Tokyo hands over to Paris

The Tokyo 2020 Games, presented in 2021 after a one-year postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ended Sunday after a joyous and festive closing ceremony at the empty stadium.

The celebration will be themed around the worlds we share and will feature traditional Japanese dances for athletes to party with, highlighting the Ska Group and country history.

The eyes of the Olympians have also turned to Paris, the host for the 2024 Summer Games.

Demonstrated at the heart of the new outbreak of the pandemic in Japan and the games were held despite unprecedented logistic and medical challenges, despite the fact that the majority of citizens in the country preferred their abolition.

At best expectations are low and at worst apocalyptic. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach also feared the sport would be a “soulless Olympics”. But he saw something else.

“You’ve fast, you’ve gone up, you’ve strong, because you ‘stood together,” Bach told athletes at the closing ceremony, referring to the Olympic slogan Citius, Altius, and Fortius (fast, higher, stronger).

“It’s even more remarkable because of the obstacles you face as a result of the pandemic. During these difficult times, you gave the world the most precious gift: hope. For the first time since the outbreak, the whole world came together,” he added.

The Fourth Olympics, presented in Japan, the first summer since 1964, aimed to unite the entire world after the disease was threatened and divided.

The pandemic at the closing ceremony is still on people’s minds. Some flags had to be carried by volunteers as thousands of athletes returned to their home countries in the days following their competitions due to protocol set up by the IOC and the Organizing Committee.

Thousands of athletes have face covers, but many remove them when they take a photo or two.

Decathlon champion Damien Warner carried the Canadian flag wearing a denim jacket despite the heat and humidity.

Warner age 45^E Representative of 206 to enter the stadium between Qatar and Gabon. After forming a large circle with other flag bearers and volunteers, he was able to celebrate with more than 120 Canadian athletes, coaches and employees.

Thousands of people gathered in Paris in front of a large screen set up at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. The emptiness of the Tokyo Olympic Stadium is in stark contrast to the bleachers.

When the Olympic torch went out on Sunday night after the pandemic games, it was hard to argue that the Tokyo Olympics had failed. Instead, they are games that overcome a huge obstacle. When vaccines are distributed, variants will emerge and lockdowns will be needed again, with officials in another city and country – the Chinese capital Beijing – battling the same problems a few months ago as in Tokyo. The next Winter Games will be held there in 2022.

The closing ceremony focused on the themes of the epidemic: the virtual world and the separation concern.

“We’re in a new normal state and this edition of the games is a different affair, they said. Even if we’re not together, we can share a single moment. And that we will never forget.”

In collaboration with Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press