TOKYO (AP) – The Olympic flame is manifesting itself in Tokyo, a short walk from the new national stadium where it was intended to burn a month ago.
The flame came to Japan from Greece in March and has been largely hidden in Tokyo since the Olympic Games were postponed until next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The flame was unveiled Monday in a small rite with Yoshiro Mori, chairman of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, and Yasuhiro Yamashita, chairman of the Japanese Olympic Committee.
“In this COVID-19 scenario, I think athletes who aspire to the Olympic and Paralympic Games exercise hard every day, with wonderful anxiety,” said Yamashita, a former Olympic gold medalist in judo, speaking in Japanese. “I’m sure the torch on display today will help the hearts of those athletes.”
Mori added: “I hope this flame is transmitted through about 10,000 torchbearers next year, and the cauldron will light up so that the occasion will be a success.”
The flame will be on display from Tuesday at the new Olympic Museum in Japan for at least the next two months.Visitors can only enter the museum, which is contrary to the new stadium, by reservation.
The revelation of the flame comes days after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his intention to resign.
Abe toasted in Buenos Aires in 2013 when the IOC chose Tokyo, and was the focus of the final rite of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro when he gave the impression of being a character in the Nintendo Super Mario game.
The fate of the Tokyo Olympics remains uncertain. The organizers and the International Olympic Committee say it will open on 23 July 2021. But they did not reveal major points on how 15,400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes will be in Tokyo.
Thousands of other staff members, technical officials and the media are also expected to contribute to Japan. The IOC says it needs enthusiasts at times, but has explained how it will happen or whether non-Japanese enthusiasts will be allowed.
Organizers are unlikely to start offering major points until autumn or next year, as the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Olympic outlook becomes clearer.
A poll this month of almost 13,000 Japanese companies showed 53.6% want the games canceled or postponed again. The IOC has said if the Olympics can’t happen in 2021, they will be canceled. They cannot be postponed again.
A survey conducted in July found that two-thirds of the public were also in favor of procrastination or cancellation.
Tokyo organizers say they are officially spending a $12.6 bill to host the Olympics, a national audit committee says it’s double. In the load, according to local estimates, the invoice for the hold can load multiple invoices. The organizers and the IOC have not yet provided a detailed breakdown of the new costs.
___
More AP Sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
___
Video hounds Haruka Nuga and Chisato Tanaka contributed to the report.