokyo 2020 torch relay, which was due to start on 26 March but was cancelled. In the meantime, the torch will remain in the country "as a symbol of hope for the world in these uncertain times and to represent the light at the end of the tunnel," according to statements from the organisers. Its journey had begun even before reaching the Asian country: on 12 March, at the stadium of Olympia, in Greece, where the Olympic Games were held in antiquity, the traditional lighting ceremony took place. And although the birthplace of the games decided to cancel all stages of the relay on its territory as a preventive measure against the spread of Covid-19, it nonetheless hosted the handover ceremony of the torch to the Tokyo 2020 representatives — but without an audience — at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.
The flame departed on Thursday 19 March aboard the official Tokyo 2020 aircraft and the following day reached the military air base of the city of Matsushimain the northern prefecture of Miyagi, the area hardest hit by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami which in March 2011 caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the deaths of more than 20,000 people. There it was welcomed by an audience consisting mainly of members of the press, following the decision not to open the ceremony to local residents as originally planned. The reduced crowd listened to a speech by the president of Tokyo 2020 and former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori, who in his brief address — consisting mainly of words of thanks — declared that "the presence of the children who were due to welcome the torch has been cancelled, so as not to put
The Olympic flame remains in Japan as a symbol of hope despite the postponement of Tokyo 2020
Rights — di Mara Budgen
The Olympic flame was lit in Japan but the torch relay was cancelled following the decision to postpone the games until next year. 23 July 2021 is the new start date of the Olympics.
