The Tokyo 2020 Olympics must acknowledge the coronavirus crisis which forced their postponement and incorporate it into next year's opening ceremony, executive producer Marco Balich said. Balich, an Italian with great experience in producing Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, said the Japanese had almost completed preparations for this year.
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics opening ceremony on Friday will break with the recent tradition of large-scale and expensive shows, featuring a low-emissions cauldron and an "analogue" experience, executive producer Marco Balich said on Monday.
Tokyo's grand opening on Friday will have none of that splendour or grandiosity.
The hometown team scored the first win of the Tokyo Olympics as the pandemic-delayed Games began with an 8-1 win for Japan over Australia in the softball.
The postponed Olympic Games will now begin on July 23 next year and run until August 8, the head of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee said on Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic made it impossible to plan and prepare for them properly this year. The Games were postponed last week - the first such delay in the 124-year history of the modern Olympics. The move was a huge blow for Japan, which invested $13 billion in the run-up to the event and raised $3 billion from domestic sponsors.
The Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics countdown got under way on Thursday with the lighting of the torch at the site of the ancient Olympics, with organisers hoping it will shift attention away from Brazil's political and financial turmoil.
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