July 23 (UPI) — The Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics got underway on Friday, kicking off with a subdued performance in front of a nearly empty Olympic Stadium that acknowledged the pandemic that caused the Games to be postponed a year ago.
Dancers and athletes began the performance by working out and training alone, under conditions that reflected the distancing and isolation caused by COVID-19. The sequence then evolved into a symbol of the Olympics bringing the world back together, with a stylized sequence of dancers connecting to one another with brightly colored red bands.
The singer Misia sang Japan’s national anthem, and a performance followed featuring dancers dressed as craftsmen constructing the interlocking Olympic rings as traditional Japanese music played.
Parade of Nations
The Parade of Nations began next, with Greece, the birthplace of the Olympics, leading the way, followed by the team of refugee athletes. Smaller delegations, athletes wearing masks and extended distances between the teams are all reminders of the pandemic conditions under which the Games are being held.
The remaining nations are entering the stadium in order according to their names in Japanese, with teams such as Iceland and Ireland toward the front of the procession.
This year, the next two hosts of the Summer Games, the United States and France, will come in just ahead of Japan.
Just before the ceremony began, U.S. first lady Jill Biden published an open letter in support of the members of Team USA on the NBC News website.
“Your entire nation is cheering you on, and we are grateful for what you’ve given us: the chance to come together in common awe and appreciation for your accomplishments and the shared joy of rooting for our country on the edge of our seats,” she wrote.
Biden is leading the Team USA delegation.
Friday’s Opening Ceremony is a scaled-down version of the usual spectacle of lights, music and eye-catching choreography.Its theme is “United by Emotion,” and the organizers said they hope the event will “be an experience that conveys how we all have the ability to celebrate differences, to empathize and to live side by side with compassion for one another.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach told Kyodo News that the ceremony would be “very emotional,” as it will be the first time since the pandemic began that “you will see the whole world in one place.”
However, the usual pomp and circumstance have been dialed down significantly. There won’t be any cheering crowds inside Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. Only around 950 VIPs, including Olympic officials and delegates, are in attendance in the 68,000-seat stadium.
The U.S. delegation will be led by four-time Olympic basketball champion Sue Bird and Eddy Alvarez, a member of the U.S. baseball team who won a silver medal as part of the 5,000-meter, four-man, short-track speedskating team at the Sochi Winter Games in 2014.
“Thank you to everyone that honored me with this privilege! I will wave our colors proudly #GoTeamUSA,” Alvarez tweeted.Team USA’s outfits for the ceremony were designed by Ralph Lauren and feature navy blazers, jeans, striped T-shirts, flag-print scarves and cotton face masks.
Other details of the Opening Ceremony are defined under the Olympic Charter, and include the symbolic release of doves (real birds have not been used since a mishap involving the Olympic cauldron at the Seoul Games in 1988); the taking of the Olympic oath by competitors, officials and coaches; the torch relay and lighting of the cauldron; and the artistic program by the host country.
Japanese Emperor Naruhito will officially declare the opening of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but may avoid using the word “celebrating” or similar language, according to local news reports.
The Opening and Closing Ceremonies are being held at Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, a site used as the main stadium for the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games and was rebuilt as a new stadium for the Tokyo2020 Games. Athletics events and soccer matches will be held there during the Games.
The Opening Ceremony is being broadcast on NBC starting at 6:55 a.m. EDT, in a first-ever live morning event. NBC Olympics.com and the NBC Sports mobile app is livestreaming the ceremony, as well, although viewers will need a cable subscription for access. NBC will re-air the Opening Ceremony during prime-time coverage starting at 7:30 p.m. EDT
The question remains whether Tokyo can pull off a memorable spectacle to rival those of previous Olympic Games.
The Opening Ceremony for the Rio 2016 Games took a colorful journey through Brazil’s past and present while sending messages about conservation and climate change.
In 2012, the London Olympics created an unforgettable splash celebrating Britain with sequences including Queen Elizabeth II and James Bond appearing to parachute out of a helicopter and into Wembley Stadium.
The event also has been hit with a round of scandals in the closing hours of its preparation.
The director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, comedian Kentaro Kobayashi, was fired Thursday after a video from a 1998 skit surfaced in which he made jokes about the Holocaust.
“In the short time remaining before the Opening Ceremony, we offer our deepest apologies for any offense and anguish this matter may have caused to the many people involved in the Olympic Games, as well as to the citizens of Japan and the world,” the Tokyo organizers said in a statement.
Kentaro’s dismissal came on the heels of the resignation Monday of Keigo Oyamada, the musician also known as Cornelius, who was in charge of composing music for the Opening and Closing ceremonies. An outcry emerged around interviews that surfaced in which he admitted to torturing and sexually abusing special needs classmates when he was a student.
Just a handful of world leaders are expected to attend the ceremony Friday, including Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and France’s Emmanuel Macron.
Notably absent from the ceremony will be former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, according to a report by NHK News. Abe was instrumental in securing the Olympics for Tokyo before stepping down last year due to health issues.
A number of Japanese business leaders are distancing themselves from the ceremony, including the heads of major sponsors Panasonic and Toyota.
Also absent will be North Korea, which said in April it would not participate in the Olympics due to COVID-19 concerns.