Arigato and Sayonara: Strange closing ceremony of the Tokyo Games, without a third of the Olympians, but with Lithuanians

08/08/2021 Lithuania, Sports, World



[ad_1]

The inscriptions “arigato” and “sayonara,” meaning “thank you” and “all the best,” reigned at the stadium in the Japanese capital on Sunday.

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, closed this year’s Games in the presence of Crown Prince Akishino of Japan and invited everyone to Paris in 1083 days.

Th. Bach called this year’s Pandemic Olympics “Games of Hope, Solidarity and Peace” during the coronavirus pandemic.

Interestingly, nearly a third – more than 60 out of 206 – of the states and teams did not attend the closing ceremony because COVID-19 rules required athletes to leave home within 48 hours. after his performance in the competition.

At the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, pentathlete Justinas Kinderis carried the Lithuanian flag, which ranked 18th.

Along with track cyclists Simona Krupeckaitė and Miglė Marozaitė, our country’s doctors and mission representatives also marched in the parade of nations.

Most of the other athletes have already gone home. Olivija Baleišytė, another track cyclist who started today, stayed in the cycling village about 130 km from Tokyo.

On the Lithuanian account in Tokyo, the only silver medal won by pentathlete Laura Asadauskaitė-Zadneprovskienė.

“We did it together”

Traditionally, during the closing, which was also seen by Emperor Naruhito of Japan from the podium, the marathon medalists were awarded, fighting today in Sapore, 800 km from Tokyo. Gold was won by Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, who became the Olympic champion for the second time in a row. Silver was won by Dutch athlete Abdi Nageeye, bronze by Bashir Abdi from Belgium.

During the closing ceremony, the Olympians thanked and presented the bouquets of flowers that were presented to the medalists of the Games to the representatives of the volunteers. About 70,000 people worked on his games.

Volunteers, Olympians, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Th. Seiko Hashimoto, Director of the Tokyo Games Organizing Committee, thanked the Bach and IOC members, the Japanese and Tokyo authorities. She is a former speed skating and cycling Olympian who has participated in four Winter Olympics and three Summer Olympics.

The Olympic flag was lowered to the sound of the Olympic anthem. It was delivered by the governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, to Th. A Bach, and the latter to Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris. The French capital will host 2024. Summer Olympics.

After the French National Orchestra performed its national anthem, images of the country were shown on large screens, as well as a live broadcast from the Champs-Elysees, including French Olympians returning from Tokyo and planes carved by smoke from the French flag.

IOC President Th. Bach, standing on the podium of representatives of the Asian, European, African, American, Oceanic and refugee teams, officially announced the end of the Tokyo Olympics. At the beginning of his speech, he thanked the athletes, as well as the people of Japan, for their hard work and dedication in organizing the most challenging games in history. “We did it together,” Th said. Lead a single life.

The number 2020 officially remained in the Tokyo Olympics title as the Games, which were due to take place last year, were postponed for a year due to a coronavirus pandemic.

A total of 11,656 athletes from 206 states and teams participated in the Tokyo Olympics. 339 sets of medals were awarded.

The largest number of them was won by the United States: 113 (39 gold, 41 silver, 33 bronze). The second place in the medal table with 88 medals was taken by China (38, 32, 18), the third with 58 – Japan (27, 14, 17).

Lithuania ranks only 77th, a record place in all of history after the restoration of independence.

A total of 92 countries took the podium.

For the first time in the history of their countries, representatives of Bermuda, the Philippines and Qatar became Olympic champions. Athletes from Burkina Faso, San Marino and Turkmenistan took the podium for the first time.

The Tokyo Games included karate, rock climbing, surfing and skateboarding for the first time, baseball and softball returned to the Olympic program, and independent 3 × 3 basketball and BMX cycling competitions for the first time.

August 24 The Paralympic Games will begin in Tokyo.

The organizers are satisfied with the safety of the event.

Seiko Hashimoto, president of the organizing committee for the Tokyo Olympics, is pleased with the organization of the Olympics, which ended on Sunday.

“Safety has been our top priority. I think we managed to achieve this closing day without much challenge. There will be many major sporting events around the world in the coming years and their organizers can learn from us how to apply measures to combat COVID-19. It is very difficult for me to describe in words how we had to overcome this situation and the difficulties. “Not everything was perfect, but I think people appreciated our efforts,” he told a press conference.

The Olympic Games, recovered from last year’s pandemic, were held under strict security rules. In Tokyo, where the state of emergency has already been imposed, the number of new cases of coronavirus is constantly increasing.

Mr. Hashimoto also emphasized that these games took more gender equality into account and added new sports such as surfing and skateboarding. The latest step has reportedly helped attract a younger audience.

The president of the Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee added that the most impressive moment for her personally was “the many smiles on people’s faces, those who worked hard and those who supported the athletes, many of those smiles left the greater impression “.

It is strictly forbidden to use the information published by DELFI on other websites, in the media or elsewhere, or to distribute our material in any way without consent, and if consent has been obtained, it is necessary to indicate DELFI as the source.



[ad_2]

Designed by Tricksfast Solutions
© Copyright 2024, All Rights Reserved