2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony

The 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony is scheduled to take place on 23 July 2021 at Olympic Stadium, Tokyo.[1][2] As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings will combine the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history.

2020 Summer Olympics
opening ceremony
Date23 July 2021 (2021-07-23)
Time20:00 - 23:00 JST (UTC+9)
LocationTokyo, Japan
Filmed byOBS on behalf of the Japan Consortium
Part of a series on
2020 Summer Olympics

Ticket prices for the Opening Ceremony were expected to range between ¥12,000 and ¥300,000.[3][4]

Preparations

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) gave the first report of preparations in December 2017, with the release of the "Basic Policy" document for the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies.[5] The document was based upon feedback from experts and opinions of the Japanese public and includes the foundational elements for the positioning and overall concept of the four ceremonies. The Olympic opening ceremony is to introduce the themes and concepts of the 4 ceremonies, including peace, coexistence, reconstruction, the future, Japan and Tokyo, the athletes and involvement.[6]

In July 2018, Mansai Nomura, an actor in traditional Japanese theater, was announced as the Chief Creative Director for the opening and closing ceremonies.[7][8] In December 2020, Normura stepped down from the role and becoming an advisor, with Hiroshi Sasaki named the new Chief Creative Director for Tokyo's ceremonies.[9]

Marco Balich of Balich Worldwide Shows, is the producer. He was involved as producer of the ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics, 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2016 Summer Olympics, and has done other international ceremonies such as the 2019 Summer Universiade and the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima. In July 2019, he mentioned that his involvement will be in partnership with the Japanese advertising company Dentsu.[10] Dentsu's creative director for these ceremonies, Kaoru Sugano, resigned in January 2020 over harassment claims.[11]

Previous Olympic opening ceremonies in Japan, such as the 1998 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Nagano, mixed ancient Japanese cultural elements with themes of international peace.[12] Reports from Inside the Games and Kyodo News in January 2020 suggests that there will be a bigger focus on Japanese technology and its popular culture in this ceremony.[13] The speculation is not without merit. At the closing ceremony at Rio 2016, Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe dressed up as Mario in the handover segment.

COVID-19 impact

In February 2020, after announcements concerning scaling back the Tokyo marathon due to the effects of COVID-19, health officials have begun to question whether the Olympic opening ceremony would also be impacted.[14] On 24 March 2020, the IOC and the Tokyo Organizing Committee officially announced on the ongoing pandemic, the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics would be delayed to 2021, and held no later than Summer 2021 (marking the first time that an entire Olympics have ever been postponed).[15] On 30 March 2020, it was announced that the ceremony will take place on 23 July 2021.[16] The Japanese leg of the 2020 Summer Olympics torch relay was due to begin Fukushima Prefecture (the site of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011) on 26 March 2020 with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs using the term "Reconstruction Olympics", but has been postponed to 25 March 2021.[17]

Balich went on record that the coronavirus crisis will be mentioned at some point during the ceremony due to its significance at the games.[18] In December 2020, when Sasaki was named the new Chief Creative Director for the ceremonies, he pointed out that the previous plans were scrapped as it was considered too extravagant, which suggested that it would be simplified and scaled back as per audience expectations.[9]

During organizing talks in late 2020, concerns were raised if athletes could attend the Opening Ceremony. In November 2020, the organizers agreed that there will be no cap on competing athletes attending the ceremony if they choose to, but there will be a maximum of six officials for each countries delegation.[19]

Parade of Nations
Main article: 2020 Summer Olympics Parade of Nations

Athletes will enter the stadium in an order dictated by the Olympic tradition. As the originator of the Olympics, the Greek team will enter first. Other teams will enter in katakana order based on the names of countries in the Japanese language, the first time this will happen as previous Olympics held in Japan have used the English language.[20] Following tradition, the delegation from the host nation Japan will enter last.

The Refugee Olympic Team, composed of refugees from several countries, will be the second nation to enter, after Greece. For the first time in the opening ceremony, the countries that will host the next two Olympic Games, France and the United States, will march before the host nation Japan enters, instead of entering one-hundred-fifty-fourth (between Brazil and Bulgaria) and seventh (between Afghanistan and American Samoa), respectively, according to the Japanese alphabet order.[21]

The names of the nations will be announced in French, followed by English and Japanese, the official languages of the Olympic movement and the host nation, in accordance with traditional and International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines.

Anthems

Venue
Japan National Stadium

The New National Stadium was to serve as the main stadium for the opening ceremony. Demolition of National Stadium was completed in May 2015. Construction of the new stadium began at the site on 11 December 2016. The stadium was handed over to the IOC on 30 November 2019 for preparations. Capacity during the Olympic Games will be 60,102, including account press and executive seating areas.[22]

Flame

In December 2018, organizers stated that although the Olympic cauldron will be officially lit and extinguished at the stadium, the flame will be transferred to a separate, public cauldron (following the lead of 2010 and 2016) on the Tokyo riverfront while the Games are in progress, and transferred back to New National Stadium for the closing ceremony. Organizers cited unspecified "physical difficulties" in keeping the flame at the New National Stadium.[23]

References
  1. "Olympic Competition Schedule". 19 August 2020. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  2. Panja, Tariq; Rich, Motoko (30 March 2020). "Summer Olympics in Tokyo to Start on July 23, 2021". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  3. "Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremony ticket price ceiling set at ¥288,000". The Japan Times. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  4. "Japanese rush to buy Tokyo Olympic tickets on first day". USA TODAY. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  5. "Basic Policy｜The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games".
  6. Prahl, Amanda (13 February 2020). "A Date Has Been Set For the Opening Ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics". POPSUGAR Fitness Australia. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  7. "Mansai Nomura to get creative with Tokyo 2020 Ceremonies". Olympic Channel. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  8. "Kyogen actor Mansai Nomura to oversee Tokyo 2020 ceremonies". The Japan Times. Reuters. 30 July 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  9. Wade, Stephen (23 December 2020). "Tokyo Olympics name Hiroshi Sasaki director for ceremonies". AP NEWS. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  10. "Tokyo 2020: Balich curerà cerimonie - Sport". Agenzia ANSA (in Italian). 2019-06-10. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
  11. "Dentsu's creative director for Tokyo Olympic ceremonies steps down after being disciplined overpower harassment". The Japan Times Online. 2020-01-08. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
  12. Tomlinson, Alan (1 January 2005). "Picturing the winter Olympics: The Opening ceremonies of Nagano (Japan) 1998 and Salt Lake City (USA) 2002" (PDF). Tourism, Culture & Communication. 5 (2): 83–92. doi:10.3727/109830405774791465. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  13. "Mario and flying cars tipped to appear at Tokyo 2020 Opening Ceremony". www.insidethegames.biz. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
  14. "Tokyo Marathon Restricted to Elite Athletes Over Coronavirus Outbreak".
  15. "JOINT STATEMENT FROM THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE AND THE TOKYO 2020 ORGANISING COMMITTEE". International Olympic Committee. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  16. Pavitt, Michael (20 March 2020). "Rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympics to open on July 23 in 2021". insidethegames.biz. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  17. "Olympic and Paralympic Games giving Japan a recovery boost". euronews. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  18. Houston, Michael (31 March 2020). "Tokyo 2020 Olympic Opening Ceremony must now reference coronavirus, producer says". Archived from the original on 18 August 2020.
  19. "Delegation of maximum six allowed to participate in opening ceremony of Tokyo Olympics". The Statesman. IANS. 19 November 2020. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
  20. "Japanese language to determine order of Olympic parade of athletes". Mainichi Japan. 30 October 2020.
  21. "U.S., France, Japan to march last in 2020 Parade of Nations". The Japan Times. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  22. "技術提案等審査委員会". www.jpnsport.go.jp.
  23. Rowbottom, Mike (18 December 2018). "Tokyo 2020 confirms it will use Olympic flame cauldrons in stadium and on the waterfront". insidethegames.biz.
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