Armand Duplantis will represent Sweden in the pole vault.
Credit: © Denis Kuvaev, Shutterstock

The legendary torch was lit in Olympia, Greece, in March 2020 and has been kept safe for over a year awaiting the delayed start of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. The games officially begin after the opening ceremony on Friday, July 23, 2021. The ceremony takes place at the Olympic Stadium, which was rebuilt on the site of the stadium for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The theme of the ceremony—“United by Emotion”—points to sport as a connection for people around the world, even during a pandemic.

Margielyn Didal of the Philippines will compete in the new street skateboarding event.
Credit: © Cheng Min, Xinhua/Alamy Images

To keep athletes and Tokyo residents safe, spectators will not be allowed to attend the events and additional safety measures have been put in place. Much of the ceremony was pre-recorded, to decrease the number of people present. Athletes and support staff—including coaches and trainers—were tested for COVID-19 before and after arriving in Japan. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not require athletes to be vaccinated, but they estimated that 80 percent of athletes were fully vaccinated. Athletes were given a Playbook outlining the rules for COVID-19 safety at the games, which include social distancing, masking whenever possible, frequent testing, and avoiding tourist attractions.

In their design and planning, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have focused on sustainability. Only 8 of the 42 event sites were built specifically for the 2020 games. To minimize the use of new materials, 25 sites were updated from the 1964 Olympic Games. Event planners also made efforts to use recycled materials and renewable energy and lower CO2 emissions. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics mark the first time that the Olympic medals are made from recycled materials, recovered primarily from old smartphones and computers.

Stephanie Gilmore of Australia will lead the country’s team in the surfing event.
Credit: © Louis Lotter Photography/Shutterstock

New events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics include karate, skateboarding, softball, sport climbing, and surfing. Softball returned to the roster after it was removed for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

The mascot of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is named Miraitowa, from the Japanese words meaning future and eternity. Miraitowa’s design features the indigo blue and white checkered pattern which also makes up the Tokyo 2020 Olympics emblem.

August 29, 2017

On Sunday, August 27, an all-star baseball team from Tokyo, Japan, won the Little League World Series by defeating a team from Lufkin, Texas, 12-2. The Little League World Series is a competition played each year in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, among kids aged 11 to 13. The tournament, first played in 1947, includes 16 Little League teams from the United States and the rest of the world. Little League Baseball is the world’s largest organized youth-sports program, with nearly 180,000 teams.

On Aug. 27, 2017, young Tokyo ballplayers celebrate their Little League World Series championship at Howard J. Lamade Stadium in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Credit: Courtesy of Little League Baseball and Softball

The ballplayers from Tokyo’s Kitasuna Little League dominated the final at South Williamsport’s Howard J. Lamade Stadium, despite a lightning start by the boys from Texas. Chandler Spencer blasted the first pitch of the game from Tokyo starter Tsubasa Tomii for a long home run to left. Two batters later, first baseman Hunter Ditsworth tucked one inside the right field foul pole for another homer and a 2-0 lead. That was it for Texas, however, and Tokyo responded with three runs in the second inning and four in the third.

Tokyo continued the attack in the fifth, and the team’s lead quickly approached the 10 runs needed to win by the so-called “mercy rule.” After tallying four in the inning for an 11-2 lead, a single to right by outfielder Natsuki Yajima drove in the 12th run to end the game. After a quick celebration in front of their dugout, members of the Kitasuna team respectfully thanked their opponents. They then raced to the center field wall to rub the bronze bust of the stadium’s namesake, Howard J. Lamade—a longstanding tradition for the winning team. (Lamade was a Pennsylvania newspaper publisher and a key figure in the early years of Little League Baseball.)

The Tokyo all-stars rolled through the international bracket of the tournament, winning all five of their games by a combined score of 39-3, including a 5-0 win over Mexico to reach the Little League World Series final. The championship was the 4th for Tokyo in the last six years, and the 11th overall for teams from Japan. The Lufkin, Texas, squad fought through the tough domestic tournament, edging the all-stars from Greenville, North Carolina, 6-5 to win the United States title and reach the final. The tournament’s 32 games drew a total of nearly 500,000 fans.